Mark Thomas returns to the Blue Devils as an assistant football coach and will work with the outside linebackers during the 2022 season. 

Thomas, who was the UW-Stout women's basketball coach for 31 years, was away from the Blue Devil football program for six years, but returned in the fall of 2019 after having previously coached 27 years with the football program, working on both sides of the ball at virtually every position.

Thomas recently retired as the UW-Stout women's basketball head coach, putting together a 472-346 overall record over 31 seasons. His 31 years as a Blue Devil head coach is the longest head coaching tenure in all of Stout's more than 110 years of athletics history. 

Thomas led his basketball teams to 10 national appearances and was a six-time WIAC coach of the year. The Blue Devils won five conference titles under Thomas' tutelage. 

In addition to coaching football and women's basketball, Thomas has been an assistant coach with the baseball and softball programs.
 















Mark Thomas (472-346, .577 winning percentage) concluded his 31st year at the helm of the Blue Devils women's basketball team during the 2017-18 season, surpassing former baseball coach Terry Petrie as the longest tenured coach at UW-Stout.

Thomas has led his teams to 10 national playoff berths, nine times in the NCAA. A six-time WIAC coach of the year, the Blue Devils have won five conference titles and four conference tournament championships under Thomas' tutelage. In WIAC tournament games at Johnson Fieldhouse, the Blue Devils record was 19-1. His teams have twice been to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Thomas-coached teams are responsible 88.3 percent of Stout's total victories.

Thomas is the first WIAC women's basketball coach to have reached 400 career wins. Thomas also has the most wins of any Stout basketball coach, either men's or women's. Dwain Mintz coached the men's basketball program for 27 years and compiled a 385-280 record. .Only baseball coach Terry Petrie has won more games in school history, with 537 games, but baseball traditionally played 40 or more games a year. Baseball also played in the NAIA, which allowed more games in a single season than the NCAA. Thomas' basketball teams played during the years when Stout held dual membership and went primarily by NCAA rules. Basketball generally played a 25-game schedule. The most games a Thomas-coached team played in the course of a year was 31 during the 2004-05 season.

Only two basketball coaches, men or women, have won more games in the WIAC than Thomas, Shirley Egner at UW-Stevens Point and Ken Anderson with the men's program at UW-Eau Claire. (These numbers only include games with WIAC teams, not all coaching stops outside the league.)

Over the years, Thomas has left his mark on three Blue Devil programs as an assistant coach, working as an assistant with football, baseball coach and softball. He recently took over duties as the Blue Devils' equipment manager.

Thomas took over a perennial loser in 1987, inheriting a team that won only two games in the two previous seasons before he joined the Stout staff. Since then, he has combined relentless recruiting with a run-and-gun philosophy to make the Blue Devils one of the most successful - and exciting - small college teams in the nation. The Blue Devils have consistently been among the top 25 NCAA Division III programs in attendance.

Thomas, who was the dean of WIAC women's basketball coaches, has a 472-346 record, the second-most wins of any coach in WIAC women's basketball history.

Thomas has made a habit of getting the best out of his players. Over the past 25 seasons, the Blue Devils have finished in the top four of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) - one of the top NCAA Division III women's basketball conferences -  18 times.

In 2007, the Blue Devils won their fifth WIAC title, and Stout advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament for the ninth time. Thomas was named the WIAC coach of the year, the sixth time he earned the honors, and was also named the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) coach of the year for Division III women's basketball for the second consecutive year.

In 2002, Thomas guided the Blue Devils to their first ever undisputed conference title - not just in women's basketball, but in any of the Stout women's sports - and was named the conference coach of the year for the third time. In 1997, the Blue Devils won their first ever conference title, a shared title.

Thomas has proven his style as a consistent winner, with a winning percentage at .577. Thomas-coached teams have figured into 86 percent of all Stout wins since 1971.

Thomas stresses not only athletics, but academics. The Blue Devils have ranked No. 1 in the country in grade-point average for Division III women's basketball teams and the Blue Devil squad is consistently one of the top ranked academic squads, ranking in the top 10 academically since the award was established.

In addition to his duties as women's basketball coach, Thomas had coached 27 years as an assistant football coach, working both sides of the ball virtually every position. Thomas also served 21 seasons as an assistant baseball coach and served a short stint as an assistant softball coach. Before coming to Stout, Thomas was an assistant football and baseball coach at Spring Valley, and co-coached a highly successful girls' basketball program for his alma mater. Thomas is currently the athletic department's equipment manager.

Thomas served many terms as the chair of the NCAA Central Regional Advisory Committee, the group that ranks regional teams throughout the year.

During the summer, Thomas is a regular at area stock car tracks, both as a spectator and driver. Thomas' summer camp attracts hundreds of elementary, middle school and high school-aged girls from the surrounding area and beyond.

Thomas was a two-sport letterwinner at UW-Superior, quarterbacking the Yellowjacket football team and playing catcher for the baseball team. He and his wife, Tracy, have two daughters, Lindsay and Leslie, and a son, Mitchell.

The Line on Coach Mark Thomas

• NAIA District 14 champions, 1991
• NAIA National Tournament, 1991
• NCAA Division III playoffs, 1992, 93, 94, 96, 97, 02, 05, 06, 07
• NCAA Division III second round, 1997, 2005, 2006
• NCAA Division III Sweet 16, 2005, 2006
• WIAC Coach of the Year, 1993, 97, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007
• WBCA Division III women's coach of the year, 2005, 2006
• WIAC regular season and tournament champions, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007
• WWIAC co-champions, 1997

Marker Games
First win - Nov. 1987 - vs. Mt Senario, 73-44
50th win - Feb. 28, 1991 - vs. Cardinal Stritch, 71-60
100th win - Jan. 10, 1994 - vs. UM-Morris, 80-59
200th win - Jan. 5, 2000 - at UW-River Falls, 78-74
300th win - Jan. 29, 2005 - vs. UW-Stevens Point, 76-68, ot
400th win - Feb. 3, 2010 - at UW-Stevens Point, 90-76

Mark Thomas Through the Years

Years	All	WIAC
1987-88	6-18	3-13
1988-89	10-16	4-12
1989-90	15-11	6-10
1990-91	19-11	9-7
1991-92	19-7	12-4
1992-93	21-4	13-3
1993-94	21-5	13-3
1994-95	16-9	9-7
1995-96	17-9	9-7
1996-97	19-8	14-2*
1997-98	16-9	10-6
1998-99	14-12	10-6
1999-2000	15-11	10-6
2000-01	18-7	11-5
2001-02	23-5	15-1*
2002-03	19-9	10-6
2003-04	18-9	10-6
2004-05	24-7	12-4*
2005-06	22-8	12-4*
2006-07	23-6	13-3*
2007-08	17-10	10-6
2008-09	16-11	10-6
2009-10	16-11	10-6
2010-11	10-15	5-11
2011-12	7-18	3-13
2012-13	10-15	4-12
2013-14	11-15	7-9
2014-15	6-19	4-12
2015-16	10-16	4-10
2016-17	7-18	3-11
2017-18	7-18	0-14
Total	472-346	X

*WIAC Championship