Steve Thomas - Track & Field Coach

Steve Thomas

Title:
Assistant Track & Field Coach
Email:
sthomas@athletics.msstate.edu
Phone:
325-8675

Since returning to MSU in 2011, Steve Thomas has seen success as he has coached 23 athletes to receive All-American honors and one to a national title.

Most recently, Thomas coached then-freshman Asia Poe (long jump) to All-American status indoors in 2019. He also guided both Logan Boss (high jump) and Tiffany Flynn (triple jump) to their fourth career honors during the outdoor season.

In the 2013 indoor season, Thomas coached Erica Bougard to the NCAA championships where she earned the crown in the pentathlon after earning 4,399 points.

Thomas coached senior Erica Bougard during the 2014 indoor season in the long jump and pentathlon, both of which she earned All-American accolades in. Bougard won the pentathlon title in the SEC Indoor Championships after setting a new school record of 4,458 points.

Also during the 2014 indoor season, Thomas coached All-Americans Rochelle Farquharson and Jason Harper in the triple jump. Farquharson set a new school record in the women's triple jump with a leap of 12.90m at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships.

Under Thomas’ guidance Harper earned All-American honors during the 2013 outdoor championships. Harper ranks third on MSU’s all-time indoor superlatives list in the triple jump with a leap of 15.97m that came in the 2013 season. He is fifth on the men’s outdoor list (15.92m, 2013).

In his first year back at MSU, Thomas had quite the successful year as he coached an SEC Champion who was also named the SEC Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year, placed two on the All-American lists and placed an athlete on the second team All-SEC list. Under the direction of Thomas, Farquharson single-handedly placed Lady Bulldog jumps on the map with her performance at the 2011 SEC Outdoor Championships.

The freshman jumped a personal best 6.48m to claim the SEC Championship in the long jump, an honor that would also make her a member of the 2011 All-SEC Outdoor Track and Field First Team and All-Freshman squads, while also nabbing her the honor of being named the 2011 SEC Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year.

While at Kentucky, Thomas made his mark coaching a six-time All-American honoree in the shot put and helping the female throwers produce impressive marks in their quest for championships.

Before coaching at Kentucky, Thomas served as an assistant coach at the University of Florida where he coached nine All-Americans, six SEC champions and a pair of NCAA East Region champions. In his career, he has tutored individuals who have won nearly 40 conference championship titles.

Thomas also served as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs at the University of South Alabama from 1992-98, he received four Sun Belt Conference Coach-of-the-Year awards.

At South Alabama, Thomas brought the women’s squad to a program-best second-place finish at the 1994 Sun Belt Indoor Championships and fourth-place finishes in four of his six years at the outdoor meet. He expanded and developed nearly every facet of the Jaguar program, producing 20 Sun Belt Conference Champions and the first NCAA qualifier in the school history.

Thomas’ first tenure at MSU was from 1988-1992 when he served as the head field events coach. During his time, he trained two All-Americans and six All-SEC athletes. Thomas’ athletes also earned a combined 11 individual conference titles.

Thomas is known on the international stage for his instruction skills, conducting clinics in Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland, as well as a two-week clinic in China in 1994.

An All-District runner at Oklahoma Christian college, Thomas received his undergraduate there in 1981 before earning his master’s degree in education from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1983.

Thomas is a native of Saraland, Ala. He is married to the former Kim Eades, and the couple has one daughter, Kayleigh Lauren.