Randolph director of athletics\u00a0Tom Galbraith\u00a0announced Thursday the hiring of Polly Thomason as the next head coach of the WildCats women\u2019s basketball program. She replaces Steve Lanpher who left for an assistant position with Division I Cleveland State. Thomason will assume her duties at the start of September.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolly\u2019s success on the court speaks for itself and all of those impressive numbers were listed on her application,\u201d Galbraith said. \u201cWhat stood out during the interview process were her successes that you don\u2019t necessarily list on a resume. The care she shows for her student-athletes beyond simply being basketball players and her commitment to those young women in developing them for all aspects of life really impressed me and the search committee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe truly landed a high-quality Division III head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a head coach, Thomason has won over 65 percent of the games she has coached (350-181 career record) and has led a team six times to the NCAA Div. III National Tournament, including a Sweet 16 berth in 2014-15.<\/p>\n
Thomason comes to the Hill City from the University of Hartford where she spent the last three seasons leading the Hawks through their transition from Div. I to Div. III. That journey began with just two wins in her first season, which was the final season as a Div. I member, but ended with back-to-back double-digit win totals and the first conference tournament berth as a member of the Conference of New England in their first year of eligibility for Div. III in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
The bulk of Thomason\u2019s winning success came as the head coach at UT-Dallas for 17 seasons (2005-22). In leading the Comets to four American Southwest Conference (ASC) titles and six NCAA Tournament appearances, she posted a 327-126 (.722) overall record and 230-82 (.737) in league contests.<\/p>\n
The new WildCat spoke of what about the Randolph job attracted her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cRandolph College stood out to me because of the genuine warmth and inclusiveness of the campus and surrounding community,\u201d said Thomason. \u201cWalking around, you can feel that people care about you, want you to succeed, and will support you in any way they can. That\u2019s what everyone hopes for, whether you\u2019re a coach, student, or recruit. I was also drawn to the vision of what this program can become. The team\u2019s growth, especially qualifying for the ODAC tournament the last five seasons, shows the strong foundation already in place, and I\u2019m excited to build on that momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Individually, Thomason has received numerous coaching honors. She was named a Women\u2019s Basketball Coaches\u2019 Association (WBCA) National Coach of the Year Finalist in 2020-21, the WBCA South Region Coach of the Year in 2016-17, the D3Hoops.com South Region Coach of the Year in 2014-15 and is a six-time ASC East Coach of the Year. During her time with the Comets, she has coached nine WBCA All-Americans, five D3News All-Americans, nine D3Hoops.Com Region Players of the Year, one D3Hoops.Com Region Player of the Year, one D3Hoops.Com All-American, and two Josten\u2019s Trophy Finalists. In addition, she has mentored 125 All-ASC Academic Team members and four CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All District selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thomason was also a coaching intern with the College of Wooster and Chatham University. She started her coaching career at Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to be part of a program where the student-athletes are driven to succeed in every area of their lives,\u201d said Thomason. \u201cIn speaking with them, I felt their desire to compete for ODAC Championships, grow as leaders, and embrace the many opportunities Randolph provides. Being able to guide and support that journey, on the court, in the classroom, and beyond, is what excites me most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomason earned her Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education from Austin in 1999 and Master of Science in Sport Administration degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2022.\u00a0 She was a member of the Austin College women\u2019s basketball team which were 1996-97 and 1997-98 ASC Champions. The team also made three National Tournament appearances.<\/p>\n
Thomason has been a part of several professional organizations within the NCAA and the Women\u2019s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).<\/p>\n
\u201cI bring a deep commitment to developing the whole student-athlete,\u201d noted Thomason. \u201cI believe every player comes to campus with goals and dreams they want to achieve, and I want to do everything I can to help them reach those milestones. I believe in working hard, playing hard, and having fun along the way!\u201d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/randolphwildcats.com\/news\/2025\/8\/28\/womens-basketball-thomason-to-lead-randolph-womens-basketball-program.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n Tagged with: D3<\/a> ODAC<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Randolph director of athletics\u00a0Tom Galbraith\u00a0announced Thursday the hiring of Polly Thomason as the next head coach of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-187456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115118294022031148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}