Miles Lester enters his second season as an assistant coach with the ETSU men's basketball program.
In his first season, Lester helped guide ETSU to the Southern Conference Regular Season Championship and a Southern Conference Tournament Championship Game appearance while helping coordinate the Southern Conference's No. 1-rated defense. The Buccaneers led the Southern Conference in defensive rating, scoring defense, field-goal percentage defense, turnover percentage, steal percentage, and block percentage. ETSU also ranked 11th nationally in steal percentage, 56th nationally in scoring defense, and 85th nationally in defensive rating while producing the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and three All-Southern Conference selections.
Lester joined the Buccaneers prior to the 2025-26 season after spending one season as an assistant coach at Drury University, where he coordinated the defense and played a key role in player development, recruiting, and scouting. Prior to Drury, Lester spent two seasons at the University of Houston under head coach Kelvin Sampson. Lester served as a graduate manager during his first season before being promoted to graduate assistant in his second year. Houston posted a combined 65-9 record during his two seasons, winning the 2023 American Athletic Conference regular-season championship and the 2024 Big 12 Conference regular-season championship while earning the nation's No. 1 ranking and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons.
A former Division I student-athlete, Lester began his collegiate career at Rice before transferring to Wake Forest, where he played under Steve Forbes and current ETSU head coach Brooks Savage. During his collegiate career, Lester appeared in 45 Division I games while earning Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll recognition at Rice and ACC Academic Honor Roll honors at Wake Forest.
Lester earned his bachelor's degree in Business and Enterprise Management from Wake Forest University before completing a master's degree in Sport Management at the University of Houston. He is a native of Wichita, Kansas.
