JOHNSON CITY, TENN. — Heading into her second season as a Division I head coach, Tynesha Lewis is feeling grateful. In the leadup to the 2025-26 campaign, the UNC-Asheville head coach has structure. She and her team have a set schedule. They know where they’re practicing. And at the end of those tough days on the court, they’re returning to their homes and dorm rooms.
Sometimes when she’s walking around campus or Kimmel Arena, she catches herself smiling for no reason at all.
“Just smiling to be able to practice in the gym,” Lewis said. “To be able to drive home and drive back.”
A year ago, Mother Nature didn’t allow the Bulldogs to enjoy some of those things that many collegiate athletic programs take for granted.
Hurricane Helene brought its sudden wrath and destruction to Western North Carolina during the final weekend of September in 2024. With it came record-breaking rainfall, flash floods, wild winds, widespread power outages and communication blackouts in an area of the state that rarely sees the effects from coastal storms. According to Blue Ridge Public Radio, at least 108 people were killed by Helene and the storm’s long-lasting impact. Helene also damaged at least 126,000 homes in Western North Carolina and left about 12,000 people without a stable place to live.
After the storm came to Western North Carolina last fall, UNC-Asheville became a nomadic team. Players and coaches drove south to Charlotte, where they made a hotel their home for weeks and practiced wherever they could find an open gym. Most often, that was at facilities operated by local high schools or other colleges, and the Charlotte Hornets also offered their space to Lewis’ team. Often, they never practiced in the same place two days in a row.
For the Bulldogs, this was real adversity — much more than an injury or a big loss to a rival.
“We had perspective. Like, we were living in a hotel, but other folks are not,” Lewis told SB Nation at Big South Media Day. “It was tough for them… But gratefulness is the word I live by. It was definitely personified last year.
How much that nomadic lifestyle and the effects from Helene influenced UNC-Asheville’s preseason preparation and performance on the court is hard to quantify.
“I don’t know, but what I will say is that I’m super proud of how these young folks handled that. It was a lot,” Lewis said. “Athletes are big on structure. They fall all to pieces if one thing changes. In this situation, 700 things changed. Maybe it affected the season. Maybe. But I know they learned something about resilience… We had a billion injuries as well. And it can be connected maybe to not being able to get the things that we’re used to.
“But we don’t live in excuses. We live in, ‘This is what happened. What can we learn?’”
Again, it’s difficult to say how much Helene impacted the Bulldogs in games, but the results were not good. UNC-Asheville limped through the season and finished with a 4-27 overall record and a 1-15 mark in Big South play. They did win a game in the Big South Tournament, topping Presbyterian 69-63.
That was a contest where Deborah Orianegbena shined, pulling down a team-best nine rebounds to go along with six points, an assist and a steal. She’s one of just three returners to the Bulldogs this season.
With the results being what they were, Lewis knew she had to revamp her roster. She brought in 11 newcomers, including six transfers from N.C. A&T, East Carolina, Morgan State, Morehead State, UT Arlington and Coastal Carolina. Three additional players arrived from the JUCO ranks, hailing from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Indian River State College, and Tyler Junior College.
“One big difference with this team is everybody is very, very athletic,” Orianegbena told SB Nation. “We’re all on the same pace. Everybody is running.”
Lewis was selective as she combed the portal and searched for new players. A specific mindset was the thing she zeroed in on the most.
“I don’t think I’m hard to play for, but I’m hard to play for, you know? Like, there’s just a level that is the standard and it’s not going to change. You come to come up to it or it’s just not going to work out. It’s not a bad thing, but you have to come up here,” Lewis says, raising her hand above her head. “Do you want to win everywhere? Do you want to win in your character? In the community? In the classroom? If the answer is no to any of those, then I’m not your coach. So, that’s what I look for. We all want kids that can play, but will they gel together? Because this ain’t tennis. You got to play together.”
A North Carolina native, Lewis was a three-time All-ACC selection at N.C. State where she played point guard for Kay Yow. As a freshman, she was a key role player on the Wolfpack team that went to the Final Four.
She played in the WNBA for six seasons, then embarked on a career in coaching. Before coming to Asheville, she guided Division II Elizabeth City State to three appearances in the CIAA title game, the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and she won the 2023 Clarence Gaines Division II Coach of the Year award.
“I’m a winner everywhere. There’s nothing that I’ve put my mind to that I haven’t accomplished,” Lewis said. “I want them to believe that they can do that too. And so, I have to walk it before them, and I have to speak it before them.”
While the win-loss record obviously wasn’t where Lewis wanted it to be last season, the team did seem to improve on defense right away. They finished the season ranking 13th nationally in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 27.1 percent from behind the arc.
“We want to defend a lot and hard. We want to lead the league in defense. That’s our goal. It’s always been my goal,” Lewis said. “And this year, if they miss them, we are on break. It’s great to be able to defend the 3, but you have to make them pay when they miss. And we want to make them pay because 3-point missed shots are outlets for transition. So, this year, you can shoot them, but you better make them.
“They don’t want to run a half-court offense. I can call a play every single time, but they’re not interested. So, let them get out there and run.”
In terms of pace, there’s nowhere to go but up for the Bulldogs. They ranked 335th out of 362 teams in points per 100 possessions.
Unlike last season because of Helene, UNC-Asheville will play four games at home in November. Fans going to those contests can expect the Bulldogs to be running, out of the remnants of the storm and towards the basket.
And if the team piles up more wins than losses, Lewis will probably catch herself smiling much more often. But this time, she’ll know the reasons why.
