Mr. Lyman Foster

Title

Women's Basketball Volunteer Assistant Coach
Phone

535-5036

Lyman Foster is in his third season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Claflin University women's basketball program. Foster, who began his tenure with the Lady Panther program in the 2012-13 season is no stranger to the coaching world or to Orangeburg, as he served as an assistant and head coach for the women’s program at neighboring South Carolina State University (SC State), an NCAA Division I institution, from 1988-1993.

In his five seasons as the head at SC State, Foster accumulated a 79-68 overall record for a winning percentage of .537. During that time, he won three Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) women’s basketball championships. Foster’s history with SC State dates back to 1974, when he served as an assistant coach from 1974-1988. While an assistant, the SC State teams finished with a 305-93 overall record, captured the 1979 AIAW National Championship, were AIAW Runner-up in 1978 and won five MEAC championships. In 1983, SC State received a bid to the NCAA post-season tournament and became the first HBCU to win a NCAA tournament game on the women’s side.

Foster’s coaching career began on the men’s side when he served as an assistant coach at Coppin State from 1971-1972. He also had a 13-year high school coaching career where he won 270 games and reached three state championship finals. In addition, he served as the head golf coach at SC State (1988-1993) where he won three HBCU National Championships and was HBCU runner-ups twice.

A Tuskegee, Ala. native, Foster received his Bachelor of Science degree from Alabaman State in 1970 and his M.Ed. in 1971 from the University of Pittsburgh. He also did further study at the University of Alabama.

Foster is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., a two-time member of the SC State Athletics Hall-of-FAME (Individually and with the AIAW Team) and a former member of the South Carolina Official Associations. He is also a retired high school basketball official.

He and his wife, Linda W. Foster, have two children -- Shana and Sean.