Fritch native, Jimmy Thomas, took over the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach position at Littlefield High School, when the LISD Board of Trustees approved the hire at the February School Board Meeting, which took place on Feb. 25 th .
Coach Thomas is the first outside hire in 50 years for the Wildcats at the Head Football Coach and AD position, as he takes over for Brent Green, who made the move into administration.
“I didn’t really know that coming in, until I was talking to someone, but that is an honor and a show of respect I’m not sure I deserve,” he said. “When you’re the first outside hire in 50 years – somebody told me from 1980-1984, nobody played more playoff games then Littlefield. There is some really good tradition here and for a guy to come in and mix things up a little bit; I told the committee when I interviewed with them that I’ll walk into that coaching office and I’m not going to run anybody off. I’m also not intimidated by an opposing view point. I look at it as an honor to be the first outside hire in 50 years.”
Coach Thomas spent the last three months of the 2020-2021 school year, getting to know the students and staff.
Coach Thomas is in his 25th year of coaching and next year will be his 17th year as an Athletic Director and Head Football Coach.
“This is my fifth Head Coaching Position,” he explained. “My first coaching stop was in Pettus, TX, in south Texas and then I went to George West, which is also in south Texas. I went back and worked as a defensive coordinator for a guy I had worked for in Llano. After that, I went back to being a head coach in a place outside of Houston called Danbury.”
He added, “My parents still live in Borger and my in-laws live in Clovis; my kids were getting to the junior high age, so in 2014 I took the job at Bushland. I took a semester off to become a principal and it just wasn’t what I wanted.”
The Coach talked about why he made the choice to come to Littlefield, saying, “When Littlefield came open, I talked to Coach Green and I talked to Coach Huseman and I knew when I was at Bushland we played them four times. I knew the kids are tough, but on the South Plains you have to be a careful, because you can get a place like Littlefield where the kids will work hard and play hard and they are tough or you’ll get a place that’s not like that and is a zoo. I knew this job wasn’t going to be a zoo.”
He added, “My son’s at Texas Tech, so it is a great fit, he is at the house all of the time, it is really nice.”
Coach Thomas said that he and his wife, Kaylia, have been married for 24 years. They have a daughter, Katelynn, 21, who lives in Amarillo and a son Jared, 19, who lives in Lubbock.
“All I know is coaching, and I didn’t want to go to far,” he stated. Both my kids are out of school, so I knew I didn’t want to go to far because my older daughter lives in Amarillo, so this was kind of the perfect spot.”
Coach Thomas talked about how his new job has gone so far saying, “It’s been good. When you take a new job, usually the biggest problem that you have initially is that it is hard to develop relationships with the seniors, because you didn’t coach them. These seniors have been awesome, I had so much fun with them on baseball and track. It has just been a good group; typically that is the category you have trouble connecting with because you’re not going to coach them and you didn’t coach them, but these guys have been great.”
He added, “The kids have been good; we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re working hard and getting stuff done right and we’re making some progress. It’s different, I tell the kids, change is hard and it is difficult and it’s the same thing with the staff, it’s a little bit of a transition for us, but I really think we are going to be alright.”
The Coach stated that his main philosophy is that he is passionate about the game of football. “I love it beyond anything that I could ever do,” he explained. “There’s an old coaching saying, “If you’re playing a coach who is a good golfer and a good fisherman, you need to schedule them.’ Football is what I do, I love the game of football, I could be 90- years old and in a wheelchair and I’m going to love the game of football. I’m just going to be passionate and try to be a teacher and connect with the kids.”
He added, “This whole deal has to be about relationships and that is what I keep telling these kids. It ain’t really about performance, trust has to come before performance. If we can get this team to buy into each other and coaches and all of those relationship things; scheme is secondary to all of that stuff. That’s my main philosophy, is that it has to be kidcentered and the other thing is, with kids these days is that it has to be fun. We’re way different then what they’ve ever done here and that is a challenge in itself. But, that is the beauty of Texas High School Football, is that every place you go is different. I can’t treat the kids here like I did the kids at Bushland. The fun thing about football is adapting your scheme and everything to your players.”
The coach talked about what he is most looking forward to about coaching at Littlefield, saying, “I’m at the point in my career where I want to come to work and have a good time.”
“There are so many things you can get upset about and loose your cool about. I told these kids, ‘as long as I’m alive and I don’t know how long I’m going to live, you guys are going to outlive me by far, but you’ll never be hungry, your family will never be hungry and your kids will never be hungry, as long as I’m alive.’ It has to be about relationships, football is our vehicle, football is our vehicle to make impact for life, that’s what this is about. It’s not about just football, it’s about a whole bunch of things.”
Lastly, the coach talked about what he likes to do in his spare time, saying, “I’m not a big hunter or fisherman, I’m kind of a movie junky. I like all kinds of movies and I like buttered popcorn. But, to me it always revolves around football, I like to study.”
Thomas boasts a 109-63 career record, including going 47-25 in six seasons in his previous stop with the Bushland Falcons.