Five years ago, Vanessa Blair-Lewis dared to dream big.

Coming off a legendary 13-year coaching career at Bethune-Cookman, Blair-Lewis achieved what so few HBCU basketball head coaches had – a chance to lead a predominately white program.

The operative word here is “lead.” Not join a staff as an assistant or associate head coach but the… Head. Woman. In. Charge.

As successful as she was at B-CU, a familiar coaching adage in HBCU sports circles didn’t skip by Blair-Lewis. You know, the joke that a PWC has to be scraping rock bottom before hiring a Black head coach.

The Patriots were scraping pretty low. The program was 3-19 overall, 0-14 in the Atlantic 10 when Blair-Lewis was hired on April 21, 2021.  

Was she intimidated? After all, critics are quick to dismiss the accomplishments of HBCU coaches, and women’s sports are placed even lower on the food chain.

But what did she do? At the first team practice, she had a banner, covered with a cloth, raised in the rafters that read “FUTURE WOMEN’S ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONS.” Only the players and staff knew what it said.

The cover came off four years later when GMU won its first-ever A-10 Championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Blair-Lewis’ five seasons have gone like this:

* 2021-22: 10-19 overall, 3-12 A-10. GMU hadn’t won 10 games in three seasons.

* 2022-23: 16-15, 8-8. The Patriots’ first winning season since 2017-18.

* 2023-24: 23-8, 14-4. First 20-win season since 2017-18; program records for regular-season and conference wins; and a postseason appearance in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.

* 2024-25: 27-6, 14-4. A program-record in wins, first conference championship and a Big Dance appearance.

* 2025-26: 23-10, 16-2. A regular-season championship, a program record in conference victories, 400 career coaching wins and another postseason appearance.

Her reward: a two-year contract extension that will take her through 2031-32. IF, and that’s a big IF, they can keep her.

GMU fans shouldn’t be surprised at the Patriots’ success after the job Blair-Lewis did at Bethune-Cookman before the university left the MEAC for the SWAC.

She left the program with a 196-168 record, six winning seasons, four regular-season titles, a tournament championship and an NCAA berth.

But it was that 2018-19 season that made people sit up and take notice.

Bethune lost MEAC Defensive Player of the Year Ashanti Hunt, top freshman Kiana Williams and four additional players throughout the season from season-ending ACL injuries. It was the talk of the league.

Fingers were being pointed: were the coaches overworking the players, who was in charge of strength and conditioning, etc.

But what did Blair-Lewis and her staff do? Guide the team to its first tournament championship since 1984 and an NCAA berth.

Now, if that’s not coaching, what is? The team could have easily folded during the season with a woe-is-us mentality.

So hardly anyone in HBCU country is surprised at Blair-Lewis’ success. After what she did at Bethune, George Mason was gravy.

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