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ISIAH THOMAS EXCITED IN NEW ROLE

NBA legend goes back to school as new head coach of Florida International

When it comes to a basketball career, Isiah Thomas has done it all. As a prep All-American out of Chicago (IL), Thomas was a prized recruit coming out of St. Joseph’s High School in Westchester (IL) where he played for the legendary Gene Pingatore. A 90-minute commute to the private school from his inner-city Chicago home, Thomas used his time there as a springboard to an All-American college career playing for another legend, Bobby Knight at Indiana University.

After two seasons at IU under Knight, which included a national championship in 1981 and being named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament, Thomas made himself available for the NBA draft and was selected by the Detroit Pistons.

In the NBA, Thomas was a 12-time NBA all-star and two-time NBA champion with the Pistons. He was named as one of the 50 greatest NBA Players of All-time in 1996 and politics kept him from a deserving spot on the original Dream Team.

Thomas’ career as NBA executive and head coach was tenuous, almost completely due to the way it ended in New York. After displaying a keen knack for talent evaluation as President of the Toronto Raptors, Thomas went on to have a decent run as coach of the Indiana Pacers. Thomas led the Pacers to the playoffs in each of his three seasons on the bench. Few people remember that Thomas stepped into a bad situation with the Knicks, mostly because most of his management decisions made the situation a lot worse.

Eventually Thomas had to place himself on the bench as coach and what followed was a 56-108 record in two seasons as the Knicks’ head man. Throw in a sexual harrassment case that cost the Knicks upwards of ten million dollars and some other unfortunate off the court happenings and all of a sudden Thomas’ career in basketball seemed at a crossroads. In an effort to rebuild his reputation tarnished by his time with the Knicks, Thomas accepted the head coaching job at Florida International University on April 14 of this year, replacing Sergio Rouco after 5 losing seasons.

Thomas has quickly made a splash in college basketball. His NBA resume as a player can not be ignored and was already key in landing one high profile recruit.

“I liked that he played in the NBA, coached in the NBA and he’s got a lot of experience and stuff,” 6-foot-10 high school prospect Chris Coleman told Matt Whitfield Thursday evening. “That is where I am trying to get, so that is why I committed.”

Connecticut, West Virginia and Syracuse from the Big East were just some of the schools that had offered Coleman a scholarship, but the fact that he decided to commit to FIU with the presence of Thomas as the head coach shouldn’t be a shock if you know Thomas’ history of connecting with young players while in the NBA. To this day a lot of those players have an intense loyalty to Thomas.

Now, instead of being at a NBA pre-draft camp, Thomas was in Philadelphia on Friday with hundreds of his new peers in the college coaching profession, just another face eyeballing the newest talent. Thomas took his place in the stands of Philadelphia University’s Gallagher Center watching Coleman and others, including Pembroke Pines (FL) forward Khyle Marshall compete on the court.

“This is a lot like the pre-draft camp where you bring all the players in and you have to make quick reads on some of the guys as this is the first time really getting a chance to eyeball ‘em,” Thomas told NBE’s Matt Whitfield on Friday afternoon.

Thomas has played the role of coach and executive in the NBA and finds the college recruiting trail to be somewhat similar as he takes the lead from his assistants, including Associate Head Coach Anthony Anderson, who have been watching the prospects play longer and are more familiar with them.

“[It is] very similar to when your a GM and you come to the camp and your scouts pretty much telling you who is who and then you put a eyeball on the guy,” stated Thomas.

Getting into the mix in April had Thomas behind the game in the spring recruiting race, but he made some news being linked to highly touted recruits such as Eric Bledsoe, Latavious Williams and even Lance Stephenson, so it looks like ‘Zeke’ is not going to accept the role of recruiting the talent leftover from the big boys.

“We were in the race for some of the kids,” Thomas told Matt Whitfield of their late 2009 recruiting efforts.
Now, armed with his resume and a full recruiting season to work, Thomas is looking forward to the challenges of being a college head coach and making progress on the recruiting trail.

“Haven’t gotten on the floor yet, but I am pretty excited about it,” said Thomas about coaching FIU. “We don’t get started until October, so right now it is about recruitment and trying to get up to speed. We got the job to do on signing day.”

One thing is for certain, Isiah Thomas and Florida International will be a story to track as long as they are together.

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