Gary Thomas - Born to Coach

Gary Thomas is the Head Coach of the Southwest Kansas Storm of Arena Football One. He was the first coach in history to win an AF1 game, and through Week 6 has led his team to a 4-2 record.

Born to Coach

Gary Thomas was born and raised in Southern California. The son of a High School football coach, he was around the game from birth. Thomas played quarterback all the way through college, which no doubt helped make it an easy transition into coaching and being able to see the game. He was a dual-sport athlete in high school, playing both baseball and football. After high school, Thomas attended junior college in California before starting at quarterback for the West Texas A&M Buffaloes, a Division II school outside of Amarillo, Texas. 

When his college playing days were done, it was straight into coaching for Gary Thomas, and for the next 20 years, it would be the only professional job he had. Coaching came naturally to Thomas. After his senior season of football was over, he was still on campus taking classes. “There was kind of a void there, I was bored and still in school.” He started working with the wide receivers on the side and was offered a job as a graduate assistant. “And that was kind of it," Thomas recalled. 

He spent a few years coaching there at his alma mater, West Texas A&M, before bouncing around at the Division II level for about five years. He landed an offensive coordinator job at the College of DuPage, helping rebuild that program. He spent five seasons as offensive coordinator before being named their Head Coach, where he spent two seasons at the helm, going 16-4 and finishing ranked #8 in the nation in his final season. 

Made for Dodge City

The Dodge City Community College Head Coaching position opened up, and it was an attractive prospect for Thomas. They convinced him to take the job, and as they say, “the rest is history.” Dodge City had arguably the most successful run in school history under Gary’s leadership. They won the first conference title in over 35 years. Had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in over 30 years, and won nine games, tying the record for most in a single season since 1962. They spent over 3.5 seasons in the top 20 polls, and 16 players ended up in the NFL in Thomas’ six-year run with the school. 

After 20 years of coaching, he was approached by his father-in-law about taking over the family business. A power line contracting business that manages grids. They tear down old stuff, rebuild lines. It’s a good business that keeps him busy with six crews that are spread out and operate in both Kansas and Oklahoma. It was a great opportunity to take a step back, work fewer hours, and be around the kids more. He hung up the whistle in 2018 and retired from coaching to stay focused on the business. 

Pulled Back in by Football 

Retirement lasted for about 6 years before he was approached by a former player of his, Brandon Venson. Venson had also been a position coach under Thomas. He was the Head Coach of the Storm at the time. The team asked him to “consult” for them, but Thomas is pretty sure that was never their true intention. Thomas started attending practice, watching games, and lending his expertise. They quickly offered him the Head Coach job, and after consulting with the family, he accepted. 

It all changed quickly for Thomas and the Storm when the opportunity to join a new and bigger league arose. Instead of just being in the CIF, where most of the games were local in the Midwest, suddenly they were in a league with teams from New York, Florida, and Washington. Coach Thomas takes pride in how Southwest Kansas is building its program and doing it differently.  They don’t have the size and all the resources that some other teams have access to, but they are grinding their own path, and it’s a path that’s working well for them. “We’re just trying to do it the right way, build something that’s successful and sustainable,” Thomas said. 

He’s developed a gameday routine as Head Coach of the Storm. Every game day, he’ll have the old school Red Vines and down a sugar-free purple Monster during pre-game in honor of the team's colors. Defensive coordinator Jason Scheck has caught on and will scour the ends of the earth to make sure they find their purple Monster when they are on the road. He took a 20-minute walk in Salina just to find them! 

Outside of Football 

Coach Thomas is a man of many talents and a man who’s always busy. In addition to taking over and still working at his father-in-law’s company, he’s dabbled in commentary for ESPN, doing some color commentary for the junior college game of the week. ESPN leaned heavily on his experience in the game, and it led to him doing the national semifinals for them. But that’s not all, Gary Thomas is also a public servant. In November, he was elected to be a county commissioner for Ford County. Ford County, Kansas, is one of the five largest counties in the state.  

He met his wife right there in Dodge City. They met at a bar while he was out celebrating a victory in his first season as coach at Dodge City Community College. They had not beaten a ranked team in who knows how long, and in back-to-back weeks, they toppled teams ranked in the top 10. While out celebrating, someone introduced him to her, and that was it, “the rest is history,” he said. 

They stay very busy as she’s an assistant principal in their school district, and they have three children ages 14, 9, and 5. The kids are in competitive cheer and dance, travel baseball, basketball, and football. The 5-year-old is a sports addict already, so Coach knows he’s in for a lot more. When I asked him if he had any hobbies or what he’d do with a day off, he chuckled and said he had no idea what he’d do, but he’d hope for a vacation. When football season is over and before school starts back up, they’ll sneak away to find some time to relax, likely at the in-laws' house on the lake or their cabin in New Mexico.