Women's Basketball 4/25/2023 3:14:00 PM Dave Goren

NSMA Names Lewis ‘Big House Gaines' Award Winner

Winston- Salem, N.C. - Tynesha Lewis, the women's head coach at Elizabeth City State University (NC), has been named Clarence "Big House" Gaines Division 2 College Basketball Coach of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

Lewis, the Division 2 winner, led the Vikings to a 20-11 record, the team's first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Tournament championship, and the school's first berth in the NCAA Tournament, all in her second season as ECSU head coach.

Lewis is a Macclesfield, N.C. native, who earned two bachelor's degrees while a four-time All-ACC player and graduate assistant coach at North Carolina State. After a six-year stint in the WNBA, she continued her coaching career as an assistant at Illinois State and North Carolina Central. Along the way, Lewis also earned two master's degrees.

The Clarence "Big House" Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year Awards are presented to the head coach in NCAA Divisions 1 and 2, who may not earn recognition from mainstream outlets. An NSMA committee votes on the awards at the conclusion of the NCAA men's and women's tournaments.

Gaines was the head basketball coach at Winston-Salem (NC) State University for 47 seasons. His teams won 828 games, including the 1967 NCAA Division II National Championship. That team was led by Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, who went on to an NBA Hall of Fame career. Among other notable players Gaines coached were Cleo Hill, the first NBA first-round draft choice from a historically Black college or university, and sports media personality Stephen A. Smith. A former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), Gaines was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. He died in 2005.

Lewis is named alongside Rodney Terry, of the University of Texas Division 1 winner of the Clarence" Big House" Gaines Coach of the Year award.

The Gaines Awards will be presented during the NSMA's 63rd awards banquet on June 26, 2023, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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