Karleen M. Thompson (née Shields; born July 1, 1968) is the associate head coach of the

Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball The Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team represents the University of Virginia in women's basketball. The school competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Cavaliers p ...

team since 2018. Before joining the Cavaliers, Thompson was a WNBA head coach for the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

in 2004 and the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

from 2007 to 2008. Additionally, Thompson was an assistant coach for the

Clemson Tigers women's basketball The Clemson Tigers women's basketball team represents Clemson University in women's college basketball competition. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division I as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Clemson won the ACC women's basketball t ...

team from 2010 to 2013 and the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

from 2013 to 2017.

Early life and education

In 1968, Thompson was born in California. While attending high school in

Snyder, Texas Snyder is a town in, and the county seat of Scurry County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,202 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the lower part of the Southwestern Tablelands ecological region. History Snyder is named for ...

, Thompson played on the volleyball and basketball teams. For her post-secondary education, Thompson continued playing basketball with

Contra Costa College Contra Costa College is a public community college in San Pablo, California. It is the west campus of the Contra Costa Community College District. It is part of the California community colleges system, one of the three college systems in Californ ...

in 1991 before moving to the

USC Trojans women's basketball The USC Trojans women's basketball team, or the Women of Troy, is the collegiate women's basketball team that represents the University of Southern California, in the Pac-12 Conference. The team rose to prominence in 1976, at which time scholarsh ...

team in 1993.

Career

After completing her social sciences degree at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1996, Thompson joined

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

as a sports marketer. The following year, Thompson started her

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

career when she became a manager for the

in 1997. With the Sparks, Thompson moved to assistant coach in 2002 before she was named one of the team's interim head coaches in 2004 after the resignation of head coach

Michael Cooper Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning ...

. During the remainder of the 2004 season, Thompson had eleven wins and three losses as co-head coach. At the

2004 WNBA Playoffs The 2004 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 2004 season which ended with the Western Conference champion Seattle Storm defeating the Eastern Conference champion Connecticut Sun, 2–1. Betty Lennox ...

, Thompson had one win and two losses before Los Angeles was defeated by the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Arena. The Mona ...

in the first round. Upon leaving the Sparks, Thompson was an assistant coach of the

between 2005 and 2007. While she was an assistant coach for a

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

basketball team in 2007, Thompson was named the Comets general manager and head coach. With 30 wins and 38 losses as the Comets' head coach from 2007 to 2008, Thompson left the WNBA to work in college basketball as an assistant coach for the

team from 2010 to 2013. She resumed her WNBA career in 2013 when she became an

associate head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the

and held the position until 2017. In 2018, she continued to work as an associate head coach when she was hired by the

team.

Personal life

In February 2009, Thompson sued the WNBA in a New York district court lawsuit. In the case, Thompson said she was misled to stay with the WNBA when the organization took over the Comets in March 2008. Additionally, Thompson stated she had lost future job positions when the Comets disbanded in December 2008. The case was dismissed in October 2009 due to a lack of

diversity jurisdiction In the law of the United States, diversity jurisdiction is a form of subject-matter jurisdiction that gives United States federal courts, U.S. federal courts the power to hear lawsuits that do not involve a federal question jurisdiction, federal ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Karleen 1968 births Living people Atlanta Dream coaches Basketball coaches from California Clemson Tigers women's basketball coaches Houston Comets head coaches Los Angeles Sparks head coaches Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas People from Snyder, Texas Contra Costa College alumni USC Trojans women's basketball players