Lou Hamilton spent five seasons as assistant coach with the NSU women’s basketball team before transitioning to a role in the strength and conditioning department. Hamilton’s main duties as assistant coach included working with the Spartans’ post players in addition to coordinating recruiting, community service initiatives, and team managers and practice players.
Over the past several seasons, the Spartans have achieved their best multi-year run in nearly 25 years. Most recently, NSU went 12-4 and tied for second in the MEAC in 2019-20. The program posted a 19-11 overall record, the second-most wins in the its Division I history, before the season was shut down prior to the MEAC Tournament semifinals due to COVID-19.
The Spartans went .500 or better overall and in the MEAC in four straight years. The second-place standing in 2019-20 was also tied for NSU’s best finish ever in the league.
That came off the heels of a 2018-19 campaign that saw the Spartans go 10-6 and finish fourth in the MEAC. They advanced to the MEAC Championship title game for the first time in 14 years, ending North Carolina A&T’s 28-game win streak against conference foes with a win in the semis.
NSU had its finest season in 16 years in 2017-18, posting an 18-11 record – its first winning season and the most wins since the MEAC Championship squad of 2001-02. The Spartans went 11-5 in the league for a fourth-place standing.
Hamilton coached Kayla Roberts to her second-consecutive first team All-MEAC selection and BOXTOROW D-I Second Team All-American honors after the senior forward averaged 14.2 points and 7.9 rebounds in 2017-18. Roberts was named to the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State second team and broke the school’s all-time blocks record.
That record, of course, stood for just one year before Khadedra Croker topped it in 2018-19 after just two seasons with the program. She set the program’s individual single-season record in 2017-18, helping NSU to rank second nationally in blocks per game (7.3) while setting a team program record with 213 total blocks that year.
Spartan forwards played big parts in NSU’s stingy defense. Norfolk State finished in the top 3 in the league in defensive rebound percentage, rebound margin, scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in 2018-19. The program ranked 11th nationally in both of the latter two categories that year as well.
NSU’s forwards dominated the boards in 2017-18, ranking third in the conference in rebounds per game and first in rebounding margin. Most recently, Norfolk State ranked third in the MEAC in defensive rebound percentage and field goal percentage defense in 2019-20.
Norfolk State improved by 12 wins with Hamilton on the bench for his second year in 2016-17, the largest single-season turnaround in program history. The Spartan’s 15 wins tied for the third most in the program’s Division I era and were the most since 2001-02.
Under Hamilton’s coaching, the Spartans ranked third in the MEAC in rebounds and blocked the sixth-most shots per game in NCAA Division I (5.9). Kayla Roberts set the program’s D-I mark, later topped by Croker, with 59 blocks.
In his first season with the Spartans in 2015-16, Hamilton coached two of the MEAC’s top-10 rebounders in conference leader Siobhan Beslow and Roberts, who was 10th. Beslow also ranked first in the MEAC in offensive rebounds and second in field-goal percentage.
Prior to Norfolk State, Hamilton was the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach in charge of post players at Delaware State. Prior to joining NSU, he had five years of experience coaching at Division I HBCUs, which includes stints at Grambling State and North Carolina A&T in addition to Delaware State.
In 2014-15, Hamilton helped mentor a pair of double-digit scorers at DSU. Post player Tierra Hawkins earned All-MEAC first-team honors while ranking sixth in the MEAC in scoring (16.1 points per game), while frontcourt teammate Amber Bogard averaged 13.4 points per game. Thanks in part to the efforts of those two players, DSU led the MEAC in field goal percentage.
A former high school and AAU coach, Hamilton broke into the collegiate ranks on Patricia Cage-Bibbs' staff at North Carolina A&T in 2010. Hamilton spent two seasons on the Lady Aggies' bench, helping them compiled a 19-13 MEAC record. He served as recruiting coordinator and worked primarily with N.C. A&T's post players. While in Greensboro, Hamilton helped recruit several standout players, including Eboni Ross, who went onto win the MEAC Rookie of the Year Award in 2012-13. Ross was one of two future MEAC All-Rookie Team players recruited by Hamilton to North Carolina A&T.
Following the 2011-12 season, Hamilton moved along with Cage-Bibbs to Grambling State. After again serving as her recruiting coordinator and assistant in charge of post players in 2012-13, Hamilton was interim head coach for GSU in 2013-14 with Cage-Bibbs sidelined for health reasons. Grambling improved from ninth place in the SWAC standings in 2012-13 to seventh the following season, including a first-round SWAC Tournament victory.
Also while at Grambling, Hamilton helped the Lady Tigers sign a pair of Parade All-American high school performers, Dennisha Chambers and Ahlisha Henderson.
Before entering the college ranks, Hamilton coached at the high school level and with multiple AAU and youth league organizations.
A native of Greenville, S.C., Hamilton was a three-sport athlete in high school. He began his collegiate career as a football student-athlete at Charleston Southern before transferring to Fayetteville State University to finish his collegiate career. Hamilton earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Fayetteville State in 1995.
