Chris Jones was named the Head Coach fo the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Golf Programs in May of 2025.
During his first year as head coach for the Bears, Jones saw three individuals qualify for NCAA Regionals, with Sean Finan and Matthew McDougall qualifying on the men's side, and Eve Neild on the women's side. McDougall's seventh place finish at the regionals is tied for the best regional finish by an individual in program history. The Lenoir-Rhyne women's golf team closed the year ranked #21 in the region and #38 in the country. They had three top-3 finishes and were second at the Patsy Rendelman Invitational. The men's program posted four top-3 finishes and came away with the team victory at The Trojan in late March. They ended the year ranked #50 nationally and #12 in the region. Slade Aliff was named the SAC Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his efforts both on and off the course.
Jones, who was a member of the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Golf team from 1993-97, comes back to Hickory after spending the previous four seasons as the Head Men's and Women's Golf Coach at NCAA DIII Pfeiffer University. While at Pfeiffer he was instrumental in creating three home tournaments and increasing roster sizes by 44% in just his second year as the head coach. This season he has the Pfeiffer men ranked #75 in the country and the women ranked #91. That is a 64-spot jump from last year for the men and an 18-spot jump for the women. Recently his women's side shot their best single-round score since the 2015-16 season. During the 2023-24 season he raised $70,000 in revenue for both golf programs.
Jones began his collegiate coaching career from 2015-19 as an assistant at fellow NCAA DII institution Belmont Abbey, before he got his first head coaching gig in 2020-21 at Johnson & Wales. A staple in the world of North Carolina high school golf, Jones led the North Guilford Men's and Women's Golf Teams from 2007-2015. He led the men's team to the 2010 NCHSAA 3A State Championship and his women's team finished as the 3A runners-up in 2011 and 2013. He won five Coach of the Year awards and 10 of his former players went on to participate in collegiate golf.
Jones graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Marketing.
