Stephen Thomas - Football Coach - Princeton University Athletics

Stephen Thomas

Title:
Special Teams Coordinator & Inside Linebackers Coach
Email:
st7@princeton.edu
Phone:
216-8203

QUICK FACTS ON STEPHEN THOMAS

• coached both Mark Fossati and Tom Johnson to first-team All-Ivy seasons during 2018 Ivy title season

• named special teams coordinator prior to the 2017 season

• helped coach Mike Zeuli to Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors

• helped produce top-ranked defense during 2016 Ivy championship season

• played defensive back at the State University of New York at Buffalo

PRINCETON RECRUITING AREAS — New Mexico; New York Counties (Nassau, New York City; Suffolk); Oklahoma; Texas

Stephen Thomas, a member of the 2013, 2016 and 2018 Ivy championship coaching staffs, took over a new role prior to the 2017 season. Thomas remained in his role as inside linebackers coach, but he added the role of special teams coordinator, and he helped Princeton produce a historic 2018 season in both areas.

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Last season, Thomas coached a pair of first-team All-Ivy League linebackers in Mark Fossati and Tom Johnson, which helped Princeton post the nation's fourth-ranked scoring defense and seventh-ranked rushing defense. He also helped return specialist Tiger Bech claim All-Ivy League recognition.

The 2019 season will be Thomas' seventh year on the Princeton staff, though he spent the 2015 season in the NFL as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles. During his time at Princeton, he has mainly worked with the linebackers, and he has coached several All-Ivy performers, including the 2016 duo of Luke Catarius and Rohan Hylton. In 2014, he coached the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Mike Zeuli.

Thomas' work with the 2016 linebackers helped produce one of the best defensive units in recent Ivy League history. Led by the Catarius-Hylton duo, Princeton led the Ivy League in scoring (16.4), total (317.6), and rushing (80.1) defense.

Prior to arriving at Princeton, Thomas spent the 2011 season at Southern Miss, where he worked on the offensive side of the ball. He helped the Golden Eagles to a conference title and a Hawaii Bowl appearance while working with the offensive lineman and assisting in film breakdown, data input and scout team coordination. He also gained terrific experience on the defensive side of the ball during two years at Delaware, where he worked with both the linebackers (2009) and the secondary (2010). He helped the Blue Hens go 18-8 those two seasons, the latter of which resulted in the top-ranked scoring defense in the FCS and a berth in the national championship game.

Thomas is a 2006 graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he played defensive back and earned his degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He went from Buffalo to SUNY Cortland, where he began his coaching career working with the defensive secondary for two seasons. During that time, Cortland won two conference titles and reached the NCAA quarterfinal.