Roy Thomas is KC's choice

Photo by Mitch Lucas HE'S THE MAN - Legendary East Texas basketball coach Roy Thomas (above) is the new head basketball coach of the Kilgore College Lady Rangers. Thomas accepted the position formally at a crowded press conference today. If it were possible to hit a home run with a coaching hire, then the Kilgore College administration and athletic director David Castles just hit a 530-footer over the center field fence.

This morning at a press conference, the Kilgore College Rangers named Texas Sports Hall of Famer Roy Thomas as the institution's new head women's basketball coach. Thomas, a former Tyler Junior College men's coach who had great success at TJC, took the North Carolina A&T women's basketball program to the NCAA Tournament, losing to eventual national champion Arkansas.

"He is not only a great coach," said Castles, "but a man of great character."

Thomas had the media and the crowd, many of whom were his old coaching colleagues, in stitches during the press conference.

"I am really happy to be back in this area," he said. "...It took me about two hours to drive this from my home, and I said, 'Not bad.'"

He looked back at some members of the Lady Rangers, standing behind the crowd.

"Young ladies," he said, "be ready to work. Get your blue collars out and your hardhats on."

The hiring of Thomas, who replaced Contina James (James resigned following the completion of the most recent season) was a bombshell.

Thomas coached the TJC Apaches from 1984-94, made it to the Region XIV Conference playoffs on several occasions, and a to the NJCAA national tournament.

Thomas played at TJC from 1968-70, and went to Baylor University, where he eventually became as an assistant coach while working on a master's degree. He did play professionally, suiting up in Europe, before becoming the head coach at Texas A&I (now Texas A&M UniversityKingville), a position he held from 1980-83, before coming home to Tyler.

Thomas takes over a program in flux. A staple of the NJCAA tournament for many years under former coach Evelyn Blalock in the 1980s and early 1990s, the KC Lady Rangers won three national titles. But they have struggled recently, watching conference rivals like Trinity Valley Community College in Athens have success on a national stage.

"That shouldn't happen," Thomas said. "Kilgore should always be in the top three."

Assistant Brad Tindel, who has a long friendship with Thomas, will remain with the program, the coach said.

"He thinks of himself as old school," said KC President Dr. Bill Holda. "And we believe there is value in that."