Men’s Soccer Head Coach Craig Jones will step away from the program at the conclusion of this season after 14 years leading the team, Athletics announced in a press release Wednesday.
Jones, a former GW player and longtime steward of the program, leaves behind a mixed legacy that includes an Atlantic 10 regular season title and coach of the year honor in 2015 but recent underperformance in the past few seasons. His departure comes as the team faces its third straight losing record, opening the year 2-9-2 amid growing challenges to stay competitive in the conference.
The Revolutionaries have yet to win a conference game this season, starting off 0-5 and last in the conference, which is where the preseason poll predicted they’d finish. They have just three more conference contests remaining with the last regular season contest of Jones’ tenure coming on Nov. 1 at La Salle.
The Revs’ declining performance started in 2023 when they won just two conference games, posting a 4-9-4 record overall. Last year, they won a single A-10 fixture, finishing 3-12-2 overall.
A GW alum, Jones played on the squad as a defender and midfielder from 1995-1998 before returning to the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant from 2002-2008 and a full-time assistant from 2008-2011. Athletics promoted him to head coach in 2011.
Jones succeeded veteran Head Coach George Lidster after he retired, under whom Jones both played and later coached. During his tenure, Lidster led the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Sweet 16.
Just four days before Athletics named him head coach, he was an assistant coach when the program reached an A-10 conference championship match, losing to Xavier in penalty kicks. In his first few years as head coach, Jones failed to achieve a winning season, improving steadily until he was able to string together three winning seasons in a row in the middle stretch of his career from 2015 to 2017.
Jones said he will continue to follow and support the men’s soccer team and looks forward to spending more time with his family after stepping away from the program.
“Serving as head coach at my alma mater has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime,” Jones said in the release.
At the beginning of the season, Jones said he believed the Revs could win more games than they lost. And while that goal is now out of reach, 7 games below .500 with just 4 games to go, the Revs will play one more home game — against Dayton on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m.
A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately, led by Chris Hennelly, Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Health, Wellbeing and Performance and sport supervisor for men’s soccer, the release states.
