Leonard Fairley is in his eighth year as an assistant coach in 2025-26 with the Norfolk State men’s basketball team. He is no stranger to the program, having first served as a student manager in 2011-12 and in various other roles the next several years. NSU has won five regular-season titles and three MEAC Tournament titles since Fairley joined the staff.
Norfolk State clinched a share of the MEAC regular season title in 2024-25, going 24-11 overall and 11-3 in conference play. The Spartans won the MEAC Tournament in thrilling fashion, defeating South Carolina State 66-65 to clinch a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Brian Moore Jr. was named MEAC Newcomer of the Year for the 2024-25 season, averaging 18.1 points per game while shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from behind the arc. He became just the second player in program history to earn the College Insider Lou Henson Award, presented to the top mid-major player in college basketball.
Norfolk State notched its third consecutive 20-win season in 2023-24, amassing a 24-11 overall record. The Spartans clinched the MEAC regular season title with an 11-3 mark in conference play, before earning the program’s first-ever Division I nonconference postseason championship, erasing an 18-point deficit to take down Purdue Fort Wayne 75-67 in the CollegeInsider Tournament (CIT) championship game.
The MEAC Player of the Year award went to a Norfolk State student-athlete for the third consecutive year, given to NSU guard Jamarii Thomas. The junior also received the MEAC Newcomer of the Year accolade, while his backcourt teammate Allen Betrand took MEAC Sixth Player of the Year honors.
The Spartans posted a 22-11 overall record in 2022-23, earning the team’s fourth consecutive appearance in the conference championship game. Joe Bryant Jr. was named the MEAC Player of the Year for the second straight campaign, receiving First Team All-MEAC honors alongside teammate Kris Bankston. Both players were also selected to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) after the season’s conclusion.
NSU also averaged 75.8 points per game in 2022-23, the program’s most since 1999-2000. The Spartans led the conference in scoring average, field goal percentage, defensive field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounds per game, and assist/turnover ratio.
NSU repeated as MEAC champion in 2021-22, the first time in program history the Spartans won the league’s title and NCAA berth in consecutive years. Led by MEAC Player of the Year Bryant and a total of three All-MEAC selections (first-teamer Bryant, second-teamer Bankston and third-teamer Jalen Hawkins), the Spartans posted the best-ever start to a season for a MEAC team in the league’s Division I era, at 9-1.
NSU logged a 12-2 MEAC mark in 2021-22, winning the outright MEAC regular-season title. The Spartans clinched the regular-season championship in dominant fashion, defeating North Carolina Central 75-46 at Echols Hall.
The 2020-21 team won a share of the MEAC Northern Division title at 8-4 before going on to capture the MEAC Championship, just the second ever for the program. NSU defeated Appalachian State in the NCAA Tournament First Four, in the process becoming the only current member of the MEAC to win a second NCAA Tournament game.
The Spartans also became the first NSU team to win both the MEAC regular season and tournament titles in the same year. They were later named the HBCU Large School National Champion by the Black College Sports Network (BCSN).
An NSU grad, Fairley held the title of interim assistant coach during his first year in 2018-19. The Spartans captured the MEAC regular-season title that season at 14-2, their second ever since joining the league in 1997. He has been involved with the program during all six of its MEAC titles, including a postseason championship in 2011-12 and a regular-season title in 2012-13.
The Spartans went 22-14 overall in his first season as an assistant coach, the second most wins in their Division I era. Win No. 22 came against Alabama in the NIT first round, when the Spartans knocked off the No. 1 seed Crimson Tide after earning the MEAC’s automatic bid to the tournament.
In Fairley’s second year in 2019-20, NSU finished in a tie for second in the MEAC at 12-4. The season was shut down prior to NSU’s first game in the MEAC Tournament due to COVID-19. The Spartans are now 125-66 overall and 66-20 in the MEAC during his first six years with the program.
A total of five players earned All-MEAC status in 2018-19 in Nic Thomas and Derrik Jamerson Jr. (second team), Steven Whitley and Jordan Butler (third team) and C.J. Kelly (all-rookie team). Jermaine Bishop (first team), Whitley (third team) and Tyrese Jenkins (all-rookie team) gave the program three more All-MEAC honors in 2019-20. The Spartans then followed that up with two more in 2020-21 in Devante Carter (second team) and Joe Bryant Jr. (third team).
Fairley served as a student manager at NSU for three seasons from 2011-2014, assisting coaches with practices, video recording, film exchange, and travel and equipment. He was part of a Spartan program that won the MEAC tournament title in 2012 and the MEAC regular-season championship in 2013, advancing to the NCAA Tournament and NIT, respectively.
For four seasons from 2014-18, Fairley continued to volunteer with the program. He oversaw other student managers and video and film exchange while continuing to assist with practice, travel and equipment on a weekly basis. He also worked NSU’s summer camps and served as a bench assistant during games, both home and away, charting various plays and statistics for the coaching staff.
Fairley received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Norfolk State in December of 2017.
