Kaitlyn Lewis has fond memories of attending University of Scranton women’s basketball games at the John Long Center and the Lady Royals Basketball Camp as a youth.
“I remember Mike Strong and Deanna Klingman had some really great camps when I was a kid going to them,” Lewis said. “It was nice being around such a successful program and looking up to players of that caliber as a young kid.”
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Now, she gets to run that program.
Late Tuesday, the University of Scranton announced it hired Lewis as head coach of the Lady Royals. She becomes the ninth head coach in program history and replaces Ben O’Brien, who left in April after four seasons and a 117-7 record to coach Division I Lafayette College.
“I am so excited to be joining such a great group,” Lewis said. “The Lady Royals have so much history and tradition, so to be able to be a part of it and lead the program is like a dream come true. I’m pumped to keep it going and build on everything the coaches before me have built as far as success and culture.
“Obviously, Scranton means so much to me because it is home. It’s where I started my college coaching career. It’s got a really big soft spot in my heart. Honestly, I could not be any happier.”
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For Lewis, it is indeed a homecoming. A 2015 graduate of North Pocono High School, Lewis was a Scranton assistant coach on Nick DiPillo’s staff from 2019-22. During that time, the Lady Royals won three Landmark Conference championships and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2022. She helped coach a pair of All-Americans in Bridget Monaghan and Abby Anderson and recruited current rising seniors Meghan Lamanna, Katie Gorski, Elizabeth Bennett and Natalie Stoupakis.
That familiarity should help the transition of Lewis taking over as coach.
“I feel like I have a lot to learn in this new role,” Lewis said. “But it gives me a little bit of comfort knowing that I had a little bit of a part in recruiting some of the really successful players at Scranton and knowing what kind of player fits at the University and the program; what kind of person can be successful. That gives me a lot of confidence and I hope I can build on that and keep that going.”
After Scranton, Lewis headed to Lehigh University and was an assistant coach there for two seasons. She was on the coaching staff at her alma mater, American University, during the 2024-25 campaign. Last season, she was an assistant coach at Rider University. She was named as a WBCA Top Thirty Under 30, an honor that recognizes the nation’s top women’s basketball coaches under the age of 30.
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Those four seasons at the Division I level have prepared the 29-year-old Lewis for her first head coaching job.
“I had the opportunity to learn from so many different people, so many different head coaches and head coaches that were taking that next step in becoming a head coach for the first time,” Lewis said. “Having the opportunity to learn from people in that seat for the first year has been super-important to me and important to my growth. I’m fortunate I got to learn from some really good coaches and really good people. It taught me a lor about myself, taught me a lot about the game. More importantly, they taught me a lot about how to coach and lead players and build those strong relationships.”
Quite often when there is a coaching change, it is because a team hasn’t had success and a rebuilding process is needed. That isn’t the case with Scranton. The Lady Royals are coming off a 32-1 season that saw them capture their 11th straight Landmark Conference title and finish as NCAA Division III runner-up.
Lewis knows she has really big shoes to fill.
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“There’s no other way to say it or put it,” Lewis said. “I’m just going to try to attack each day the best that I can and put players and people in situations where they can be as successful as possible. Take what Ben was able to do and carry that over. What Nick (DiPillo) and Trevor (Woodruff) and Mike (Strong) were able to do. I don’t want to change everything. I want to build on what each of the last couple of coaches have built here and put my own little twist on it.”
Prior to becoming a coach, Lewis had a standout playing career. After graduating North Pocono, she played at American University from 2015-19. As a junior and team captain, she helped lead the Lady Eagles to a Patriot League championship and NCAA tournament berth in 2018. As a senior, American earned a bid to the Women’s NIT in 2019. In 115 career games (67 starts), she totaled 735 points, 102 3-pointers, 204 rebounds, 243 assists and 62 steals.
