Following 41 years with the Bentley University men’s basketball program, including 35 years as the head coach, Jay Lawson retired in June 2026,
 
The Bentley University men’s basketball program has been a model of consistency over the decades and much of that success can be attributed to the leadership of Coach Lawson. In the very competitive Northeast 10 Conference, Lawson and his staff provided the Falcons with exceptional continuity and direction. In 32 of his 34 seasons, his teams achieved winning records.
 
During his tenure, Lawson amassed an overall record of 664-335 (.665). From 2000-01 until his final season at the helm, Bentley posted a conference-best .679 winning percentage in regular season Northeast-10 games.
 
Lawson’s final five seasons saw the Falcons post a 104-43 record and finish second, or tied for second, in the Northeast 10 the last four. The 2021-22 team made the program's fourth trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, the 2022-23 squad returned to the NCAA Division II East Regional championship game and the Falcons earned their 21^st NCAA tournament appearance in 2026.
 
From 2005-26, the Falcons won eight of 21 Northeast 10 regular season championships (including an unprecedented five straight from 2005-09 and Northeast Division titles in 2016 and 2022), reached the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen eight times and competed in four Elite Eights, 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 NE10 regular season and playoff championships as well as the program’s first NCAA Division II Northeast Regional title. Bentley also became the first NE10 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 NE10 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 NE10). 
             
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 included 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 natiional 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, finished his career ranked amongst the top Division II coaches nationally in both winning percentage and victories. At the time of his retirement, he ranked fourth among active Division II coaches in wins and 16^th in winning percentage,
 
Lawson is the only coach 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 41 years at Bentley, Lawson coached 52 of the program’s top 75 scorers and his players earned 69 All-Northeast 10 awards, All-America recognition eight times and Academic All-America honors six times. In 2010, he had the NABC Division II 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), Duquesne and UMBC, with an NCAA appearance in 2026. Perri is in his ninth year as head coach at Southern New Hampshire, and was previously the head coach at LIU Brooklyn from 2012-17, with an NCAA berth in 2014, and Rhode Island College. Bettencourt has a .705 winning percentage during his 12 years at Endicott with four NCAA tournament appearances.
 
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 Falcon player who succeeded his father as Bentley’s head coach, and Emily. 
 

The Lawson Record