Althea Thomas (Assoc. Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

altHea tHomas

RecRuiting cooRd./

associate Head coacH

(spRints, HuRdles, Relays)

EDUCATION

• B.a. in kinESioloGy, lSu, 2004

COACHING EXPERIENCE

• 2004-06, aSSiStant coach, huffMan h.S.

(BirMinGhaM, ala.) • 2005-10, hEad coach, alaBaMa StridErS track cluB • 2008-12, aSSiStant coach/rEcruitinG coord., uaB

• 2010-12, aSSiStant coach, kEntucky • 2012-13, aSSiStant coach, PurduE • 2013-17, aSSiStant coach, clEMSon • 2017-18, WoMEn’S SPrintS, hurdlES, rE-

layS/rEcruitinG coord., GEorGia • 2018-2020, MEn’S/WoMEn’S SPrintS,

hurdlES, rElayS/rEcruitinG coord., GEorGia • 2020-PrESEnt, aSSociatE hEad coach/ rEcruitinG coord./SPrintS, hurdlES, rElayS, GEorGia

Althea Thomas was hired as the Bulldogs’ recruiting coordinator and women’s sprints, hurdles and relays coach in August 2017. Following the 2018 outdoor campaign, she assumed the role of the men’s and women’s sprints, hurdles and relays and continued her position at the teams’ recruiting coordinator. Thomas was promoted to be an associate head coach during the fall of 2020 while also continuing her recruiting and coaching roles.

The 2020 indoor season was stalled prior to the NCAA Championships. However, Thomas’ crew still figured out a way to bring nationwide attention to the Bulldog program. In just his first year in the red and black, Matthew Boling earned Southeastern Conference Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year honors and finished with the country’s fourth-best indoor 200-meter dash time (20.66) for 2020. His 20.66 topped an 11-year-old school record and set him up for his runner-up finish at the SEC final with a 20.71. In addition, Boling rocketed to third on UGA’s all-time top-10 list in the 60m with an early season 6.68.

Thomas saw her sprinters and hurdles combine for 24 points at the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships and had three of them qualify for Nationals. On the women’s side, Amber Tanner continued her development under Thomas and captured Georgia’s first conference crown in the 800m since 1995. Tanner, who like Boling was a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Individual, established a school record of 2:03.02 at the Tyson Invitational before registering a 2:04.35 to grab top honors at SECs. She finished with the nation’s third-best collegiate time for 2020.

In addition to Tanner anchoring two of the top three 4x400m relay finishes in UGA history during 2020 including a 3:36.07, Thomas also had another pair score at the SEC Championships and make their own revisions to the school record books. Elija Godwin continued his recovery from a season-ending injury in 2019 to take third in the 400m at the SEC meet. His time of 45.96 sent him to No. 3 on UGA’s all-time top-10 list and was the program’s best time since 2010. Godwin, who also recorded the school’s fourth-best 200m time (21.02) in 2020, finished with the country’s No. 7 400m time to advance to the NCAA Championships.

During her first full season with Georgia in 2018, Thomas’ worth as one of the Bulldogs’ instructors was immediately evident. She led true freshman Lynna Irby to score a combined 28 points at Nationals as the Georgia women won the program’s first NCAA indoor title and then finished as the runner-up at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships by a single point. Irby was named the USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year both indoors and outdoors.

Outdoors, Thomas directed her first-year sensation to set the meet record and be the second-best 400m performer with the second-best performance in collegiate history (49.80) as Irby won the NCAA 400m title in convincing fashion. This came after her meet record time of 50.44 to win the NCAA East Prelims. Irby added a third-place finish in the 200m to her first 10 points as the Lady Bulldogs were second at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Thomas’ crew made six alterations to the school’s outdoor record books, including a UGA 400m record that topped 2016 Olympic gold medalist Shaunae Miller’s mark of 50.70 from 2013. In addition, Irby completed the 200m sweep at the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in her first year.

Thomas’ 4x100m relay squads also posted times of 43.90, 44.02 and 44.05 and completed the year with the second and third-fastest times in school history. Micaiah Ransby improved her 200m time to 23.47 in her sophomore season while Tanner completed the fastest two laps of her career in the 800m in 2:07.13 during her second year.

Indoors, her women’s sprinters secured five fresh spots on the school’s all-time top-10 lists, including school records in both the 200m and 400m. Irby finished third in the 200m at NCAAs with a new No. 1 mark in UGA history at 22.55. Thomas also guided the Indianapolis, Ind., native to be a school record holder and No. 5 all-time collegiate performer in the 400m with a time of 50.62 to take second at the SEC Championships. Irby complemented her third-place finish in the 200m at Nationals with another third-place finish in the 400m at NCAAs for a total of 12 points, which was the difference in Georgia capturing its first crown. Thomas also won the 300m at the early-season Orange & Purple Classic with a time of 36.73, making her the No. 10 all-time collegiate performer in the event.

