The decision Gerald Lewis made to return to his alma mater as the director of operations for SMU’s men’s basketball team might have raised a few eyebrows among his friends and coaching colleagues. After all, he left his position as an assistant coach at New Mexico State for a job in which he won’t be able to do any on-court coaching or recruiting of players to the school for which he played.

But to Lewis, it was an easy decision, and one that had been a long time coming.

“It started about three years ago,” Lewis said. “I reached out to (SMU head) Coach (Matt) Doherty about wanting to come back to SMU, and he said he was wanting to hire someone he was comfortable with, and someone he knew … so from there, I tried to make it a point that he knew me. When I’d come to town, I’d make it a point of coming by to see him. There were a couple of lunches, and we would see each other on the road, and built a relationship from there.

Gerald Lewis was a first-team All-Southwest Conference honoree and helped lead the Mustangs to the SWC title in 1993 (photo by SMU athletics).

“During one of those visits about a month ago, (former director of operations) Brion Raven left to take a job at UTA. Coach Doherty didn’t know I was interested in operations, but he kind of threw it out there, and I told him I definitely would be.”

Many players want to work at their alma maters, and Lewis is no different. He was a record-setting guard for the Mustangs from 1989-93, finishing his career as the Mustangs’ all-time leader in steals (a record since surpassed by Bryan Hopkins) and second in school history in assists. He also recorded three of the four triple-doubles in SMU history (Jeryl Sasser had the other), and remains one of just eight players in NCAA history to have three or more triple-doubles.

But for Lewis, the desire to return to SMU was bigger than a former star wanting a nostalgia trip on his old stomping grounds … although he will enjoy that, too. But his successes at SMU — a list that includes a first-team All-Southwest Conference honor and teaming with Tim Mason and Mike Wilson to lead the Mustangs to the 1993 SWC regular-season title and an NCAA Tournament berth — were not his primary lure to come back to Dallas.

“My daughter, Kierra, lives in Plano, and I more than anything, I wanted to be near her,” Lewis said. “SMU is always going to be my alma mater, and as long as it has a team, I was always going to want to come back and coach here. But she’s 10 years old now, and she lives here. So this is a real blessing.”

Doherty said that Lewis’s reputation within the coaching community and his success as a student-athlete at SMU make him an ideal addition to the Mustangs’ staff.

“I am thrilled that Gerald has joined our staff,” Doherty said. “He is an experienced Div. I coach that has come from a winning environment. More importantly, he represents everything I want in our student-athletes as he has done it here at SMU, on and off the court. Gerald is well-respected in the Mustang community. He will be a great role model for our players and a fabulous addition to our staff.”

After SMU, Lewis played professionally overseas, playing five seasons in Croatia (where he was a five-time all-star) and one season in Slovakia. He returned to the United States, beginning his coaching career at Southeastern Louisiana in 2004-05 before serving as director of basketball operations and then as an assistant coach at New Mexico State.

While he won’t be doing any on-court coaching at SMU, Lewis remains confident he can help players, in part because he had his struggles while playing at SMU.

“I had an issue my sophomore year,” he said. “I had started every game during my freshman year, but my sophomore year didn’t go well. I thought I had been the star of the team to being the dog of team. It wasn’t any fun, but I think it will help in my position with the guys. I was the guy who felt the coach was making an example of me every day. Every (college) player is coming from a high school team where he was the best player. Now every other guy was the man, too, and it’s their turn. That’s what some of my conversations would be about.

“My sophomore year, I was in my dorm and I got a phone call from (then-SMU head) Coach (John) Shumate, and he said, ‘your mother and brothers are here.’ I’m from New Orleans, and my brother lived in Atlanta, so he had to drive to New Orleans to stop and pick Mom up — I knew it was serious. From that conversation, Coach made me realize that the reason he was so hard on me because expected more of me.”

Lewis said he and Shumate have “been in touch” since leaving SMU, including when Shumate, as a scout for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, visited Las Cruces to check out a couple of New Mexico State players.

“We have a good relationship,” Lewis said. “He said he was looking forward to me calling him and telling him someone was putting me through what I put him through. He wants me to have a headache, too.”

Lewis, who got a Master’s degree in education while coaching at New Mexico State, said he harbors no regrets that his initial attempts to land a spot on the SMU staff three years ago fell short.

“I would have loved to have it all work out three years ago, when I first introduced myself to Coach Doherty, but it didn’t,” Lewis said. “I guess I was persistent, and I guess he decided he liked me.

“I’m so fortunate I made a choice in 1988 to come to SMU, and that’s a choice that is still paying off for me, because daughter’s here and I work for a national Coach of the Year who hired me to be part of a championship team. It’s huge — I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back at SMU.”