Lauren Thomer will enter her thirdseason as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator for theYale University women’s basketball team.
During her first two seasons on Chris Gobrecht's staff,Thomer has played an instrumental role in establishing Yale as acontender for the Ivy League championship, helping to guidethe Bulldogs to a pair of fourth-place finishes. Yalewent 13-15 in 2012-13 with an 8-6 mark in Ivy League andfollowed that up with a 13-15 record in 2013-14 and 7-7 markin Ivy League play.
During her time at Yale, Thomer has coached two players who havecompeted on the international level in Megan Vasquez, who was apart of Puerto Rico's attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, andJanna Graf, who led Germany's U-20 squad to a second-place finishin the European Championships.
While at Yale, Thomer has coached a two-time All-Ivy LeagueFirst Team selection (Sarah Halejian, 2013-14 & 2012-13) andtwo All-Ivy Honorable Mention players (Vasquez, 2012-13; Graf,2012-13). She brings eight years of coaching experience that arehighlighted by seven winning seasons, four conferencechampionships, nine All-Conference players, six 1,000-pointscorers, and overall record of 157-79 as a head coach and anassistant.
Thomer arrived at Yale after threeseasons as the head women’s basketball coach atManhattanville College (Division III), where she guided theValiants to a 45-32 record over three seasons, which includedconsecutive Freedom Conference regular-season championships in2009-10 and 2010-11. In just three seasons at Manhattanville,Thomer moved into third-place on the program’s careervictories list. In her first two seasons, she posted thesecond-most wins by a coach in their first two seasons in programhistory.
During her tenure at Manhattanville, Thomercoached two 1,000-point scorers in Courtney Turner (2011-12) andSimona Gordon (2010-11), a D3Hoops.com All-Region honoree and MBWAAll-Metropolitan honoree in Carey Hickey in 2010-11, in additionto three All-Freedom Conference First Team honorees in Hickey(2010-11), Simona Gordon (2010-11 & 2009-10) and twoAll-Freedom Conference Second Team award winners in Hickey(2009-10) and Turner (2009-10).
Thomer had a tremendous debut season as a headcoach with the Valiants in 2009-10, earning Freedom ConferenceCoach of the Year honors while leading her squad to the FreedomConference regular-season championship — the firstregular-season conference title in school history and the firstconference title of any type for Manhattanville since 1981-82. Inall, Manhattanville posted an overall record of 19-8and a 12-2 Freedom Conference record, marking the fourth-mostwins in a single season in program history and the most by aValiant team since 1983-84. The team’s 12 conference winsalso marked the most conference wins ever by a Manhattanvillewomen’s basketball team.
Following a successful first season,Thomer led the Valiants to a second straight Freedom Conferenceregular-season title in 2010-11, finishing the year with a 17-9overall record and 10-4 Freedom Conference mark. In 2011-12, theValiants finished the season with a 9-15 record, which included a6-3 mark on their home floor and three wins in their last fourgames.
Prior to taking the head coaching position atManhattanville, Thomer served as an assistant women’sbasketball coach at the U.S. Military Academy, where she spentthree years working under head coach Dave Magarity. Thomer servedas an assistant coach at Army for two seasons, helping the team toa 37-24 record over that span. During her time at Army, she helpeddevelop the winningest senior class in Army’s history, andshe mentored four players who earned a total of seven All-PatriotLeague awards. Prior to that stint, Thomer served as headwomen’s basketball coach at the U.S. Military AcademyPrep School (USMAPS) for one season, guiding the program to itsfirst 4-0 record against the other service academy prepschools.
Thomer earned her Bachelor of Arts degree inElementary Education and Journalism in 2004 from Rider University,where she was the Broncs’ point guard for four seasons. Shewas a three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-AcademicTeam selection and received the team’s Academic Excellenceaward as a senior. She also earned her Master of Education degreein Kinesiology and Sport and Exercise Psychology from theUniversity of Virginia in 2006.
While earning her master’s degree atVirginia, Thomer successfully balanced coaching duties on twodifferent basketball teams. As the head coach for the University ofVirginia’s club basketball team, she led the squad to a 46-6record over two seasons and the 2005 East Coast Women’s ClubChampionship. At the same time, Thomer was the top assistantcoach at the prominent St. Anne’s Belfield School inCharlottesville, Va., mentoring several future Division I playersas the squad won a conference title and placed fifth in theVirginia State Tournament.
