Robert Lesley "Bob" Thomason, Jr. (born March 26, 1949) is a retired American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He coached the University of the Pacific

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

men's basketball team for 25 seasons from 1988 to 2013.Thomason Announces Retirement Following 2012-13 Season - Pacific
/ref> In 25 years at Pacific, Thomason has the most wins in school and

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

history with 437. He was named Big West Conference Coach of the Year five times (1992–93, 1996–97, 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06).

Early life and college playing career

Born in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, Thomason graduated from

Clayton Valley High School Clayton Valley Charter High School (CVCHS) is a comprehensive charter high school located in Concord, California, United States, just under two miles from Clayton. Most of the school's students live in Clayton and the nearby Concord neighborhood ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

in 1967, where he played for coach Bruce Iverson. Thomson then attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton. At Pacific, Thomason played

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

for the

Pacific Tigers The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in intercollegiate athletics. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division I, and are currently in their second stint as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC). C ...

from 1968 to 1971. He graduated with a degree in

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and was an All-

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

selection as a senior after leading Pacific to the 1971 NCAA tournament and averaging 17.2 points.

Coaching career

Thomason became an assistant coach at Stagg High School in Stockton in 1971. He then became head varsity basketball coach at Escalon High School in 1973 and Turlock High School in 1976. He led Turlock to the school's first conference title in 25 years. In 1981, Thomason became head coach at Columbia College, a junior college in

Sonora, California Sonora is the county seat of Tuolumne County, California. Founded during the California Gold Rush by Mexican miners from Sonora (after which the city is named), the city population was 5,226 during the 2020 Census, an increase of 221 from the ...

. In four seasons at Columbia, Thomason had a 75–49 record and led Columbia to its first-ever Central Valley Conference title in 1985. Thomason moved up to the NCAA Division III ranks as head coach at

Cal State Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only camp ...

in 1985. In three seasons at Cal State Stanislaus, Thomason had a 52–27 record and led the school to a berth in the 1987 NCAA Tournament. Thomason returned to Pacific to be head coach in 1988 and would stay for 25 seasons. With a 437–321 record, he led Pacific to five NCAA Tournament appearances and six

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

regular season championships.

Head coaching record

*Includes a win by forfeit over

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1994–95.

Notes

External links

Pacific profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomason, Bob 1949 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from San Jose, California Columbia Claim Jumpers men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Pacific Tigers men's basketball coaches Pacific Tigers men's basketball players People from Concord, California People from Turlock, California Shooting guards Stanislaus State Warriors men's basketball coaches