Jim Lewis (born December 15, 1946) is a former collegiate and WNBA basketball coach. After completing assistant coaching positions during the 1970s, Lewis was the head coach of the

South Lakes High School South Lakes High School is a public high school in Reston, Virginia, United States. The school serves grades 9-12 for the Fairfax County Public Schools. History South Lakes High School opened in 1978 with grades 7-10. Students in the first 10th-g ...

boys' basketball team in the early 1980s. In collegiate basketball, Lewis obtained 201 wins and 107 losses as the

George Mason Patriots women's basketball The George Mason Patriots women's basketball team represents George Mason University and competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference of NCAA Division I. History George Mason's women basketball program began play in 1973, joining Division I in 1982. The ...

head coach from 1984 to 1997. He then went to the WNBA as the first head coach of the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

for the 1998 season. Between the 2000s and 2010s, Lewis held assistant coaching positions with the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

and

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

. During this time period, Lewis was the head coach for the

Fordham Rams women's basketball The Fordham Rams women's basketball team represents Fordham University, located in the Bronx, New York, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They currently compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference. History Fordham began play in 1970. They join ...

team, T.C. Williams High School girls basketball team, and

Georgetown Hoyas women's basketball The Georgetown Hoyas women's basketball team is Georgetown University's women's basketball program in the NCAA Division I Big East Conference. The team was first formed in 1970, and joined the Big East in 1983. They play their home games on campus ...

team.

Early life and education

Lewis was born on December 15, 1946, in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. During the 1960s, Lewis lived in Parker-Gray before he left for

Groveton, Virginia Groveton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 14,598 at the 2010 census, down from 21,296 in 2000 due to a reduction in area. Located south of the city of Alexandria, it encompasses nu ...

. At both of these locations, Lewis was a boys basketball player. Outside of basketball, he was on a boys football team and had a leg fracture. After joining

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

in 1964, he was their "first frican Americanbasketball player to sign an athletic grant-in-aid". During December 1964, Lewis had surgery to his leg while playing basketball for West Virginia. By early 1965, he had surgeries to his knees and stopped playing basketball. Due to his knee surgeries, Lewis did not play for West Virginia during the 1965-1966 basketball season. By December 1966, Lewis had returned to the roster for West Virginia. In January 1967, Lewis had a

foot fracture The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb (anatomy), limb which bears weight and allows animal locomotion, locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the ter ...

and was scheduled to miss over a month of games for West Virginia. After returning in March 1967, Lewis remained with West Virginia until 1968. During these two years, Lewis had a combined total of 106 rebounds and 125 points after appearing in 36 games. Outside of basketball, Lewis studied journalism at West Virginia before leaving for the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

as a

graduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...

. For additional education, Lewis went to

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

for a physical education program.

Career

From 1969 to 1971, Lewis was an assistant coach for one year each at Tennessee State and

Gannon College Gannon University is a private Catholic university with campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Ruskin, Florida, United States. Established in 1925, Gannon University enrolls approximately 4,600 undergraduate and graduate students annually. Its inte ...

. He continued his assistant coaching tenure in 1971 with five-year positions at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

. In 1981, Lewis was hired by

as a gym teacher before he became their head coach of the boys' basketball team. At South Lakes, Lewis had 59 wins and 15 losses before he left his coaching position in 1984. In 1984, Lewis became the head coach of the

team. While with George Mason, Lewis was an assistant coach for

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

in the 1990s. With USA Basketball, Lewis was an assistant women's basketball coach during the 1994 R. William Jones Cup and the 1995

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. At George Mason, Lewis had 201 wins and 177 losses before he was replaced by

Debbie Taneyhill Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine given name, commonly but not always short for Deborah (given name), Deborah (or Debra and related variants). Debbie is a name of Hebrew language, Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew name Deborah, which me ...

during the 1997 season. That year, Lewis was hired as the inaugural head coach of the

. With the WNBA team, Lewis had 2 wins and 16 losses during the 1998 season. After leaving the Mystics in 1998 to become a basketball commentator, Lewis returned to head coaching in 2000 with the

team. With Fordham, Lewis had 56 wins and 118 losses between 2000 and 2006. In 2006, Lewis returned to the WNBA as an assistant coach for the

. As the T.C. Williams High School girls basketball coach from 2007 to 2008, Lewis obtained 22 wins and 1 loss before he resumed his WNBA experience with the

in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, Lewis worked with the Fever as a scout and assistant coach before becoming an assistant coach for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball team is the college basketball program representing the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The team plays its home games at McCamish Pavilio ...

team in 2010. Lewis stayed with Georgia Tech for a year before being hired by the

in 2012 as an assistant coach. During his time with the Sparks, Lewis also scouted for the team before being named the interim head coach of the

team in October 2013. He remained with Georgetown until April 2014. With the Hoyas, Lewis had 11 wins and 21 losses.

Honors

From the

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 ...

, Lewis received the SoCon Alfred White Trailblazer Recognition in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jim 1946 births Living people Basketball players from Alexandria, Virginia Basketball coaches from Virginia George Mason Patriots women's basketball coaches Washington Mystics head coaches Fordham Rams women's basketball coaches Minnesota Lynx coaches Indiana Fever coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball coaches Los Angeles Sparks coaches Georgetown Hoyas women's basketball coaches United States women's national basketball team coaches