Super Steve is a Super Coach.
Photo by Rebecca Holt
Steve Thomas has coached for 30 years now and has done a lot throughout the decades. He has coached Chauncey Billups, who is a current NBA star that plays for the Denver Nuggets, was part of winning two state titles at George Washington High School, has coached both boys and girls basketball, and is a big part of why current head coach of the boys varsity basketball team, Grant Laman, is the head coach. Thomas currently is coaching the girls’ varsity basketball at TJ.
In 1978, Thomas attended George Washington High School, and says he was an average academic student who played as a receiver for the football team, and a point guard for the basketball team. Growing up, Thomas said he did not have the necessary priorities to maintain a college level status, attending Arapahoe Community College from 1979-1980. “Growing up I never put my academics first, and I had my priorities messed up. I was more concerned about being a basketball player rather than being a student,” said Thomas.
Thomas began coaching in 1981 at George Washington High School. “My old high school basketball and football coaches asked me to help them out after I graduated, and I did because I wanted to stay around athletics. I competed for both of them when I was in high school, so that also played a part to why I helped out. I couldn’t compete in athletics at the college level due to knee injuries in high school, so what better to do than to coach?” said Thomas. “I continue to coach because I want to help mold young people by teaching leadership, hard work, sportsmanship, and counting on one another to achieve goals,” said Thomas, who also said that he enjoys watching young people develop from their freshman year in high school to their senior year, and watching the maturity of the individuals develop into team concepts.
Thomas has coached both football and basketball at the varsity level. “Football was my favorite sport to coach because it was the first sport that I coached, but over the years basketball won my heart,” said Thomas, who has coached at many different high schools (Wheat Ridge, Adams City, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson). “I have coached at different high schools, but the most interesting experience came from when I coached football and track at Wheat Ridge for seven years. The school was different; it was nothing like a DPS school where the schools are culturally diverse,” said Thomas.
What brought Thomas to TJ in 1990 was when Albert Gale, who was the current JV coach at Montbello, had just accepted the head coach title at TJ. He went to watch one of Coach Thomas’s practices at Montbello High School. Thomas was not coaching the Montbello basketball team, but a recreational team that sometimes used Montbello’s gym to conduct practices. “I was coaching an 8th grade team, that had Chauncey Billups (7th grader) on it, and the Montbello Basketball team was having their end of the year banquet. Gale happened to walk into the gym just to see how the team looked, and of course to look at Chauncey Billups. I knew Albert from when I coached at George, and he was coaching at Montbello, and he offered me the JV coaching job for the boys’ basketball team at TJ. I decided to take the opportunity because it was better than coaching recreational teams. It was a great decision for me, and could have been better if I would have succeeded in persuading Chauncey to attend TJ,” said Thomas.
People often wonder why Thomas decided to coach girls’ basketball. When Principal Anne Bailey replaced Thomas as the boys’ varsity coach, Thomas considered retiring; however, the girls’ varsity coach was about to retire. “I wasn’t ready to stop coaching, nor did I want to coach anywhere else because TJ felt like home to me. The students and staff respected me and I like the direction that TJ as a school was heading in. So Coach Kathryn Kendal and I sat down and worked out a compromise so that I could take over the girls’ basketball team. I had to get interviewed by Lani Nobles, and I had passed that interview as the girls head varsity coach, and here we are today,” said Thomas.
Thomas first coached at TJ in 1990, which also happened to be current head coach of the boys’ varsity team, Grant Laman’s senior year of high school. At TJ, Thomas has coached boys’ junior varsity basketball, boys’ varsity basketball, girls’ basketball as an assistant coach, and has been the girls’ varsity head coach now for 6 years at TJ, and plans to retire from coaching in 2013, but still isn’t sure if he’ll leave TJ at the time or not. “I’m not that old, and as long as TJ still wants me, then I will continue to work at the school. I will continue to watch high school basketball games, and possibly help or give advise to young athletes,” said Thomas, who also said that when he finally does retire he will be playing a lot of golf, and hopes to travel the world.
At TJ, Thomas is the Pass Room Supervisor. His job is to look after students who have been disruptive in their classes, and as a consequence, they serve detention in the pass room for one class period. “I make sure that the students get their work done and turn it into their teachers,” said Thomas, who is also in charge of restorative justice, which is a program designed to help students deal with conflict and anger management problems.
During Thomas’ first year of coaching, he was the assistant coach for the varsity team, and had the opportunity to coach Laman. “During my senior year we had a new coaching staff, and Steve was the JV coach. At the time, we as a team looked to Steve in order to guide us through our season. Even though he was the JV coach, he eventually took over the varsity practices and it was at that point when we became a better team. He is a great coach and I appreciate everything that he did for our team,” said Laman, who said he got his head-coaching job because of Thomas. “I coached at Lakewood High School for three years, and things weren’t going so well at Lakewood. When I left Lakewood, Steve hired me as the JV coach here at TJ, but I still worked with him on the varsity level. I was excited to be coaching here because I love TJ. I graduated from here and it was just great to have the opportunity to coach here. When I heard that Steve could possibly be replaced, I thought about going to a different school because I wanted to be a head coach. But when I found out that he was just going to be coaching the girls, Lani Nobles decided to give me the head coaching job for the boys’ varsity basketball team,” said Laman.
Thomas says his coaching philosophy is to help develop character in young student athletes, and to implement the development into the girls’ basketball program by helping student athletes realize any and all college bound opportunities in athletics. “Through my experience in high school, and not having the necessary priorities to maintain a college level status, I want to make sure that student athletes do have the necessary priorities to attend college. I could not care less about winning; I care more about the development of character in the students. Basketball is just a tool to help people get to college; but after that, people need something else to fall back on,” said Thomas.
