Joel Eaves
Joel Eaves (1914-1991)
Teams coached: Sewanee Tigers, Auburn Tigers
Sewanee record: 4-43 (.085)
Auburn record: 208-98 (.680)
Overall record: 212-141 (.601)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- SEC Regular Season Champion: 1 (1960)
Awards:
- SEC Coach of the Year: 1 (1960)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
1949-1963 | Auburn |
1938-1941 | Sewanee |
1937-1938 | Sewanee (asst) |
Joel Eaves Facts
- Joel Harry Eaves
- Born June 3, 1914
- Died July 18, 1991
- Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
- Alma Mater: Auburn University (BA, 1937)
- Born in Copperhill, Tennessee and raised in Atlanta, Eaves graduated from Tech High School (GA)
- Played baseball, football and basketball – the latter for head coach Ralph Jordan – at Auburn
- Was All-SEC as an offensive end in football and served as basketball team captain as a senior
- Started his coaching career as an assistant under Allen Lincoln at Sewanee, then a member of the SEC
- Became the Tigers’ head coach in 1938, but went just 4-43 in three seasons at the helm
- During his tenure, the program left the SEC and became independent; later de-emphasized athletics and is now in Division III
- Returned to his alma mater, Auburn, in 1949 and spent the next fourteen years as head basketball coach
- Compiled a 208-98 record during that tenure, highlighted by a SEC regular season title in 1960 (the program’s first)
- Also spent time working with the football program; coached defensive ends in 1957, when the Tigers were National Champions
- Stepped away from coaching in 1963, with a career head coaching record of 212-141
- Moved on to the University of Georgia that same year, spending the next sixteen years at athletic director there
- In 1987, Auburn renamed Joel H. Memorial Coliseum in his honor (now Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum)
- The basketball program continued to play there until moving into the new Auburn Arena in 2010
- Inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (class of 1978)
Joel Eaves Coaching Tree
- Rex Frederick (South Alabama)
- Bill Lynn (Auburn)