In addition, Ransby improved her 400m time to 53.85 at SECs and Tanner shot to No. 3 on the all-time list at 2:06.28 in the 800m during the indoor season.

Following NCAA team titles for both the men and the women in 2018, Thomas began to guide both the Bulldog men and women sprinters starting in the fall leading up to the 2019 indoor and outdoor seasons.

Year two saw another step in the transformation for the Bulldog sprinters and middle-distance runners. Thomas’ crew accounted for 14 revisions to the school’s all-time top-10 lists, including setting school records in both the women’s indoor 4x400m relay (3:31.09) and with Michael Nicholls in the men’s 60m hurdles (7.67). Six of her individuals or relays qualified for either the NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championships and both Irby and the women’s indoor 4x400m relay consisting of Ransby, Tanner, Irby and heptathlete Sterling Lester scored. Irby was fifth in the 400m at the 2019 NCAA indoor meet with a 52.38 while she and her 4x400m relay mates took fourth with a school record time of 3:31.09.

Irby, who turned professional during the 2019 outdoor season, also highlighted Thomas’ second indoor season in Athens with her first SEC indoor 400m title (52.02). In addition, Irby ran a leg on the record-setting relay that scored at the SEC Indoor Championships with a 3:31.97, which was the nation’s ninth-best time before Nationals arrived.

Other indoor highlights for the Georgia women in 2019 included Tanner bettering her 800m time to 2:05.59 (then No. 2 in school history) for third place at SECs and qualifying for NCAAs. On the men’s side, Nicholls complemented his school record with a fourth-place finish at the conference indoor meet and a berth to Nationals.

Outdoors, Godwin, then in his first year, earned the SEC Men’s Co-Freshman Runner of the Year with impressive times from 100m to 400m despite his season being cut short with an injury. Registering a 10.47 to win the Yellow Jacket Invitational, Godwin swept the 200m and 400m victories at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial thanks to the No. 7 all-time UGA finish (20.59) and the No. 9 all-time UGA finish (45.92). Nicholls also thrived during his final campaign in red and black as he sped to a pair of 13.61s during the postseason to take over the No. 2 spot in the Bulldog record books, scored at the SEC Outdoor Championships and qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Tanner continued to make strides for Thomas and the Lady Bulldogs during the 2019 outdoor season in the 800m and on the 4x400m relay. She shaved her 800m time to 2:04.60, which was No. 2 on Georgia’s all-time top-10 list and finished as a top-20 time nationally for the season, earned runner-up honors at SECs and qualified for her first NCAA Outdoor Championships. The relay unit, which included Ransby, Lester, Chelsea Zoller and Tanner, finished seventh at the league meet with the No. 3 time in UGA history and best since 2002 (3:34.09). Tanner also added a regular season 400m time of 53.59 (No. 9 all-time UGA history) to show off her enhanced speed.

In addition, Ransby was an NCAA Prelims qualifier with her 53.71 in the 400m, a time that was just outside of the Lady Bulldogs’ all-time top-10 list.

Thomas came to Athens by way of Clemson where she spent the previous four years as an assistant for the Tigers. In her final season at Clemson in 2017, Thomas guided two individuals in the sprints and hurdles and two relays to the NCAA Championships.

Thomas helped lead the men’s 4x400m relay team to four titles in three years: 2017 ACC indoor and outdoor championships, 2015-16 ACC indoor championships. In addition, Thomas coached two conference champions in the sprints at the conference indoor meet. The Tigers swept the top three spots in the men’s 400m competition. In total, the Tigers had 23 All-ACC First Team selections and 25 All-ACC Second Team awards between the men and women’s squads in 2017.

During her time at Clemson starting in 2013, Thomas coached four ACC relay champions, three ACC individual champions, a USA Junior champion along with a grand total of 22 All-ACC student-athletes. She also guided the 2016 Tiger 4x400m relay team to First Team All-America honors and the 2015 4x400m relay team on the women’s side to First Team All-America certificates.

Prior to her time with the Tigers, Thomas spent a season at Purdue (201213) and two years at Kentucky (2010-12). She began her full-time coaching career in 2008 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for University of Alabama-Birmingham’s women’s team and held the position until departing for Lexington.

Thomas, a native of Birmingham, Ala., earned her Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from LSU in 2004, where she was a member of two NCAA outdoor championships (2000, 2003). She was a provisional NCAA qualifier in the 800m and a national qualifier in the 400m hurdles in 2003. Upon completion of her degree, she acted as the head coach for the Alabama Striders Track Club from 2005-2010 and assistant coach at Huffman High School (Birmingham, Ala.) from 2004-06 until she made the jump to the collegiate ranks.