Emma Lewis coaches the junior high girls’ basketball team at Faith Academy of Marble Falls. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Emma Lewis grew up a Burnet Bulldog, attended college as a Southwestern University Pirate, and now burns bright as a Faith Academy Flame. The junior high head girls’ basketball coach was voted Favorite School Coach for the Marble Falls area by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners in the 2025 Locals Love Us contest.
Lewis isn’t much older than her players. She graduated from Burnet High School in 2019, playing on the varsity basketball team that made a historic run to the state semifinals that year. While she always wanted to teach math and coach basketball, she didn’t expect to take a job so close to her hometown after leaving Southwestern University in Georgetown.
“I didn’t want to come back, but when I graduated college (Faith Academy administrators) were like, ‘We need a math teacher,’” she said. “I hadn’t really decided, but it just worked out. Everything was perfect, and everything perfectly aligned.”
In only her second year of coaching and teaching at the private Christian school in Marble Falls, she has made a strong impression on her players and their parents.
“I was really shocked (getting the Locals Love Us votes), but I shouldn’t be,” she said. “Faith is such a close, tight-knit community, so if one person had the idea (to vote for her), I’m not surprised that they made it happen.”
According to Lewis, it was sort of jarring going from the competitive world of Division III basketball at Southwestern to coaching middle schoolers at Faith. She learned a valuable lesson from her young players.
“They actually taught me that it doesn’t always have to be so intense,” she said. “I’ve never seen a basketball team have more fun. The scoreboard is the last thing they care about.”
Also winning Favorite School Coach were Burnet High School’s Kristi Jones and Llano Junior High’s Dwayne Friday.
