Lewis officially hired as new NU assistant coach
Nebraska’s search for its latest assistant coach appeared to be come to an end after just three weeks when sources confirmed to HuskerOnline.com on Monday that Butler's Michael Lewis was expected to be hired to Tim Miles' staff in the very near future.
On Tuesday, Lewis confirmed the news through a statement via his Twitter account.
A former standout at Indiana who has spent the past five seasons at Butler, Lewis, 39, brings 14 years of college coaching experience to Lincoln. The Jasper, Ind., native replaces Phil Beckner, who left NU after just one season to take an assistant coaching job at Boise State.
After joining the Bulldogs’ staff in May of 2011 under then head coach Brad Stevens - who’s now coaching the Boston Celtics - Lewis helped the team twice advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
According to his official Butler bio, Lewis was also invited to participate in the Villa 7 Consortium in 2015, “which brings together university athletic directors and the country’s elite assistant coaches in an effort to prepare the next generation of college basketball leaders.”
Prior to Butler, Lewis spent six seasons at Eastern Illinois, where he was named one of the Top 5 assistant coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference by FoxSports.com in 2010.
Other coaching stints included one season at Stephen F. Austin in 2004-05 and two seasons as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech, where he worked under Bob Knight.
As a player, Lewis was a point guard at Indiana from 1997-2000 and was named team captain and a third-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior. He finished his career as the Hoosiers’ all-team leader in assists with 545, a record that stood until Yogi Ferrell broke it this past season.
After IU, Lewis played professionally for the Fort Wayne Fury of Continental Basketball Association (CBA) in 2001 and then the Florida Seadragons of the United States Basketball League (USBL) in 2000 and 2001. He was a USBL All-Star in 2000 and also played briefly in Belgium.