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

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He coached the University of the Pacific

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

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 the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, Thomason graduated from Clayton Valley High School in

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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 basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

for the

Pacific Tigers The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific (United States), 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 ...

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 o ...

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 only incorporated city in Tuolumne County, California, United States, of which it is also the county seat. Founded during the California Gold Rush by Mexican miners from Sonora (after which the city is named), the city population ...

. 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 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 List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

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 that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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 Sportspeople from Concord, California Basketball players from Contra Costa County, California Sportspeople from Turlock, California Basketball players from Stanislaus County, California Shooting guards Stanislaus State Warriors men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen