Former UConn Huskies guard Mel Thomas (2004-08) has decided to pursue a career in coaching as she works towards a graduate degree in business. Thomas, 24, recently joined the staff of Karl Smesko as the Director of Basketball Operations at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in Fort Myers FL.
After tearing her ACL in her senior season (2007-08) at UConn, Thomas missed out on the 2008 WNBA draft due to the injury. She later recovered well enough to play her first professional season in Ireland as a member of the Bausch and Lomb Waterford Wildcats of the Irish National Basketball League.
After a personally successfully season , Thomas returned home with the hope of playing in the WNBA. After being invited to training camp by the Seattle Storm last year she tore her meniscus in her knee just weeks before reporting and was unable to play once again until the fall. In October of 2009,, Thomas went off to play in Poland for Artego Bydgoszcz in the Polish league, PLKK.
This year after not being signed by a WNBA team and disappointed in her overseas experiences, Thomas has decided to try her hand at coaching and finds herself about to pursue her coaching career and her MBA (Masters of Business Administration) at FGCU starting this fall.
Recently, Sox & Dawgs asked Thomas a few questions about her new position, coaching, playing professionally and about her future. Always there will a smile and willing to answer just about anything Mel took some time from her busy schedule of studying for her GMAT’s (Graduate Management Admission Test), helping out at basketball camps and doing book signings for her book “Heart of a Husky” to answer these for us