Croton-Harmon Grad Earns Big-Time Job

When it comes to Croton-Harmon 2007 graduate Bill Thom recently being named the Director of Operations for the men’s basketball team at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., nobody can say that he didn’t earn it.

Thom started out as a student manager for the team during his freshman year at the school, the season when current Golden State Warrior star guard Stephen Curry stole America’s heart and helped lead the underdog Wildcats to the Elite 8. “It was just unbelievable to be able to watch Steph every day,” Thom said. “I was just lucky to have that opportunity.”

The former Croton-Harmon boys hoop player then became the student director of operations his junior and senior years before graduating in May.

He also served as the assistant camp director at Davidson coach Bob McKillop’s summer camp the past three years and was an assistant coach on his father’s Hudson Valley squad that won the gold medal at last year’s Empire States Games.

Thom said he is excited to take the next step up the ladder in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of Division I hoops. He is well appreciative of the fact that the hard work that he put in as an undergraduate has paid off immediately.

He actually had left the North Carolina-based school after graduation and moved back home looking for a job. “I figured I should give coach a call, he wanted me to interview,” Thom said. “Then to get the job, it was just an unbelievable step for me. It’s a validation of the last four years of hard work.”

The job opened up when Terrell Ivory left Davidson to go to Colgate University in upstate Hamilton to become an assistant coach.

It’s a job that not only is a perfect fit for him job wise, it’s also a perfect fit for Thom people wise. “It’s become a second home for me,” Thom said. “I am comfortable down here with the coaching staff and the players on the team. It’s really a great fit for me.”

A big influence on Thom when it came to basketball is his father, also named Bill Thom, who has been the long-time boys basketball head coach at Croton-Harmon. “Since seventh grade, was kind of the first year I helped my dad coach my little brother (Ian),” Thom said. “From that moment on I knew I wanted to get into coaching. Just being inundated with basketball and learning to love it greatly influenced me a lot.”

Thom also got basketball blood in his veins from his mom, Mary Ellen, who played basketball in college at the College of Saint Rose in Albany and coached the JV girls basketball team for Croton-Harmon. “It’s just a whole family thing, my brother is playing for my dad now,” Thom said. “I just couldn’t ask for a better role model than my dad.”

Thom’s job will include procuring video to scout the opposition, something he is already familiar with since he has assisted the team’s video coordinator the last two years, and being the point person for Davidson’s travel arrangements.

While Thom is thrilled to have the job he does now, he said that he has bigger plans for his future. “My main goal, that is way up there, which is going to take some time to obtain, is to be a Division I head coach at some point,” Thom said. “However, in five years I hope to be an assistant somewhere”