title image via Florida A&M Basketball
Courtesy of FAMU Athletics
Florida A&M men’s basketball adds another assistant coach with the addition of Fred Lymas.
“I’m excited to add Fred to the coaching staff, he has been with me longer than any other assistant coach in my career, and much of our success is due to him,” said Head Coach Patrick Crarey. “I started my career with him when we were both in our 20s at Washington Adventist. We did some great things together, and we reunited at St. Thomas. Fred brings over eight years of college coaching experience and Division I playing experience to our staff. He has worked in the mental health field for years, which will be a valuable asset to our program. Fred engineered our defense at St. Thomas that was consistently top three in the league in many major statistics. Fred is a great addition to our program, and I am excited to work with him on the Division I level.”
Lymas joined Crarey from St. Thomas, where he served under Coach Crarey as defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2024. Lymas assisted with scouting, player development, and all other facets of the program. During his stint at St. Thomas, he was a part of the most wins in school history and tied for the best home record. Lymas assisted the team in 2024 in winning the conference regular season, advancing to back-to-back NAIA tournaments, back-to-back 20-win seasons, and finishing in the second round of the NAIA tournament. In 2023, Lymas was part of a historic team that advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history with 26 wins. Lymas coached over ten all-conference players in his tenure at St. Thomas.
Before arriving at St. Thomas, Lymas was the head varsity coach for Avant Garde High School for three years, where he was able to lead the program to its first-ever winning season, 19-4 record, and back-to-back district championship games, and an appearance in the Florida State Tournament.
Lymas coached at Barry University from 2013-2016 under coach Butch Estes where he was a part of two NCAA Division II tournament appearances. In 2014-2015, Lymas served on a staff that helped the Buccaneers go 25-6 with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. They were ranked in the top 25 in the national polls every week during the season and beat the number one ranked team, Florida Southern. The Bucs would finish conference play 13-3 and advance to the Sunshine State Conference championship game. In his first season with Barry, Lymas worked on a staff that went 19-9, advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament and ranked No. 25 in the national poll.
From 2009-2013, Lymas served as the associate head coach under coach Patrick Crarey for Washington Adventist. Lymas was responsible for recruiting, on-court coaching, player development, and scouting. During his time at Washington Adventist, Lymas was a big part of rebuilding the program as the Shock made back-to-back trips to the USCAA Tournament, a feat that had not been accomplished in 20 years.
Lymas began his playing career at Morgan State. He transferred to Shepherd, where he finished in the top 10 in assists, scored 1,000 career points, and was a two-time team captain. Lymas received his bachelor’s in social work from Shepherd University and his master’s from Barry University. Lymas is from Silver Spring, Maryland, where he was a Metro Selection at Paint Branch High School and was selected to play in the Capital’s Classic All-Star Game.
