Thompson Dumps Colby, Joins Amherst
from press release
AMHERST, Mass. – Amherst College director of
athletics Suzanne Coffey announced today that Jon Thompson has been
selected as the head coach of men's lacrosse following a national
search. Thompson brings to campus a wealth of coaching knowledge
and a passion for the student-athlete experience of balancing
academics, athletics and civic responsibility.
"I first want to give a sincere and warm thank you to Suzanne
Coffey for presenting me and my family with this opportunity,"
Thompson said this morning. "I also want to be sure to thank [Colby
College athletics director] Marcella Zalot and the rest of the
Colby lacrosse community for the incredible experience during our
time in Waterville. As difficult as it will be to leave some of the
relationships that [my wife, Susanna,] and I established in Maine,
they will forever be in our hearts and minds."
Coffey is excited about the selection. "Jon is a proven winner with
Ivy League and NESCAC coaching experience, as well as an
outstanding record of achievement as a student and an athlete at
Brown University," she said. "Jon is an educator first and
foremost; his interests in the students he has coached extend well
outside the bounds of the lacrosse playing experience."
"I am thrilled to work at an institution where innovation,
creativity and excellence are the standard," Thompson added.
"Amherst embodies an undergraduate education where independence,
creativity, and selectivity meet. I believe in the mission of
Amherst and in the dedication that Suzanne and the school have
shown towards the furthering of the lacrosse program. I am honored
to be the new leader of the lacrosse program at Amherst, and am
delighted to have an opportunity to work alongside such an
outstanding staff in the athletics department."
A native of Freeport, Maine, Thompson is a 2003 graduate of Brown
University where he still ranks among the men's lacrosse program's
top 10 in all-time goal scoring. Thompson, a former captain for the
Bears, was a three-time All-New England selection while at Brown.
He also earned both Ivy League All-Conference and All-Academic
honors in 2002 and 2003, before capping his career as a USILA
Honorable Mention All-American and a USILA Academic All-American in
2003.
Following a year volunteering as a member of the Brown coaching
staff while playing professionally for the Boston Cannons of Major
League Lacrosse, Thompson helped lead nearby Springfield College to
a Pilgrim League Championship as the Pride's offensive coordinator
in 2005.
Thompson returned to the Brown campus prior to the 2006 season,
serving as the recruiting coordinator and second assistant for the
Bears. After rising to the first assistant position and offensive
coordinator for 2007, Thompson helped lead the Bears to one of the
largest turnarounds in Division I. In Thompson's three seasons
coaching at Brown, the Bears transformed from a 2-11 team to an
11-3 team that won the 2008 Ivy League Championship with a victory
over Princeton.
Thompson was named the head coach of NESCAC rival Colby College in
the summer of 2008, where he spent two seasons leading the Mules to
the two most successful campaigns of the past eight years. During
his tenure at Colby, Thompson guided the Mules to three wins over
opponents ranked nationally in the top 10, including a win over the
highest ranked opponent in program history (No. 5 Endicott).
While leading Colby to back-to-back postseason appearances,
Thompson helped develop a trio of All-NESCAC selections, a pair of
All-Americans, and Colby's first two-time All-American. Equally
impressive, Thompson helped the Mules raise the team's cumulative
grade-point average nearly half a letter grade in just four
academic semesters.
During his tenure at Colby, Thompson and his teams helped organize
and implement four separate civic engagement fundraisers, during
which more than $45,000 was raised for the Pulmonary Fibrosis
Foundation and Alpha 1/25, a Maine-based Marine Corp Regiment
fighting in Afghanistan.
Rising senior captain Gabe Mann and his teammates on the selection
committee were very impressed with all the candidates brought to
campus. "We could tell that Coach Thompson has the commitment and
the passion to help push Amherst in the right direction towards
competing for both the NESCAC and national championships
immediately," said Mann on behalf of the student panel.
"Jon's winning attitude and intensity came across forcefully in the
interview process," Coffey added. "I expect that he will make
strong and lasting connections with our student-athletes and our
terrifically supportive alumni."
"The process of the search for this position was very taxing for me
and my family," said Thompson. "It was an incredibly hard decision
for us, but in the end we decided that the goals, resources and the
mission of Amherst and of the athletic department were too
important to ignore. We love the feeling of being on the cutting
edge of education. You are surrounded by that environment at
Amherst and we are excited to help lead in that direction within
the community as well as within the athletic department."
Thompson notes that his first order of business will be to get to
know his new players. "I am eager to learn about the young men that
make Amherst Lacrosse tick. This experience will be for me—as
it will be for the young men who study and play at
Amherst—about relationships. It will be about the
relationships that we will develop, nurture and take pride in.
Those relationships, those bonds, and our camaraderie will
ultimately determine our success with our families, in the
classroom, in the community, and surely on the lacrosse field."
