Jay Lawson
Jay Lawson

Bio

Jay Lawson

The Bentley University men’s basketball program has been a model of consistency over the decades and much of this can be attributed to the leadership of head coach Jay Lawson. At a time when the Northeast-10 Conference has grown into the nation’s deepest and most competitive league, Lawson and his staff have provided the teams with exceptional continuity and direction. 

Under his guidance, the Falcons have achieved winning records in 29 of 31 seasons and have an overall record of 608-304 (.667). Since the 2000-01 season, Bentley has a conference-best .681 winning percentage in regular season Northeast-10 games.

Over the last two seasons, Bentley has a 48-12 overall record. The 2021-22 team made the program's fourth trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and last year's squad returned to the NCAA Division II East Regional championship game.

The Falcons have won eight of the last 18 Northeast-10 regular season championships (including an unprecedented five straight from 2005-09 and Northeast Division titles in 2016 and 2022), have reached the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen eight times since 2005 and have competed in four Elite Eights since 2007, including two national semifinal games. From 2005-12, Bentley averaged 26 wins per season with Division II’s third highest winning percentage (.803) over that span.

Included during that time frame were the two best seasons in program and conference history. From 2006-08, Bentley posted a combined 66-2 record, made the first two Elite Eight trips in program history, and broke a 63-year-old Division II national record with 54 regular season wins in a row.

The phenomenal two-year stretch began during the 2006-07 season when the Falcons won their first 32 games before losing in the Elite Eight to reigning national champion Winona State, which was also undefeated at the time. The Bentley win streak broke the New England record of 29, set by a Bob Cousy-led Holy Cross team 57 years earlier. Other special achievements included the NE-10 regular season and playoff championships as well as the program’s first NCAA Division II Northeast Regional title. Bentley also became the first NE-10 team to achieve a 22-0 conference record and spent the final five weeks of the season ranked #2 nationally.

What happened the next season was even more amazing. The 2007-08 Falcons actually improved on the incredible achievements from the previous year! This time they won their first 34 games en route to the Elite Eight and along the way again won the NE-10 regular season championship, the conference playoffs and a second consecutive Northeast Regional crown.

Bentley spent the entire 2007-08 season ranked #1 in the national poll and finished the season again with a just a single loss to eventual champion Winona State (this time in the national semifinal game). The Falcons concluded the campaign with a string of 54 straight wins over conference opponents, a remarkable feat given the competitiveness of the NE-10.              

Bentley turned in another championship season in 2008-09, finishing at an impressive 26-7 while extending its string of Northeast-10 regular season titles to an amazing five, winning the conference by two games over UMass-Lowell. Lawson’s club reached the NCAA Division II regional championship game for the fourth time in five years.

Before ending in November 2008, the Falcons’ NCAA Division II record regular season winning streak reached 55, matching the string of 55 consecutive W’s against conference foes.

In 2010, Bentley reached the Elite Eight for the third time in four years and advanced to  the national semifinals where they again lost a close contest to the eventual champions, capping a second straight 26-7 season.

Bentley’s list of accomplishments under Lawson also includes the first 30-win season in the program’s storied history (30-6 in 2004-05), a number one ranking in Division II that same season and the sixth Northeast-10 regular season title in seven years in 2012.

Success for Bentley under Lawson began in his first season. The Falcons achieved a 17-10 record during the 1991-92 campaign, a turnaround of seven games from the year before. Bentley returned to NCAA Division II tournament action in 1993 when it captured the Northeast-10 regular season championship and was ranked 11th in the final national rankings.

Three years later, in 1995-96, Lawson’s Falcons began a string of 16 consecutive winning seasons. The 2002 team earned an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament after emerging from the fourth seed to win the NE-10 playoff championship.

Lawson, the winningest and longest-tenured coach in the program’s history, also ranks high amongst the top Division II coaches nationally in both winning percentage and victories. In wins, he entered this season ranked seventh among active Division II coaches. He is the only man who has been named the Northeast-10 Coach of the Year and the NABC Division II Northeast Region Coach of the Year more than four times, winning the conference award six times (1993, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2016) and the regional honor on five occasions (1993, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008). He was the Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year in 2005, and the Basketball Times co-Division II Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008. He has also been cited by the New England Basketball Coaches Association (1993, 2004) and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame (2004). 

Recruiting and developing good players (and coaches) is an important part of any successful program. During his 38 years at Bentley (he was an assistant for six years before taking the helm in September 1991), Lawson has coached 52 of the program’s top 75 scorers, 43 All-Northeast-10 honorees, seven All-Americas, four Academic All-Americas and a National Player of the Year (Jason Westrol).

Three of his former top assistants (Jim Ferry, Jack Perri, Kevin Bettencourt) left Bentley for head coaching positions. Ferry has been the head coach at Plymouth State, Adelphi, LIU Brooklyn (with NCAA berths in 2011 and 2012) and Duquesne, and is in his third year as head coach at Maryland-Baltimore County. Perri, who is in his sixth year as head coach at Southern New Hampshire, was previously the head coach at LIU Brooklyn from 2012-17, with an NCAA berth in 2014, and Rhode Island College. Bettencourt has led Endicott to the NCAA tournament in three of his eight seasons at the helm.

Prior to coming to Bentley, Lawson spent coaching stints at Fairfield University (assistant in 1991), Dartmouth College (assistant in 1984-85), Lexington High School (assistant from 1982-84) and Upper Cape Regional High School (head coach from 1980-82).

Lawson is a Cleveland, Ohio native and a 1979 graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He resides in Waltham with his wife, Claudia. They have two children, Danny, a former Bentley player and an assistant coach with Ferry at UMBC, and Emily. 

The Lawson Record

            All Games     Northeast-10  
Year  W L PCT W L Place NCAA
91-92 17 10 .630 10 8 4th  
92-93 24 7 .774 15 3 1st 1st Round
93-94 14 13 .519 8 10 t-7th  
94-95 10 17 .370 7 11 t-7th  
95-96 18 9 .667 11 5 t-2nd  
96-97 16 11 .593 10 8 t-4th  
97-98 16 11 .593 11 9 t-5th  
98-99 16 12 .571 8 10 t-6th  
99-00 17 11 .607 10 8 5th  
00-01 18 13 .581 13 9 4th  
01-02 20 10 .667 16 6 t-3rd 1st Round
02-03 17 12 .586 12 10 t-6th  
03-04 18 11 .621 15 7 t-2nd  
04-05 30 6 .833 20 2 1st Sweet 16
05-06 21 9 .700 17 5 t-1st 1st Round
06-07 32 1 .970 22 0 1st Elite Eight
07-08 34 1 .971 22 0 1st Final Four
08-09 26 7 .788 18 4 1st Sweet 16
09-10 26 7 .788 17 5 2nd Final Four
10-11 24 8 .750 18 4 1st Sweet 16
11-12 15 12 .556 11 11 t-7th  
12-13 11 15 .423 9 13 t-11th  
13-14 18 11 .621 11 10 5th-NE  
14-15 15 12 .556 10 11 t-5th-NE  
15-16 21 9 .700 16 5 1st-NE 1st Round 
16-17 14 13 .519 11 10 5th-NE  
17-18 16 12 .571 12 9 t-3rd-NE  
18-19 19 10 .655 12 9 3rd-NE  
19-20 17 12 .586 9 10 t-4th NE  
20-21 Season cancelled - pandemic    
21-22 25 5 .833 14 4 1st-NE Elite Eight
22-23 23 7 .767 15 5 t-2nd Sweet 16
Totals 608 304 .667 410 221