Interview w/ Ben Thompson (HC at Emory & Henry)

09/18/20 • 59 min

Coach Thompson shares his journey from HS Assistant Coach to coaching in the ACC, SoCon, SAC and Sunshine State Conference prior to becoming a the Head Coach of a NCAA Men's Basketball program.

He's worked under Mike Madagan, Ben Miller, Seth Greenberg, Josh Schertz, Duggar Baccum, and Mike Dement over the course of his career. Coach Thompson has coached at the NCAA D1, D2, and D3 levels in addition to his HS coaching days during his time as an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech. He was hired as the HC at SUNY Canton in 2016 while still continuing to serve as an AC at Lincoln Memorial University during their postseason run to the NCAA D2 National Championship. After three years at SUNY Canton he accepted the same position at Emory & Henry College, a homecoming of sorts for the Southwest Virginia native.

His father Rick is an accomplished coach as well, his Lebanon HS team won the 1991 VHSL State Championship and was named VHSL Coach of the Year - Rick serves as an AC for Ben at Emory & Henry.

Coach Thompson shares his journey from HS Assistant Coach to coaching in the ACC, SoCon, SAC and Sunshine State Conference prior to becoming a the Head Coach of a NCAA Men's Basketball program.

His father Rick is an accomplished coach as well, his Lebanon HS team won the 1991 VHSL State Championship and was named VHSL Coach of the Year - Rick serves as an AC for Ben at Emory & Henry.

Previous Episode

Interview w/ Matt Griggs (HC at Mary Baldwin)

Coach Griggs shares his journey from playing D3 basketball at Centre College to becoming the 1st Head Coach in the history of Mary Baldwin University's Men's Basketball program. After concluding his college basketball playing career he became a Graduate Assistant under Pat Kelsey at Winthrop. After completing his term as GA he was retained as the Video Coordinator and remained there until Clay Nunley hired him as his full-time Assistant Coach at Roanoke College (D3). Coach Nunley eventually promoted him to the Associate Head Coach prior to him being hired by Mary Baldwin University to be their inaugural HC.

Next Episode

Interview w/ David Muchnick (Assistant Coach at NYU)

David Muchnick shares his unique coaching journey. Growing up in New York he fell in love with basketball and went on to play at SUNY Genesco before embarking on a college basketball coaching career that has span over 15 years. He started off as a Graduate Assistant at SUNY Cortland and was on staff there from 2005-2008. After SUNY Cortland he moved onto to Denison University in Ohio for two years before returning to New York as an Assistant Coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy - he eventually became the Head Coach in 2014 before accepting a HC position at the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME. Coach Muchnick stayed for three years before resigning due to health reasons.

Coach Muchnick went back to being an Assistant Coach who was working side jobs to make it work as an AC at the small college level in 2017. He was hire by Ryan Hyland at John Jay College where he helped build that program into a CUNYAC powerhouse before accepting a full-time AC position at NYU. He's gone through many highs and lows both in the profession - and in his personal life. Coach Muchnick is one of the good guys in the business who I look forward to seeing get another shot at being a HC at the college level.