Brunswick Names Former N.E. Patriot as Next AD

The Brunswick soccer team takes to the field earlier this year against Cheshire Academy. The athletic program will have a new athletic director starting in the fall, as Cedric Jones, a former wide receiver for the Patriots, was hired.

May 7, 2021

By Paul Silverfarb

A one-time professional athlete who played nine seasons with the New England Patriots is stepping in to lead the athletic program at Brunswick.

Cedric Jones will serve as director of schoolwide athletics, and will oversee all athletic programming from Pre-K through 12th grade.

“I am excited and thrilled to join Brunswick and its work towards character development in young boys,” Jones said. “Brunswick has a celebrated and growing athletic program, and I’m happy to build on that tradition.”

Jones will be taking the reins from Ron VanBelle, who oversaw the rapid growth of Brunswick athletics in his six years as AD, and now will be focusing his efforts on Upper School interscholastic competition and scheduling.

“This is a great, big-picture move for Brunswick,” VanBelle said, “as Cedric will be able to devote 100 percent of his time and energy to the full scope of our athletic program from our youngest boys all the way up to our seniors.”

Jones, a versatile wide receiver who spent his entire career with the Patriots, was the first pick in the third round of the 1982 National Football League draft.

He was a member of the 1985 AFC Championship team that played in Super Bowl XX.

On patriots.com, Jones, the football player, is remembered this way: “The epitome of a team player, always putting collective goals ahead of individual ones. He often found himself backing up Stanley Morgan and Irving Fryar, but when either one was out of the lineup he was always called upon and he produced.”

“Each person who comes into the National Football League has to find their niche,” Jones told the website in 2006. “Mine was always being dependable and I was able to play all four wide receiver positions, so when someone got injured, I was the swing guy. I wanted to do whatever I could to help the team.”

He played college football at Duke, where he was team captain, 2nd team All-American, and winner of the Michael P. Suglia Award for being the top football scholar in his class. He is a member of the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.

After his career on the field, Jones remade himself into a tireless champion of athletics, especially youth athletics.

He worked for 14 years at the NFL, serving as director of club marketing, senior director of consumer products/on field operations, and senior director for youth football/domestic and international.

Jones, initially, declined the invitation to work in youth player development.

“At first, I said no, but then I thought about it, and what better business to be in than providing curriculums and programs for young people to help them achieve their goals in life,” he told patriots.com years ago.

For the last 13 years, Jones has served as athletic director for the celebrated New York Athletic Club in New York City.

During his tenure, the club has produced a huge number of successful athletes, including 164 Olympians, 57 Olympic champions, 127 world champions, 73 world team medalists, and hundreds of world team members and national champions.

“Clearly, Cedric has the athletic experience, both at the player and management level, to serve the needs of Brunswick boys,” said Head of School Tom Philip.

Jones is the father of Connor ’25, a Brunswick eighth grader.

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