Larry Lewis finished his fifth season as an assistant coach with the UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team, a position he accepted in September of 2019.
Over the course of the last four seasons, Lewis helped coach the Gauchos to two Big West Championships and two NCAA March Madness appearances. During this time, he worked closely with multiple Gauchos who made their impact in Santa Barbara and, for some, in the NBA. One of the most recent players is Miles Norris, along with Amadou Sow, JaQuori McLaughlin and Max Heidegger, who he still works with in the summer. He also helped Calvin Wishart and Ajare Sanni during their time as Gauchos before playing overseas. He also takes the time to work with other NBA athletes during their summer breaks, including Khris Middleton with the Milwaukee Bucks, Alperen Sengün with the Houston Rockets, and Olivier Sarr with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Not only did he help former players make their way into the professional ranks, but he was instrumental in the recruitment of Koat Keat Tong and Mezziah Oakman, who are expected to have great careers with the Blue and Gold.
He takes the same approach with his athletes here at UC Santa Barbara as he did with his athletes when he was coaching in the NBA. Lewis has a focus on developing the whole person and not just their physical game. His coaching philosophy emphasizes the mental aspect of the sport while motivating his athletes to show up and compete every day. All of these components of his coaching style allow his athletes to grow as a well-rounded person, not just as an athlete.
Lewis arrived in Santa Barbara after spending three years as the Director of Player Development/Assistant Coach for the Sacramento Kings. Prior to his three years on Sacramento's bench, he spent three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, also as Director of Player Development/Assistant Coach. Before his elevation to the Lakers, he served two seasons as an assistant coach for the L.A. D-Fenders of the G-League. In his first year as a coach, after a long international playing career, Lewis helped the franchise post the best regular season record in G-League history (38-12) and earn eight NBA call-ups. Named an assistant on the G-League Select Team in 2012, he played a central role in the D-Fenders capturing the Development Champion Award, bestowed on the team that best embodies the G-League's goals of developing talent via call-ups and player assignments.
In addition to his experience on the sidelines, Lewis' lengthy international playing career that began when he was drafted by the Albany Patroons of the CBA in 1992. From there, his professional career spanned 19 seasons and four continents, including stops in Argentina (2011), Spain (2001-11), Japan (1996-2000), Cyprus (1996), Great Britain (1993) and the Dominican Republic (1992). He also played one season in the United States Basketball League with Sarasota (1996), in the CBA with the Harrisburg Hammerheads and Rapid City Thrillers (1994-95) and for the silver medal-winning Team USA in the Pan American Games (1995).
Lewis is a graduate of Morehouse College. He and his wife, Sonia, have one son, Landon, and a daughter, Lauryn.
