Ronnie Thomas was named the head coach of the Lancers in March of 2025 following five seasons on staff under Griff Aldrich. He joined the Longwood men’s basketball staff in the summer of 2020 as the Director of Recruiting & Program Development and shifted to an assistant coach role in July of 2021.
In his four seasons as an assistant, Longwood has won the Big South Championship twice, played in two NCAA Tournaments, and added a top two finish in the Big South standings as well. Plus, the team's 67 wins are the most in a three-year span in team history.
In 2023-24, the Lancers closed the season with seven wins in their final 10 games. During the run, the Lancers knocked off Winthrop, top-seeded High Point, and second seed UNC Asheville to claim the Big South Championship. The Lancers were a No. 16 seed and faced off against top-seeded Houston in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Big South Tournament MVP Walyn Napper led the way during the tournament, with All-Tournament honorees Michael Christmas and Szymon Zapala chipping in. The Lancers finished 21-14 on the year. During the season, the team boasted a 15-game winning streak that was the longest active streak at the time it was snapped.
A bruising front line allowed Longwood to boast one of the best rebounding outfits in the nation. The Lancers ranked sixth nationally in rebounding margin (+8.6), and the team was 12th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (13.4).
In the 2022-23 season, Longwood followed up its championship run with a second straight 20-win campaign. It was the first time in team history the team has won 20 games in back-to-back years. The team’s 46 wins are the second most all time in a two-year span. It culminated with a second place finish in the Big South regular season standings.
Once again, the Lancers led the Big South in rebounding margin and ranked in the top 50 nationally for large chunks of the season. Both Isaiah Wilkins and DeShaun Wade earned All-Big South honors, becoming the first two players in team history to earn All-Big South honors in back-to-back seasons. Wilkins was an All-Big South First Team selection for a second straight season, also a program first, and Wade earned a second straight All-Big South Honorable Mention nod.
In his first season in his new role, he helped the Lancers post their best year in the team’s Division I history. Longwood won the Big South Championship as well as the Big South regular season crown, and the Lancers advanced to the NCAA National Tournament. All three milestones were program firsts at the Division I level.
In addition, the team’s 26-7 overall record was the best since the 1979-80 team went 28-3 and went to the NCAA Division III Final Four. The Lancers ripped off 15 conference wins, also a program high since joining the Big South, and won 10 straight conference games and 11 straight overall. The Lancers also were the top rebounding outfit in the Big South
A 2014 graduate of Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va., Thomas came to Longwood after serving as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. In his final two seasons there, he was promoted to associate head coach came in 2018 and capped a five-year tenure at Guilford in which he began as an assistant coach in 2015-16 and was promoted to assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2016-18.
At Guilford, Thomas helped lead the Quakers to a 94-42 record, Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championships in 2017 and 2019, and a pair of NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. Guilford advanced in both of those NCAA postseason trips, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2019.
Thomas was involved in nearly every aspect of the Guilford men’s basketball program during his time in Greensboro, assisting and leading a multitude of daily duties including practice planning, player and team development, scouting, video and film prep, and travel logistics. He also served as the team’s defensive coordinator, as well as recruiting coordinator, where he organized the program’s recruiting calendar, on-campus and in-home visits, and all meetings with potential student-athletes and families.
Under his direction, Guilford’s defense was among the top three in the nation three consecutive years, including the No. 4 ranked team in 2017, No. 19 in 2019 and No. 8 in 2020. The 2019 Quakers also led the nation in total rebounds and finished sixth in three-point field goal defense. Guilford was also among the country’s top 10 in rebounding margin five consecutive years and among the top 15 in field goal percentage three times.
Along with his duties in Guilford’s varsity men’s basketball program, Thomas also served as head coach of the junior varsity program and oversaw numerous administrative efforts, including academic oversight, community and campus engagement, community service, alumni relations, camp and social media.
Thomas gained experience on the administrative side of college athletics at Guilford as well, serving as the director of compliance. In that role, he was the compliance administrator of 19 Guilford sports and oversaw the department’s compliance of NCAA D-III rules in competition, practice and recruiting.
Prior to joining the collegiate ranks, Thomas was both a semi-professional player and coach in Ireland. After graduating from Bridgewater, he played with the Ulster Elks in the Wingfoot Premier League of Northern Ireland during the 2014-15 season while also working with the Victory Scholar “Sport Changes Life” Foundation in Belfast, United Kingdom. A part of that program, Thomas worked regularly with troubled and disadvantaged youth, aged 16-24, through community engagement programs grounded in the sport of basketball.
After concluding his playing career, he served as an assistant coach of the Ireland National Team’s U16 girl’ division in Dublin and head coach of the USAAI Athlete International program in Dublin in 2019.
Thomas’ professional accolades followed a standout playing career at Bridgewater from 2010-14 where he was a three-year captain. He finished as the program’s all-time leader in steals and No. 6 in program history in assists. Also an Academic All-ODAC honoree, he earned a liberal studies degree with an emphasis in elementary education in 2014. He went on to earn his master’s in sports management from Ulster University in Jordanstown, United Kingdom, in December of 2015.
Thomas and his wife, Brittany, married in the spring of 2019 and reside in Farmville.
