BANGOR, Maine — Kate Thomas, who spent four seasons as the head coach of the SUNY Canton Kangaroos, has been named the new head women’s soccer coach at Bangor’s Husson University.
She replaces Carly Gettler, who led Husson to a 26-32-3 record (18-81 in the North Atlantic Conference) and three consecutive league semifinal appearances. Gettler left to take a coaching position in the Richmond (Virginia) Strikers club program.
Thomas comes to Husson from the Brockton Rox Baseball Club in Massachusetts, where she is serving as the organization’s assistant general manager. Brockton is a collegiate summer team in the wooden-bat Futures League.
Thomas coached at SUNY Canton from 2009 to 2013, guiding the Roos to an 23-44-1 record. They made appearances in the Sunrise Conference finals her first two seasons before the school joined the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
She also did stints as an assistant at Springfield College (on two different occasions), SUNY Potsdam and Keuka College (N.Y.).
“She has a spark that many successful head coaches have,” said Husson Director of Athletics Frank Pergolizzi. “She will be a great role model for our players. She has a lot of good experience as a coach and as an athletic administrator so she’ll be able to hit the ground running.”
Thomas will have a full-time job in athletics working with head baseball coach Jason Harvey in the facilities and event management department.
Pergolizzi said there were “71 or 72” applicants for the job.
University of Maine-Fort Kent women’s coach Lucas Leveque coached against Thomas and said she was “pretty competitive.
“She set high standards for her players. She’s a no-nonsense type of coach, which is good,” added Levesque.
Thomas served as an intern with the Southampton Saints Premier League football club in England and with former U. S. Women’s National Team coach Tony DiCicco at his SoccerPlus organization.
She also spent six years on the Major League Soccer Camps staff, serving as a coach and player development officer.
Thomas said she is excited about the opportunity and that she became acquainted with Husson through her days as an assistant at Springfield.
“They always did well in their conference, they made the NCAAs, and it’s a strong conference,” said Thomas.
She said it will be a breath of fresh air to coach at a school where athletics are important and are well-supported by the administration.
She is really looking forward to working alongside men’s soccer coach Jeff Gettler.
“I’ll have the best of both worlds. I get to build my own program but I’ll also have my own coaching guru in Jeff,” said Thomas.
The native of Erie, Pennsylvania, said one of her first tasks will be to “recruit players who are at least as good if not better than our current top five players.” She inherits a team that went 12-8 last season with 18 freshmen and sophomores.