Kim Lusk, a veteran of coaching at the NCAA Division II level, was named Head Women's Basketball Coach on June 27, 2022 becoming the ninth head coach in the 45-year history of the program.
In her first two seasons at the Abbey, Lusk has accumulated an overall record of 46-13. The Crusaders clinched the Conference Carolinas regular season title as well as the top seed in the conference tournament in her first season leading team. Additionally, Lusk was named the 2023 Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year. Â
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In the past two seasons, the Crusaders have had four student-athletes named to the all-conference team as well as the 2024 Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year.
Lusk came to The Abbey after one year as Athletic Director at Lincoln Charter School in Lincolnton, N.C., a position she took after relocating from New York with her family in the summer of 2021.
"Having conducted an exhaustive and inclusive evaluation of the merits of all applicants, we are thrilled to name Kim Lusk as Head Coach of Belmont Abbey College's Women's Basketball Program," Miss said. "Without question, Coach Lusk's alignment with and conviction in The Abbey's identity, mission, and values - as well as with our implementation model - elevated her candidacy.
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"Coach Lusk's intentional, authentic, and steadfast commitment to the students she has coached, mentored, and taught over the years at previous institutions deeply impressed all involved in our search process and convinced us that she was the ideal choice going forward to better enable each and every student of ours to realize her full potential as a whole person and, thereby, become a Champion: Body, Mind, and Soul. We are very excited to work alongside Kim to realize our collective vision of building upon a strong foundation to ensure we remain perennially relevant on the national stage in the sport of women's basketball."
Prior to that, she headed the program at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Orangeburg, N.Y., where she led the Spartans to two NCAA Tournament appearances, three East Coast Conference regular-season championships and one tournament title. She was a three-time recipient of ECC Coach of the Year honors (2011, 2019, 2020), while also earning the Division II Coach of the Year award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association in 2011, 2018 and 2019.
Three of her players were named league Player of the Year, while four garnered Defensive Player of the Year honors and two were selected as Rookie of the Year. In 13 seasons, STAC made the conference tournament 12 times.
Lusk gained her first full-time coaching appointment at New Jersey Institute of Technology in June of 2000, taking over the head coaching reins just one year later. Over the next four seasons, she became the school's all-time winningest coach with 63 wins and made the postseason each year. In her final season, 2005-06, she helped transition the program to Division I before stepping down to spend more time with her children.
Lusk earned her 300th collegiate win on February 1st, 2023, when the Crusaders defeated Erskine College, 59-39. In 20 seasons overall as a head coach, Lusk holds a 329-234 record (.584).
Lusk earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Southern Connecticut State University in 1999 before adding an M.B.A. from the University of New Haven in 2001.
She and her husband, Jim, live in Denver, N.C., with their four children.
