Blair-Lewis By The Numbers
Blair-Lewis Vs. All Opponents
Vanessa Blair-Lewis begins her thirteenth season as Head Coach of a Bethune-Cookman University women's basketball program that’s not only a consistent contender for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship on the court and a developer of character off it, but at long last an NCAA tournament team as well.
Despite losing Defensive Player Of The Year Ashanti Hunt, Rookie Of The Year Candidate Kiana Williams in a myriad of six knee surgeries throughout the course of the season, Blair-Lewis and her staff found a way to regroup their 2019 team to a dominating run through the MEAC tournament, where the Lady Wildcats defeated Norfolk State to clinch the program’s first tournament championship since 1984 and a first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. Along with Angel Golden being named Tournament Outstanding Performer, Blair-Lewis garnered Tournament Outstanding Coach honors.
The next week, BCU went up against defending National Champion Notre Dame in its NCAA tournament debut.
Other honors for Blair-Lewis during the season included her second BoxtoRow.com Coach of The Year award and a unique opportunity to appear alongside Dawn Staley, the coach of 2017 NCAA champion South Carolina, Vanderbilt coach Carolyn Peck, Buffalo Head Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and Ole Miss Head Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin in a panel discussion aired on The Players Tribune discussing the challenges of women African-American coaches in today's environment. In January 2019, Blair-Lewis had her playing jersey at her alma mater, Mount St. Mary’s, retired during Winter homecoming activities.
The 2017-18 campaign saw Blair-Lewis lead the Lady Wildcats to a third regular season championship, a program record for victories (24), a first-ever appearance in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 and a third appearance in the WNIT -- all while pregnant with her second child, Bryce, who “joined the program” on March 5, 2018. She also registered her 250th coaching victory at Florida International on November 13, 2017.
Off the court, Blair-Lewis took pride in seeing senior Lyndsey Edwards become Bethune-Cookman’s first-ever recipient of the MEAC Woman Of The Year award and assistant coach Chandler McCabe receive a “30 Under 30” honor from the Women’s Basketball Coaching Association presented by Marriott Rewards® to recognize 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. In addition, Golden became Bethune-Cookman's first MEAC Player Of The Year award winner since Rosina Pearson in 1985 while Hunt’s selection marked the third consecutive year a Lady Wildcat received Defensive Player Of The Year honors. Both Golden and Hunt were also named BoxtoRow.com All-Americans.
All this while Blair-Lewis became the first Women's Head Coach in MEAC history to win the award three consecutive years and four times overall.
The 2016-17 campaign saw Blair-Lewis lead the Wildcats to a conference tournament championship berth for the first time in 25 years. Bethune-Cookman made a second straight post-season appearance in the WNIT and registered among the best programs in the nation statistically, finished second behind Baylor in field goal percentage defense and eighth nationally in total defense.
Individually, Kailyn Williams not only surpassed the likes of Rebeca Lobo and Breana Stewart on her way to finishing h on the all-time Division I blocks list; the New Orleans product finished the season as the national blocks shots champions as she and Blair-Lewis repeated as MEAC Defensive Player Of The Year and Coach Of The Year, respectively.
One of her finest recruiting class included Williams, Kendra Cooper – the program’s all-time three-point leader, Taylor Houston and Alea Godfrey, came into full effect in 2015-16 as the Wildcats made a late season charge that produced a regular season co-championship and the school’s first Division I post-season appearance in the WNIT. Blair-Lewis also recorded her 100th victory at B-CU on January 26, 2016 against Howard.
In 2015, Blair-Lewis won her 200th overall coaching victory in a January triumph against Western Carolina.
The tail end of the 2013-14 season was very eventful for Coach Blair-Lewis, who celebrated the birth of her first child in late January, and then guided her Lady Wildcats to a late-season run that provided wins in five of the final seven regular season contests. In addition, B-CU registered its first MEAC tournament victory since 2010.
Along with the stellar two-year career of Chastity Rene Taylor, the Cooper, Williams, Godfrey and Houston class is just the latest examples of Blair-Lewis’ recruiting and development prowess, as 2011-12 senior guard Demetria Frank, now an assistant coach, finished atop the NCAA standings and B-CU program rankings as the national steals leader (4.3 SPG in 2011-12 and 422 career steals, 22nd on the all-time Division I list).
Blair-Lewis had a breakout year at B-CU in 2009-10, her second season, and was named MEAC Coach of the Year after leading B-CU to a 15-14 mark (including a 9-7 league record and 8-1 at home), which represented both the Lady Wildcats' first winning campaign in eight seasons and highest win total since 1998. The turnaround was of little surprise, given her history. In her stop at Mount St. Mary's before B-CU, Blair-Lewis earned Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year in her debut season.
In 2011, Blair-Lewis was one of 28 coaches from across the nation selected by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to participate in the inaugural session of The Center for Coaching Excellence (CCE).
With over a decade of playing and coaching in the NEC at Mount St. Mary’s, Blair emerged as one of the most notable figures in NEC women's basketball history. Blair led The Mount to a 21-7 record and NEC regular season championship in her inaugural season in 1997-98, and the subsequent Coach of the Year honor made her the first and still the only person named both Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
The awards continued later that year as she was one of three Mountaineers to make the six-member NEC Team of the Decade and eventually Player of the Decade. In 2003, Mount St. Mary's honored her again by inducting her into the Mount's Sports Hall of Fame. Blair was also named to the Mount St. Mary's women's basketball "30th Anniversary Team" on Feb. 19, 2005.
In addition, Blair-Lewis was inducted into the NEC Hall of Fame on January 24, 2013, making it official that she's now garnered every conceivable honor from the conference through her performances as a player and coach.
During her nine years as a head coach in the NEC, Blair-Lewis moved up the conference record charts much like she did as a player. She ranks eighth for career conference regular season wins by a head coach; the third most among head coach in the league (87), and a .596 overall conference winning percentage.
In a 77-59 win against Morgan State on Dec. 30, 2005, she picked up her 100th career victory.
As a player, she set the Mount’s school's game, season and career records in blocked shots. She ranks seventh all-time in scoring (1,488), third in rebounds (849) and rebounds per game (8.9), is second in free throws attempted in a season (588) and holds the records for blocked shots (242). She currently is the only Mountaineer to hold triple digit career marks in five different categories. She was named NEC Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
After college, Blair-Lewis played two years of professional basketball in Sweden. Blair-Lewis played on the Pro Basketball Club, a first division team based in the city of Orebro, before a knee injury cut her playing career short. She returned home to the United States, where she assisted her father at Largo (Md.) High School and coached at the AAU youth level. Blair-Lewis returned to her alma mater as an assistant in 1996.
Blair-Lewis’ understanding of the game and experience carried over to the broadcast field. She served as the color analyst for the Bethune-Cookman University men's team from 2010-13, making her one of the few collegiate coaches to hold both duties during the course of the regular season. She called the men’s team NIT appearance in 2011.
She and Eric Lewis, a veteran NBA official who worked Game Four of the 2019 NBA Finals, married in the summer of 2013. The couple welcomed their first child, Blair Eric Lewis, on January 27, 2014, ironically, on a game day. She and her son watched the game from her hospital room that evening.
