Jeremy Lewis enters his fourth season as head coach of the women’s basketball team at Cumberland University and his eighth as a full-time coach at his alma mater. It is also Lewis’ 12th year as a member of the Bulldog family both as a player and coach.

Lewis took over the women’s program in May 2009 as interim head coach and had the interim tag removed by Director of Athletics Ron Pavan in January 2010. The Bulldogs finished the season 9-18 overall in his first year but dropped nine games by seven points or less during the campaign. Allysia Bailey was voted TranSouth Newcomer Freshman of the Year, Stephanie Martin was an All-Freshman Team selection and four players earned TranSouth Scholar-Athlete honors.

CU improved to 14-16 in 2010-11 and upped its record in TranSouth Conference play to 6-10. The squad lost five games by nine points or less that season as well. Casie Cowan garnered Second Team All-TranSouth and All-Freshman Team accolades and four players were named TranSouth Scholar-Athletes.

Last year’s club started the season 3-10 overall with losses to three ranked teams and three others who were ranked in the second half of the campaign. That stretch included single-digit defeats to future Mid-South Conference opponents St. Catharine College, Lindsey Wilson, Campbellsville University, Georgetown College and the University of the Cumberlands.

The Bulldogs turned the season around in January, winning 12 of their final 16 contests, including two losses to eventual national runner-up Union University by a combined seven points. Cowan earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in 2011-12 while Tamara Gonzalez was named an NAIA National Scholar-Athlete. Cowan garnered First Team All-TranSouth honors for the second straight season and Simone Ryan and Courtney Atkinson both garnered Second Team accolades.

Before becoming the women’s head coach, Lewis served four seasons as a full-time assistant for coach Lonnie Thompson and the CU men’s team. His roles included scouting, recruiting, film exchange and budgeting, as well as monitoring the student-athletes’ progress both on and off the court. His main responsibilities included developing the team’s wing and guard positions, composing scouting reports for game preparation and recruiting incoming student-athletes. During his four seasons as an assistant coach, the Bulldogs compiled a 68-56 overall mark, including 46-18 in the final two seasons with consecutive trips to the NAIA National Tournament in 2008 and 2009.

Lewis spent three seasons as the starting point guard at Cumberland from 2002-04 before serving one season as a graduate assistant for the Bulldog women’s basketball staff in 2005. As a player he was named Honorable Mention All-Conference as a junior and senior and garnered National Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Conference accolades as senior. He was the starting point guard on CU’s team that reached the Round of 16 and won the TranSouth Conference regular season championship in 2004.

He graduated from CU in May of 2004 with a bachelor’s in Sports Administration and is currently working on his master’s in Education Administration.

Lewis prepped at Beech High School in Hendersonville, Tenn., and played one season at Aquinas Community College in Nashville under the tutelage of Hall of Fame coach Charlie Anderson before transferring to Cumberland.

Lewis and his wife, Martha, reside in Hendersonville and have two daughters, four-year-old Emery and two-year-old Giada.