NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Robert Jones arrived on campus at Norfolk State as an assistant coach prior to the 2007-2008 season.
One of his first players was a 6'9" big man in his final year of eligibility named Larry Vickers.
"I would've gotten a lot more buckets if you would've gotten here earlier," smiled Vickers as the two sat side-by-side at center court in Echols Hall. "But I was happy to have him for that one year. I learned a lot."
That was the beginning of a friendship built on basketball. Vickers, now the head women's basketball coach at Norfolk State, went to Jones to discuss a possible graduate assistant position once his playing days were over. However Jones, who now leads the men's program, had a different idea for his former player. Instead of graduate assistant, how about becoming an assistant coach?
"I came in the office really just to get my last year of grad school paid for," recalled Vickers. "He was like 'that makes no sense. You can do this.'"
"Larry was the best qualified candidate," Jones added. "He knew exactly what he wanted, he knew the system in and out and he was our defensive anchor for the team."
Anthony Evans, the Spartans' head coach at the time, signed off on the hire and the two joined forces on the NSU bench.
"We were like the two young guys trying to figure it out together," Jones remembered. "We just bonded that way. We had some of the same interests. I don't play video games like he does, but we had other interests and things like that."
"I think the best thing about Jones is that he'll try to push the best out of you," said Vickers. "When he got here, he was like 'why can't we go to the tournament? Why can't we win a game? Why can't you be an assistant coach at your age?'"
Both worked hard to get the best out of the green and gold and were part of the most memorable moment in Norfolk State basketball history. Jones and Vickers were both assistant coaches when the Spartans stunned Missouri, 86-84, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament back in March of 2012.
"Winning that game was just pandemonium inside that arena, pandemonium in the locker room," Jones recalled.
"[Kyle O'Quinn] was on 'Good Morning America' the next day," added Vickers. "We were on the cover of USA Today. What it did for the program and us and our careers, it speaks volumes."
"We have no tee-shirt from that game," Jones said. "We went up the stairs to buy one. We couldn't find one anywhere. We don't have a souvenir from that game."
"They were sold out in all sizes," smiled Vickers.
Vickers remained an assistant on the men's staff for the better part of eight seasons before taking the head women's job in January of 2016. Jones was elevated to head men's coach at Norfolk State in 2013 and promoted Vickers to associate head coach. Both have since built their own strong programs while being among the other's biggest supporters.
"We talked for years about us winning (the MEAC Tournament) on the same day," Jones said. "It never happened until the other day. We always talked for years about winning on the same day."
"It is exhausting to watch a good friend of yours coach and the ups and downs and the whole nine of a game," added Vickers.
Now, both leads their respective teams into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, once again as underdogs. The Norfolk State men are 24-10 and meet Florida in the first round, while the Spartan women are 30-4 and take on Maryland to open things up. Two basketball men of Sparta who have already put their stamp on the program now have a chance to make a little bit more history.
"We don't want to make the moment too big that we're not shooting the ball well," Vickers noted. "We're going to try to break it down a little bit, media (timeout) by media, then try to win a couple quarters, then just try to do it the old-fashioned way, possession by possession."
"The pressure's not on us," said Jones. "We're 30-point underdogs. We should go in there and play free and I think if we play free, we can do some good things."
Jones and the men tip off against the Gators in Raleigh on Friday night at 6:50 PM. The NSU women and Maryland hit the court Saturday at 4:00 PM in College Park.
