Hobart College Interim Director of Athletics Brian Miller named Stefan Thompson ’13 the head coach of the Statesmen basketball program. He will be the 20th man to lead the program since its inception in 1901.

“I have always respected and admired Stef’s ability as a leader,” Miller said. “I witnessed it first-hand throughout his outstanding career as a Hobart student-athlete, and later when he returned as an assistant coach. As we progressed through our exhaustive search, it became clear that Coach Thompson’s energy, passion and vision for the future of Hobart basketball was aligned exactly with the qualities we were looking for in a head coach. His professionalism, depth of knowledge, engaging personality and love of Hobart stood out. I’m so excited to see where he can take our program.”

The first Hobart player to earn All-America honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Thompson will serve as a head coach for the first time following assistant coaching stops at Wilkes and Hobart. He takes over for Tim Sweeney who resigned last month to take the head coaching position at Connecticut College.

“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to lead the Hobart basketball program,” Thompson said. “I’m thankful for Coach Sweeney bringing me back to Hobart as an assistant coach. I’m also grateful for everything Izzi Metz and Mike Neer taught me as both a coach and player.”

Over the past two seasons with the Statesmen, Thompson helped his alma mater to an overall record of 38-16 while capturing the 2017-18 Liberty League regular season championship and playing in the 2019 Liberty League Tournament Championship game. Thompson and his co-workers were voted the 2017-18 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year after the team posted a 21-5 record that included a program record 15-game winning streak.


At Wilkes, Thompson helped the Colonels advance to the MAC Freedom Tournament Championship game with an upset of top-seeded DeSales in 2016. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Thompson also served as the director of intramurals at Wilkes. In 2016, he also earned a master’s degree in education from Wilkes.

Thompson graduated from Hobart in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology. On the court, he led the Statesmen to an 82-31 record over four seasons. Thompson and his classmates were the first class of Hobart basketball players to produce four consecutive winning seasons in over 55 years and the first ever to make four consecutive postseason appearances.

The Statesmen earned back-to-back ECAC Upstate Tournament bids in 2010 and 2011, winning the regional crown on the second try. In 2012, Hobart earned its first at-large bid into the NCAA Championship field, beating Ohio Wesleyan in the first round before falling in overtime to eventual national runner-up Cabrini. A year later, Thompson and the Statesmen won the Liberty League regular season and tournament championships and returned to the NCAA tournament field.

Thompson was named to three All-America teams following the 2012-13 season, garnering a spot on the NABC second team, DIII News fifth team and D3hoops.com honorable mention.


Thompson reached a number of milestones in his senior season. He became just the seventh Statesman to record 1,500 career points. Thompson amassed a total of 1,643 career points which put him fourth on Hobart’s all-time scoring list. He also became the only Statesman to score more than 1,000 points and record more than 400 assists. Thompson ranks second on the Hobart list with 492 career assists. He was also the first member of the Hobart basketball team to play in the NABC/Reese’s Division III College All-Star Game.

The three-time All-Liberty League selection and 2012-13 Liberty League Player of the Year finished his final season atop the conference with 5.4 assists per game and a 2.3 assist-to-turnover. Thompson ranked fourth in scoring (15.6 ppg) and free throw percentage (.841), and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.422).

Thompson earned All-East honors from the NABC and D3hoops.com in his junior and senior seasons. As a first-year, Thompson was named the Rookie of the Year for the Liberty League as well as the D3hoops.com East Region and the ECAC Upstate Region.

A native of Syracuse, Thompson came to Hobart following a very successful scholastic career at Christian Brothers Academy.

The Statesmen posted a 17-11 last season. Although the program graduated three starters, Thompson will welcome back 13 players, including four with starting experience. He will make his head coaching debut in the Big Apple, leading Hobart against NYU on Nov. 13.

https://hwsathletics.com/news/2019/6/4/thompson-13-picked-to-lead-hobart-basketball.aspx