Eric Lewis is in his third year at the Naval Academy serving as the safeties coach and defensive passing game coordinator.
In his second year at Navy, Lewis helped lead the Mids to a 10-3 record, wins over Air Force and Army to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and a victory over Oklahoma to win the Armed Forces Bowl. The 10 wins marked just the sixth time in school history Navy has won 10 or more games in a season.
The win over Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl was the first time Navy has defeated a team from the SEC in a bowl game since 1954 (1955 Sugar Bowl) when the Mids beat Ole Miss 21-0. It was the first win against an SEC team overall since Navy defeated Vanderbilt in 2004.
Navy finished the regular season with a complete domination of Service Academy rival #19 Army, knocking off the Black Knights 31-13 in the 125th playing of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA. With wins over Air Force and Army, the Mids won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is presented annually to the winner of the football competition among the 3 major service academies (Navy, Air Force and Army) and is named in honor of the President of the United States.
Navy won the two Service Academy games in 2024 by a combined 45 points, which ties the 2019 Navy team for the biggest combined CIC blowouts by any of the three Service Academies since 2007 when Navy beat Air Force and Army by a combined 46 points.
Navy’s win over Army gave Navy victories over two ranked opponents for the first time since 1958, when the Mids defeated #8 / #7 Rice 20-7 and #14 / #12 Michigan 20-14. Navy defeated #24 (Coaches) Memphis 56-44 on Sept. 21, 2024.
Navy was predicted to finish 11th in the 2024 American Athletic Conference preseason poll and ended the year tied for third with Memphis (Navy beat Memphis head-to-head) with a 6-2 mark.
In its 10 wins in 2024, Navy outscored the opposition 104-7 in points off turnovers.
Senior safety Rayuan Lane III (Sr. / S) was named First-Team All-AAC by the league head coaches.
Lane III made his 43rd-consecutive start at safety for the Mids in the win over Oklahoma, which was the longest active streak for a safety in the FBS and second longest by a player in the secondary. Sporting News named him to its Midseason First-Team All-America Team, while he was also named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. College Football Network named Lane III the National Special Teams Player of the Year, a First-Team All-American on Special Teams and a Third-Team All-American on defense. He played in the prestigious Senior Bowl and was invited to the NFL Combine.
In his first year at Navy, the Mids tied Penn State for the most shutouts in the country with three. The three shutouts are the most by a Navy team since 1978 when George Welsh’s stop troops recorded four shutouts. Navy also held a potent UAB attack out of the end zone in its 31-6 win over the Blazers, giving up just two field goals.
Navy’s defense finished second in the nation in fumble recoveries (14), third in red zone defense (allowed opponents to score just 72% of the time), fourth in turnover margin (+0.92) and 19th in the country in stop rate (71.3%).
Junior safety Rayuan Lane III garnered Third-Team All-AAC accolades and was named All-East after posting 66 tackles (3rd on the team), 3 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, accounted for 4 of Navy’s 10 interceptions (entered 2023 with 1 career INT), had a team-best 8 pass breakups (entered 2023 with 8-career PBUs), a fumble recovery and 2 forced fumbles. He returned an interception against UAB 97 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest interception return in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium history, the 2nd longest in Navy history, the 2nd longest in AAC history and tied for the 6th longest play in school history.
Navy finished with a 5-7 record and a 4-4 mark in the American Athletic Conference in 2023. The Mids, picked ninth in the preseason poll by the league’s coaches, finished tied for fifth in the AAC.
The five wins were the most by a Navy team since 2019, while five of Navy’s seven losses came at the hands of a team that played in a bowl game including two teams that finished in the top 25 (Notre Dame at #14 and SMU at #22).
Lewis came to Navy from Bowling Green, where he had been the secondary coach for the last three years and the defensive coordinator for the last two seasons.
In 2022, he helped lead the Falcons to the Quicken Lanes Bowl as the Bowling Green defense tied a school record and finished 16th in the nation with 38 sacks. Defensive end Karl Brooks finished with 10 sacks, which was tied for 13th in the nation and third in school history. Brooks was a First-Team All-American by Pro Football Focus and was PFF’s top graded edge rusher in the nation.
In 2021, Lewis’ first as the defensive coordinator, the BGSU defense led the MAC as it recorded its best season defensively since 2013, allowing opponents only 373.7 yards per game.
Lewis joined Bowling Green following a stint coaching the defensive backs at Boston College in 2019 and coaching the secondary at Colorado State in 2018.
While at Colorado State Lewis helped the team improve 28 spots nationally in pass defense.
Lewis was a quality control assistant at Tennessee in 2017 after spending the 2015 and ‘16 seasons at Georgia State. While at Georgia State, Lewis’ 2016 secondary ranked sixth in the NCAA in passing efficiency defense and eighth in passing defense, while allowing the fewest passing touchdowns in FBS (8).
In 2015, his Georgia State team was the most improved defense in the country in terms of scoring defense (allowing 15 points per game fewer than the previous season), rush defense and passing defense efficiency.
Other stops for Lewis include the secondary coach at Buffalo (2014), defensive coordinator at Weber State (2012-13), defensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan (2009), cornerbacks coach at Louisville (2008), defensive quality control coach with the Green Bay Packers (2006-07), safeties coach at Ball State (2003-05), defensive backs coach at Bucknell (2002) and graduate assistant at Michigan State (2001).
Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration (finance) from San Diego State, having played for the Aztecs from 1994-98. He was a 2014 inductee into the St. Francis High School Hall of Fame. Lewis was a four-year starter at San Diego State and finished as the Aztecs’ all-time leader in career pass breakups.
He is the son of long-time college and NFL coach Sherman Lewis. He and his wife Elizabeth, have four children – Taylor, Harper, Emerson and Micah.
