The 2024-25 season will be Head Men's Basketball Coach Lonnie Blow, Jr.'s 11th season at Virginia State after being hired prior to the 2013 season.
Most recently, Coach Blow, Jr. led the Trojans to a 17-11 overall record in 2022-23. Virginia State went 10-6 in conference play, resulting in a first round bye in the CIAA Basketball Tournament. In 2021-22, Coach Blow, Jr. had the first losing season of his collegiate head coaching career with a 10-16 record and an appearance in the CIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. However, in the year prior, the Trojans went 19-9 overall, 12-3 in conference action, claimed the CIAA Northern Division title, and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Atlantic Region Basketball Tournament before the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the cancellation of the tournament.
In 2018-19, Coach Blow, Jr. led the Trojans to their best season in school record with a 28-5 overall record that including a program-record 16 consecutive wins, a CIAA Tournament Championship, and an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA Atlantic Region. The performance earned Virginia State the title of HBCU Mid-Major National Champions. Coach Blow, Jr. received the Clarence “Big House Gaines” National Coach of the Year award, the BOXTOROW Coach of the Year award, the NABC All-Atlantic Region Co-Coach of the Year award, the HBCU Digest Male Coach of the Year, and the CIAA Coach of the Year award after the season.
In 2017-18, Coach Blow, Jr. led the Trojans to the No. 1 ranking in the Atlantic Region, making Virginia State the host, while posting a 25-5 overall record. The Trojans finished the season as NCAA Atlantic Region Semi-Finalists and Coach Blow, Jr. earned CIAA Coach of the Year and NCAA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors.
In 2015-16, Coach Blow, Jr. earned his first CIAA Coach of the Year award and his first CIAA Conference Tournament Championship with the Trojans. It was also the first BOXTOROW Coach of the Year honor, the first HBCU Mid-Major Coach of the Year honor, and first NCAA Tournament appearance for Coach Blow, Jr. for the Trojans, who finished the season with a 24-6 record.
Coach Blow, Jr. is the first head coach in CIAA basketball history to win a conference championship at two different CIAA institutions and he holds four CIAA Coach of the Year awards, including three with the Trojans. Coach Blow, Jr. won his first CIAA Tournament Championship and was awarded his first CIAA Coach of the Year honor in 2009-10 with St. Augustine's. The Falcons' 27 wins that season is a school-record and Coach Blow, Jr. coached St. Augustine's for three years and had a 62-27 overall record with the Falcons.
As an assistant coach, Blow, Jr. has a 2012 Colonial Athletic Association Championship with Old Dominion University and a 2006 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship with Hampton University. Coach Blow, Jr. was an assistant with the Monarchs from 2010-2012 and the Pirates from 2006-2008. In 2000, Coach Blow, Jr. won a Virginia High School League State Championship as Head Boy's Basketball Coach at Granby High School and then led them to a state semifinals appearance in 2001 with a record of 27-3.
Coach Blow, Jr. received his B.S. in sociology and criminal justice in 1982 from Virginia Wesleyan College, where he also starred on the basketball team from 1978 to 1982. Blow Jr. Was named the Dixie Conference Player of the Year in his junior season. Also, Blow Jr. was a three-time all-conference selection and a two-time South Atlantic Region All-American selection. He finished his collegiate career as the Marlins’ third-leading scorer all-time with 1,574 points. His 281 made field goals in 1980-81 is still a Marlins record and his 698 career field goals is second in school history. In 2009, Blow Jr. was inducted into the Virginia Wesleyan College Hall of Fame.
Coach Blow, Jr. is married to Donna Maxine and has one adult son, Kenneth.
