Ronnie Thomas, an assistant coach on Griff Aldrich’s staff, has been named as the next head coach of Longwood men’s basketball. The architect of two NCAA tournament appearances and three consecutive 20-win seasons in seven years with Longwood, Aldrich accepted the associate head coach position at the University of Virginia and reunited with friend and former Hampden-Sydney College teammate Ryan Odom.
Thomas is 32 years old, making him one of the youngest coaches in all of Division I men’s basketball. He graduated from Bridgewater College in 2014 and played semi-professionally in Ireland for one season. After a successful assistant coaching stint at Division III Guilford College, he joined Longwood as director of player development and recruiting. He has since been operating as an assistant coach since 2021. This makes Longwood one of the very few Division I men’s basketball programs who filled a coaching vacancy internally. “It happened really fast,” said Longwood athletics director Tim Hall. “If you see how these hires [around the country] are going, they’re all going pretty quick…When Griff [Aldrich] told me [about the job] it was simultaneously a surprise and not a surprise.”
After seven years with Aldrich at the helm, Hall and the Longwood athletics department landed on Thomas in a discussion that focused on continuity of the Longwood men’s basketball culture. “[Our players] have a relationship with Ronnie, our donors, our alumni and student body have a relationship with Ronnie. I think he’s an up-and-comer, and what better environment as a first-time head coach to walk into than one that has as many positive things in place as we have,” Hall said.
Thomas begins his head coaching tenure on the back of a frustrating season in which the Lancers finished sixth in the Big South Conference and were eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament. Longwood is in the midst of a crucial offseason, with a staff determined to make it back to the top three of the conference. “The title is more important because it allows me to lead a program with my values and beliefs, which are very aligned with everything that Longwood basketball has been about,” said Thomas.
With that identity and belief, Longwood men’s basketball has eight months to turn it into quality basketball performances. Quality performances are what Lancer fans grew accustomed to under Aldrich’s leadership, as he led the Lancers to 127 wins in seven seasons. “The system is not broken. We have a system in place,” said Thomas. “It’s a championship system, it has delivered championships…we are not here to change this system that [the staff and I] have all been a part of…. The difference is [there is] obviously a change of leadership on the sideline…but that has nothing to do with the style of basketball we are going to play.”
With the addition of NIL and the revamped transfer portal, programs such as Longwood are under more pressure to retain players and coaches. Over 1,200 Division I men’s college basketball players have entered the transfer portal, with most of them looking for bigger schools to grow their brand and reputation. “At the end of the day, these guys have a choice,” said Thomas. “As far as retaining players goes, [the coaching staff] already knew what was what. We have a lot of work to do, and that is for whomever is in this seat.”
Longwood is already losing multiple players, some of whom just came into the program a year prior. Guards Angelo Brizzi, DJ Jefferson, Colby Garland, Leo Nordberg, Stark Jones and Dom Payne are all planning on leaving the school, while fan-favorite forward Elijah Tucker has also entered his name into the portal. Team captains Kyrell Luc, Michael Christmas and Trey Hicks are graduating and have now run out of eligibility.
With more than half the roster not returning next season, Thomas is now positioned in a unique situation. He will begin his coaching tenure with almost a full staff, but with very few returning players. The key member of his staff already in place, as Aldrich’s Associate Head Coach Marty McGillan will stay with the program and assume the same role with Thomas. The same is expected for the other coaches on the staff, such as assistant coaches Matt Sholtis, Myo Baxter-Bell and Odri Dedolli.
“We already have a staff in place,” said Thomas. “They’re ready to continue the race. There will be additions to the staff and we’ll build some experience around that staff. I think it’s all about hiring guys who are all about young people… from there the basketball will take care of itself.”
Thomas himself has youth on his side, having finished his own collegiate playing career in 2014. “Coaching is becoming a young person’s game,” said Hall. “There’s just a built-in benefit for someone who is young being able to interact [with young people]... Ronnie is as ready to be a head coach as anybody who hasn’t been a head coach yet. You always have to do it for the first time,” Hall concluded.
While his head coaching approach remains to be seen, “When you say someone has the total package, he’s about as close as you can get to it [for being a first year head coach]” said Hall. “You could say that he’s not been a head coach before, he’s never called a timeout, and our program has ascended to a place where there would be a number of outside people [interested], but a lot of it goes to fit… and Ronnie fits in so many different ways.”
