Paul Thomas (basketball)

Paul Bernard Thomas (born October 28, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the women's basketball head coach at Saint Mary's College of California. He previously served as head coach at Hamline and Cal Poly Pomona.

Originally from Creighton, Nebraska, Thomas graduated from Wayne State College in Nebraska and began his coaching career in 1985 as an assistant coach at Wayne State College and a local high school. Thomas had his first head coaching position from 1988 to 1990 at Hamline, a largely unsuccessful stint with only one win in two seasons. He moved to California to be an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona for four years before being promoted to head coach, a position he held from 1994 to 2006. Thomas was far more successful at Cal Poly Pomona, leading the Broncos to two NCAA Division II national titles in 2001 and 2002 and five California Collegiate Athletic Association titles.

From 2006 to 2022, Thomas was head coach at Saint Mary's, his first Division I coaching position. Thomas has over 250 wins at Saint Mary's in his first 14 seasons along with 10 consecutive appearances in the Women's National Invitation Tournament from 2010 to 2019.

Early life
Thomas began playing basketball in Creighton, Nebraska. He would attend Creighton High School, where he played forward. While at Creighton, Thomas was made an all-state forward and named the 1981 Bulldogs Most Valuable Player.

After high school, Thomas would spend the next two years at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Nebraska, then retired from basketball and transferred to Wayne State College to complete his education and pursue a coaching career. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1986 and master's degree in physical education in 1988.

Early coaching career (1984–1994)
As a student at Wayne State, Thomas began his coaching career in 1984 as an assistant coach for the Pender High School girls' team before serving as an assistant coach for the Wayne State women's basketball team from 1985 to 1988.

In 1988, Thomas entered his first head coaching position at Hamline University, an NCAA Division III school in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hamline went 1–24 in his first season (1–19 MIAC) and 0–25 (0–20 MIAC) in 1989–90.

Thomas became an assistant coach again in 1990 at Cal Poly Pomona, where he would work for the next 16 years. From 1990 to 1994, Thomas was an assistant coach under head coach Darlene May. During that time, Cal Poly Pomona won three California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) tournament titles from 1991 to 1993 and four regular season titles from 1991 to 1994.

Cal Poly Pomona (1994–2006)
After the passing of May, Thomas was promoted to head coach of Cal Poly Pomona in 1994. Over the next 12 years, Thomas would compile a 235–108 record. Thomas would lead the Broncos to five additional CCAA championships and back-to-back Division II national championships (2001 and 2002). He would reach the Division II NCAA Tournament eight out of the 12 seasons with a 14–6 postseason record. He recruited and coached two National Players of the Year, six First Team Kodak All-Americans, four CCAA Players of the Year and 15 First Team All-Conference players all while winning the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year and NCAA District 8 Coach of the Year in 2002.

Saint Mary's (2006–2023)
After 12 seasons at Cal Poly Pomona, Thomas resigned in August 2006 to become the eighth women's head coach at Division I Saint Mary's, a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Only by his fourth season did Thomas achieve a winning record at Saint Mary's at 21–10. That season was the start of 10 consecutive winning seasons with Women's National Invitation Tournament appearances from 2010 to 2019. In 2010–11, the Gaels finished second in the WCC tournament behind Gonzaga. The 2012–13 Gaels won 23 games and advanced to the 2013 WNIT quarterfinals, the furthest in the WNIT under Thomas.

In 2015, after a third-place finish in the WCC, Thomas was selected as one of three WCC co-of the year, along with Pacific coach Lynne Roberts and Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier. The 2014–15 Gaels again finished the season with 23 wins and made the WNIT quarterfinals for the second time in three seasons. Thomas followed that season with a new career best 24 wins at Saint Mary's in 2015–16.

However, following the 2019 Women's National Invitation Tournament, Saint Mary's had two consecutive losing seasons, finishing the 2019–20 season 12–19. In 2020–21, Saint Mary's was 7–19. As of his 15th season in 2020–21, Thomas has a 275–198 cumulative record at Saint Mary's.

Following a 7–4 start to the 2022–23 season, Saint Mary's suspended Thomas in late December 2022 pending the results of an internal investigation and announced on January 30, 2023 that Thomas would no longer be head coach; assistant coach Allyson Fasnacht became interim head coach immediately.

Personal life
Thomas resides in Concord, California with his wife and their four children. When he coached at Cal Poly Pomona, he and his family lived in the Phillips Ranch community of Pomona. They previously lived in Orinda when Thomas first got the job at Saint Mary's.