Jeff Thomas, who coached the Woodstock Union High boys basketball team to two straight Vermont Division II championship games and a state title in 2014-15, has stepped down to take an administrative position with the Woodstock athletic department. The news was confirmed by Woodstock athletic director Justin Wardwell on Saturday.
“He told me last Friday, told the coaches over the weekend and told the players on Tuesday,” Wardwell said.
Thomas could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Thomas had coached Woodstock since 2011 and was the Wasps’ athletic director from 2011-14. He led the Wasps to three straight semifinal appearances in the D-II state tournament, accumulating a 55-15 record in that stretch. Woodstock completed its first perfect season in 2014-15, going 23-0 and winning the program’s fifth state championship and first since 1999.
This past season, Thomas’ Wasps were 16-7 before falling in the D-II championship game to Lyndon.
“It’s just the mentality he brings,” said Wardwell, who replaced Thomas as athletic director in 2014. “He has such a great, positive attitude.”
Woodstock lost five seniors after its undefeated season and will lose nine more this year. Next season’s Woodstock team will have a much different look, as top scorers and Dylan McDonough (17.5 points per game) and Hunter McDonough (11.8 points per game), Curran MacDonald (9.2 points per game) and Alex Crompton (5.8 points per game) are all among that senior group. Wardwell hopes Woodstock’s new coach can pick up right where Thomas left off.
“I don’t want to call it a rebuild,” he said. “But he’s laid a foundation throughout the program, and set a mentality that I’d like to continue. Now, they’ll have to play a different style. … But certainly talking to Jeff, I think that was his thought process. It was the perfect time for a coach to come in a bring his own stuff.
“He really turned it around,” Wardwell continued. “I graduated in 2008 and the basketball team was really in a state of turmoil, ever since those early-2000 years when we were winning championships. We dipped pretty low. What he’s done with that team is just incredible.”
Like with other Woodstock hires, Wardwell will put together a committee of parents, coaches and students to consult on Woodstock’s new coach. Wardwell said the athletic department has already started its search and would like to have a coach in place in the next month.
“I think (the boys basketball team) is in a good spot and hopefully whoever comes in can continue that,” Wardwell said. “We’re back to where we want to be after a few years of not being there. I think that’s Jeff’s legacy with the basketball program.”
Though the plans have not been finalized just yet, Wardwell anticipates that Thomas will take a new position within the athletic department under the title “dean of athletics,” assisting Wardwell, in his second year as AD, with logistical and hiring decisions.
“We haven’t created the position yet,” Wardwell said. “It’ll be huge having him help out.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or at 603-727-3306.