Elaine Jones is in her third season as Akron's head women’s lacrosse coach after being named to the position in June of 2023.

Akron Zips lacrosse is in its seventh season during her third campaign on the sidelines in 2026.

Jones came to Akron with 22 seasons of head coaching experience at the NCAA I and II levels. She spent the 2023 campaign at the University of Indianapolis, where the Greyhounds, posted an 18-3 record en route to advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championships, while capturing the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular and postseason titles.

A trio of her athletes garnered All-America status in 2023, while a pair of Greyhounds were recognized with Academic All-America accolades.

Jones came to UIndy after leading Longwood for 10 seasons, earning Big South Coach of the Year honors in 2019. Jones mentored a pair of Big South Scholar-Athletes of the Year (2015, 2021), one Big South Co-Defensive Player of the Year (2016) and 23 Big South All-Conference players.

During her tenure, Longwood earned the IWLCA Team Academic Honor Squad recognition eight times, while also placing multiple student-athletes on the IWLCA Honor Roll.

Prior to Longwood, Jones became the winningest head coach at the University of California, Davis, where the Aggies earned 97 victories in 11 seasons. After leading the UC Davis to multiple top-four rankings at the NCAA Division II level en route to garnering Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Coach of the Year distinction, Jones successfully transitioned the program to DI. UC Davis was named LaxPower's most improved DI program in the United States following the 2010 campaign.

Jones’ student-athletes collected multiple awards on and off the field, including: DII Woman of the Year honoree, two UC Davis Hall of Fame inductees, DII Rookie of the Year, two-time DII Academic All-America, eight DII All-Americans, 15 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) all-league players, and 38 MPSF Academic student-athletes.

Jones also worked at the University of Southern California from 1998-2001, where she helped coordinate and implement all monitoring systems of the athletics compliance office. During her time at USC, she coached seven Western Women's Lacrosse League All-Star selections as the head club lacrosse coach.

While obtaining her master’s degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1993-95, Jones was an assistant coach for the women's lacrosse program. Jones later earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami.

A two-time All-America honoree, Jones earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia in 1992. She was a member of the USA Elite Team in 1992 and 1993. Jones was inducted into the Greater Baltimore U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2015, as well as becoming the first female athlete welcomed as part of the inaugural class for Friends School of Baltimore's Athletics Hall of Fame.

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address	Custom Field 1
Elaine Jones	Head Lacrosse Coach		ejones1@uakron.edu
Carlie Grandjean	Assistant Coach		cgrandje@uakron.edu

The University of Akron Athletics

2027 Women's Lacrosse Coaching Staff

Coaching Staff