Thomas was a former player under Head Coach Jason Hooten at Sam Houston.
Source: NMSU Athletics
Terryonte Thomas has been promoted to assistant coach after one year on the Aggies’ staff as a video analyst. Thomas made his way to Las Cruces last season after being brought aboard by Head Coach Jason Hooten.
The Columbus, Miss., native was a graduate assistant under Hooten at Sam Houston during the 2022-23 season. That year, Thomas helped the Bearkats put forth one of the best seasons in program history, reaching a program-tying record of 26 wins and earning the No. 1 seed in the 2023 WAC Tournament.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Sam Houston State University, he continued his career at Mississippi University for Women where he played one season. During the 2021-22 campaign, Thomas appeared in and started 12 games after missing the first eight due to transfer waiver issues. He posted a career high of 33 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists versus Rhodes University in his first game with the team. He helped the Owls get their first win of the season against Blue Mountain University while putting up 28 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Thomas also led USCAA in scoring at 22.9 points per game while shooting 46% from the field and 35% from beyond the arc. Thomas was also top 10 in the league in rebounding at 8.0 per game.
Prior to his time at The W, Thomas played two years under Hooten at Sam Houston and helped the Bearkats to 37 total wins while appearing in 51 games. In his senior season, he shot 42.5% from the floor and 84.6% from the charity stripe. In his first year at Sam Houston, Thomas averaged 3.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game with his highest-scoring outing being 12 points in a win over Houston Baptist.
Prior to playing at Sam Houston, Thomas spent two seasons at East Mississippi Community College, where he amassed 655 career points, 258 rebounds and 108 assists in 50 games. As a sophomore in 2018-19, he played in 26 games making 25 starts averaging 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 38% from beyond the arc. That season he was selected to the 10-man NJCAA All-Region 23 team and chosen as a first-team member of the MACJC All-State/North squad after guiding the Lions to the MACJC State Championship for time since the 1930’s. His highest scoring outing was 27 points against Shelton State on Nov. 11.
QUOTABLE | Head Coach Jason Hooten
“I’ve got to get in the habit of calling him Coach Thomas now instead of T. I’m so happy for this young man. He played such a big role on our teams at Sam Houston, but Terryonte always knew his role and accepted it. This is one of the main reasons why he has such a tremendous future in this business. There is no better feeling as a coach than to move up one of your own guys. To have Terryonte here helping us rebuild this legendary program has been so rewarding and reassuring for me. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Coach Thomas, and I’m happy that he can help our team and student-athletes get better each day”.
