Brooks James Thompson (July 19, 1970 – June 9, 2016) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and player, who played for the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

College career

Thompson, a tall

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, attended and played high school basketball at Littleton High, in

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...

. He was named the Colorado Player of the Year in 1989, and he led Littleton to a 24–0 record, and the state's 4A title. After high school, Thompson played

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 ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. He played with the school's men's team, the

Texas A&M Aggies The Texas A&M Aggies are the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "wikt:aggie#Etymology 2, Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also simply referr ...

, from 1989 to 1991. Thompson also played

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, where he played with the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...

, from 1992 to 1994.

Professional career

Thompson was selected by the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

's the

, in the first round, with the 27th overall draft pick of the

1994 NBA draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

. In his NBA career, Thompson played in a total of 168 regular season games, in which he scored a total 760 points. On November 26, 1996, while a member of the

, Thompson scored a career high 26 points against the

. He also played professionally in the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

, with

Iraklis Thessaloniki Gymnastikos Syllogos Thessalonikis "Iraklis" (), commonly referred to as Iraklis Thessaloniki, is a multi–sporting club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. G.S. Iraklis Thessalonikis was founded on 29 November 1908 and i ...

Coaching career

On April 19, 2006, Thompson was named the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the men's basketball team of the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or UT San Antonio) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Established in 1969,University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, which was UTSA's first ever win versus a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

school. On March 16, 2011, Thompson guided UTSA to the school's first-ever NCAA tournament win, when the Roadrunners defeated Alabama State, by a score of 70–61. On March 10, 2016, Thompson was fired by UTSA, following a 5–27 record.

Personal life and death

In April 2016, Thompson was diagnosed with double

organ failure Organ dysfunction is a condition where an organ does not perform its expected function. Organ failure is organ dysfunction to such a degree that normal homeostasis cannot be maintained without external clinical intervention or life support. It i ...

. His condition initially improved from

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine * Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing i ...

to stable, but he had to be rushed to a hospital with

sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

, just days later. He died on June 9, 2016.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

External links

Basketball-Reference.com: Brooks Thompson

UTSA Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Brooks 1970 births 2016 deaths American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Colorado Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Arapahoe County, Colorado Basketball players from Dallas College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Denver Nuggets players High school basketball coaches in Oklahoma High school basketball coaches in the United States Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States New York Knicks players Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players Orlando Magic draft picks Orlando Magic players Phoenix Suns players Point guards Southeastern Louisiana Lions basketball coaches Sportspeople from Littleton, Colorado Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players Utah Jazz players UTSA Roadrunners men's basketball coaches