HUNTINGTON - Marshall head coach Donnie Jones has announced the hiring of Tim Thomas as his new Director of Basketball Operations. Thomas, a 1993 Wheeling Jesuit graduate, joins the Thundering Herd staff after two years as the Athletic Director and the associate men's prep basketball coach at the Patterson School in Patterson, N.C.

Thomas, from Wheeling, W.Va., is the fourth West Virginia native to join the men's basketball staff. Jones, who is from Point Pleasant, also hired Shawn Finney, from Mullens, and Brett Nelson, from St. Albans, as assistant coaches earlier this spring.

"Tim is a tireless worker with great passion and is a real student of the game," said Jones. "He's had great success at Laurinburg and Patterson where they built their programs to a national championship level. We're excited to have him and his wife Melissa as a part of the Thundering Herd family."

Thomas has extensive coaching experience at both the college and prep school levels. He worked at West Virginia University Institute of Technology from 1994 to 2003, where he served a number of different roles, including head women's basketball coach from 2001-03. He was an assistant men's basketball coach with the Golden Bears from 1994-2001, and in the spring of 2003, he was both the men's and women's head basketball coaches for a span of two months after taking over as the interim head men's basketball coach in February and March of that season. Thomas took over a 7-19 team when he became the head women's coach and led the program to a first round home game for the conference tournament, the school's most wins in a decade, and the team's first winning season since 1991-92.

After WVU Tech, he landed as the Athletic Director and associate men's basketball coach at Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, N.C. While at Laurinburg, the school produced 30 Division I signees and in 2004-05, they were named the prep school national champions with a 40-0 record after averaging 101.6 points per contest. During his two years at Laurinburg, the team's record was 71-6.

For the last two seasons, Thomas has been the Athletic Director and associate head men's prep basketball coach at the Patterson School in Patterson, N.C. Patterson was named the preseason number one ranked prep school prior to the 2005-06 season and ended that campaign with a 34-3 record. In 2006-07, the Patterson School finished with a 35-4 record, making Thomas' record in the last four years an astounding 140-13 at the prep school level. He was also the head men's varsity coach in 2005-06, where his team went 25-4.

"This is an unbelievable opportunity to work with Coach Jones," said Thomas. "He is a high character guy, and having the chance to be on his staff is incredible. I think that the chemistry we have with our staff is going to spill over to our team and our program."

Thomas graduated from Wheeling Jesuit College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.