Saint Louis University head women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone has announced the addition of assistant coach Deon Thomas to the Billikens’ staff.
“It is my pleasure to welcome Deon Thomas to our Billiken family,” Stone said. “Deon is a success-oriented professional who has experience as a head coach. He is an established coach who has an ability to recruit, teach and assist our program with a championship mentality, and he has Midwest connections.
“Deon will be responsible for developing our perimeter players, scouting opponents, recruiting, and serving as the liaison to our strength and conditioning coach,” Stone said. “We welcome him and his family to Saint Louis University, and we can’t wait for a great season ahead.”
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to coach at Saint Louis University,” Thomas said. “I am excited to be a part of the tradition coach Stone has built here and am eager to work alongside her and the rest of the staff. I cannot thank coach Stone and (Director of Athletics) Chris May enough for this new adventure, and I can’t wait to get started with the team.”
Thomas most recently was interim head coach of the Ottawa (Ariz.) University women’s basketball team. He was an assistant coach at Chicago’s Roosevelt University in the 2019-20 season, earning a place in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s prestigious Thirty Under 30 group.
Thomas served two seasons as an assistant at Benedictine (Ill.) University. He helped guide the Eagles to a conference runner-up finish both seasons, the team’s first-ever region ranking and conference tournament semifinals appearance, and a program-record 21 victories in the 2018-19 campaign.
Thomas also spent one season apiece as an assistant at Chicago-area high schools Providence Catholic and St. Francis, helping lead both teams to a regional title and 20-win season. He has been a head coach of both girls’ and boys’ AAU basketball teams.
Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise sports science with a concentration in sports administration at Judson (Ill.) University. He earned an MBA with a concentration in human resources at American InterContinental University.
