Jon Lewis became the head coach at MNU prior to the 2011-12 season and has transformed the Pioneers into a nationally ranked powerhouse. In ten years at the helm, Lewis has three times been Heart of America Coach of the Year and has won four Heart of America Conference championships, four Heart conference tournament championships with ten national tournament appearances. In 2016 the Pioneers were NAIA National Champions and Lewis was named 2016 NAIA National Coach of the Year. In the 2021 season, his teams reached the Sweet 16. In ten years at MNU, his record is 248-71 overall, 178-37 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

Prior to becoming head coach, Lewis spent five seasons at MNU as the lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Bill Olin and Karen Lange. Under their tutelage, Jon proved to be a dynamic recruiter and student of the game. In addition to working with the Pioneers, Lewis has been instrumental in developing many NCAA DI, DII, and NAIA student-athletics while co-founding the Hoops Factory program. Most recently he has helped build one of the Midwest top girls club basketball programs, Eclipse, an elite non-for-profit AAU program with over 25 teams. While traveling across the country coaching summer teams, Lewis has been able to evaluate and recruit some of the nation’s best prospects.

During his playing years with the MNU men’s basketball team, Jon was a part of multiple conference championships and four national tournament teams. The knowledge gained from working with MNU men’s basketball coach, Rocky Lamar, has been invaluable to Jon’s coaching experience. As part of the MNU coaching staff, the Pioneers have had the best seasons in women’s basketball history.

Jon has coached in ten national tournaments, finishing in 2016 as NAIA National Champions. He has helped recruit and coach three Conference Freshmen of the Year, five Conference Players of the Year, two Conference Newcomer of the Year, one Conference Defensive Player of the Year, thirty-six All-Conference selections, nineteen NAIA All-America performers and numerous NAIA-Daktronics Scholar-Athletes.