When Malissa Thomas stepped down as Caldwell County girls’ basketball head coach in 2019, she said, “… I will still be involved with basketball and other sports at Caldwell County for as long as I can. I love it. I’ll always be part of Caldwell County sports.”
Five years later, Thomas is back as Lady Tiger head coach.
Caldwell County High School announced her hiring on Thursday.
Thomas, a former standout player at Caldwell County, compiled a 120-137 record in nine years as head coach of the Lady Tigers from 2010-2019. She guided the team to 7th District championships in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
Thomas is also principal at Caldwell County Elementary School.
Despite playing just two years at CCHS, Thomas scored over 1,000 points at the school. She finished with 1,081 points as a Lady Tiger, still good enough for 18th on the program’s all-time scoring list. She is 14th on the rebounding list with 545.
A 1997 Caldwell grad, Thomas was a starter at the University of Memphis before returning to Caldwell, where she spent three years as an assistant basketball coach.
A former all-state softball player at Caldwell, Thomas was also an assistant softball coach for the Lady Tigers under Al Giordano, and took over as head coach of that program in 2004 after Giordano stepped down.
But Thomas left later that year to became girls’ basketball head coach at Lyon County. There, she compiled a 74-66 record and led the Lady Lyons to the regional tournament on four occasions.
Thomas will get to coach two of her daughters with the Lady Tigers. Benashka will be a senior in the upcoming season while Medeline will be a sophomore.
Thomas takes over for David Brown, who went 8-22 in his one season in Princeton.
