Wesley "Bart" Bellairs (born August 24, 1956) is an American former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He worked at the

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

(VMI) for fourteen years, including 11 season head coach of

VMI Keydets basketball The VMI Keydets basketball team represents the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, in the sport of men's college basketball. They compete in the Southern Conference of the NCAA Division I. They have played their home games in Cam ...

team, from 1994 to 2005. After three years of serving as the school's senior associate athletic director, Bellairs was the athletic director at

Savannah State University Savannah State University (SSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is the oldest historically black public university in the state. Th ...

from 2008 to 2009 and

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it beca ...

from 2009 to 2013. He also coached

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and cross country. Bellairs is a 1979 graduate of

Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a required course of study, work an on-campus j ...

, and received his master's degree from

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

in 1981. He is a native of

Richmond, Kentucky Richmond is a home rule-class city in Madison County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 34,585 as of the 2020 census, making it the state's seventh-largest city. It is the principal city of the Richmond–Berea micropolitan area, wh ...

Coaching career

Bellairs began his coaching career as an assistant basketball coach at

Lycoming College Lycoming College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1812, Lycoming College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church but operates as an ind ...

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 27,754. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populati ...

. He then spent two years as an assistant coach in baseball and basketball at

Macomb, Illinois Macomb () is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois, about southwest of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the c ...

. In August 1981, Bellairs was hired at

Wilkes University Wilkes University is a private university in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and bec ...

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It ...

, as head cross country coach, assistant baseball coach, and director of intramural sports. Bellairs was also an assistant basketball coach at Wilkes for two season before succeeding Jim Atheron as head basketball coach in 1983. Bellairs then served brief stints as an assistant coach, first for the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

from 1985 to 1986, and later as an assistant for the

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, a medical school in Worcester and a law school in Dartmouth ...

and

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

basketball programs, leading JMU to an NCAA tournament appearance as well as five NIT appearances.Bart Bellairs – VMI Bio. VMIKeydets.com. March 8, 2006.
/ref> He was hired as VMI's head basketball coach in 1994, replacing Joe Cantafio, who had been serving the past eight seasons. Bellairs made an impression in his first season by winning

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

Coach of the Year honors in 1995. The following year, Bellairs led the Keydets to an 18–10 overall record, including 10–4 in conference play. It was the program's first winning season since 1984–85, and the most wins in a single season since 1978.2013–14 VMI Basketball Fact Book
/ref> Despite the initial success, the team failed to achieve a winning season in eight of the next nine years under Bellairs' tenure. Bellairs was fired in 2005 after a 9–18 campaign, though continued to work with VMI as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Operations and Marketing until 2008. Despite his .378 winning percentage, by the end of his coaching career, Bellairs was the all-time winningest coach in the school's history with 116 wins, and held that record until it was surpassed by current Keydet head coach

Duggar Baucom Robert Franklin "Duggar" Baucom (born September 21, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, most recently the head men's basketball coach at The Citadel. Baucom was hired as the Citadel's head coach following the 2014–15 season. He was p ...

Administrative career

Following his departure from VMI, Bellairs was introduced as

's athletic director in May 2008, and took over the position on June 1 of that year. He was the first white athletic director at the historically black college. His tenure at Savannah State was short-lived, as Bellairs took the job as A.D. of

in November 2009, just 18 months after being hired by Savannah State. Bellairs resigned from the school in June 2013. He was replaced in the interim by the Lions' head baseball coach Jay Artigues, who ultimately became the full-time athletic director.

Personal life

Bellairs was born in

, in 1956."SSU goes for experience in AD hire." SavannahNow.com. May 20, 2008.
/ref> He was a letterman in basketball and baseball at

where he earned his undergraduate degree in sociology."Former SSU A.D. Bart Bellairs Heading to SE Louisiana." WSAV.com. November 24, 2009.
/ref> Two years later, Bellairs earned his master's degree from

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of 90° Longitude West) t ...

. He and his wife, Jacki Berkshire Bellairs, have five children: their three sons, Andrew, Jacob, and Will; as well as two daughters, Katie and Alli.

Head coaching record

Basketball

Wilkes University Men's Basketball Year-by-year Results
/ref>

References

External links

Transylvania profile

Savannah State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellairs, Bart 1956 births Living people Lycoming Warriors men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball coaches Savannah State Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Southeastern Louisiana Lions and Lady Lions athletic directors Transylvania Pioneers men's basketball coaches VMI Keydets basketball coaches Warren Wilson Owls baseball players Warren Wilson Owls men's basketball players Western Illinois Leathernecks baseball coaches Western Illinois Leathernecks men's basketball coaches Wilkes Colonels baseball coaches Wilkes Colonels men's basketball coaches College cross country coaches in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Western Illinois University alumni People from Richmond, Kentucky Baseball coaches from Kentucky Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky