Shawn Thomas begins his first season as the Special Teams Assistant at Norfolk State University.
Thomas comes to Norfolk State with a wealth of background in special team knowledge and specialist development.
Prior to Norfolk State, Thomas spent time at Camden County in South Georgia where he was responsible for setting up one of the more consistent kicker and punter programs in the region. During his time at Camden from 2019-21, Thomas had three players from place First Team All Region in the 7A conference. In addition, he also had a kicker ranked in the top 30 in the nation by Kohl Kicking Camp and led the conference in touchbacks.
Before Camden County, Thomas worked at Gates County from 2016-18 under Matt Biggy in the Coastal Conference in North Carolina. During that time, Thomas was instrumental in running the kicking game and developing a solid kicker. He coached Division I punter Caleb Brickhouse, who led in field goal percentage and touchbacks. Brickhouse also netted a 45.0 punting averaging and is currently the punter for North Carolina A&T State.
In 2012 Thomas joined head coach Waverly Tillar's CIAA Northern Division Champions Elizabeth City State and helped the program compete for the CIAA championship against Winston-Salem State. While at ECSU, Thomas assisted as a special teams coach, helping with scout reports and also trained and evaluated kicker, punter, and long snapper development. He coached Brett Symonds, who led in touchbacks and long-range field goal percentage and a consistent average on all PAT.
Thomas spent 2011 at Catawba College, where he was able to assist in improving the performance of snappers and kickers for the Indians. Thomas coached Alex Trexler, one of the more consistent kickers in the South Atlantic Conference. Trexler averaged 45.0 yards per punt during the 2011 season.
During the 2009-10 seasons, Thomas saw time as an assistant coach at North Carolina A&T State, where he served as the specialist coach. He coached the placekickers, long snappers and punters. During that tenure, Thomas coached Alex Grubb, who recorded five punts of 50 yards or more and had 18 punts land inside the 20-yard line. In addition, he coached wide receiver Wallace Miles, who also pulled double duty serving as the primary field goal kicker.
Thomas started his college coaching career at Division III Guilford College in 2008. Thomas' work with the punters and kickers improved the Quakers' kicking game.
Prior to coaching college football, Thomas spent five seasons kicking in the Arena Football League2 and the National Indoor Football League with teams in North Carolina and Florida 2000-2007
He began his coaching career at North Davidson High School under the leadership of Mark Holcomb. While at North Davidson, Thomas coached the kickers and special teams. Two former players, Ben Hartman and Justin Durham, went on to have stellar college careers at East Carolina and Coastal Carolina, respectively.
An all-star kicker at the Paxon School, coached by Seth McCullough, in Jacksonville, Fla., Thomas was selected all-conference and all-city after booting eight field goals of over 40 yards. While at Winston-Salem State, Thomas was a four-year member of the Rams football program (1996-1999) under head coach Kermit Blunt. He earned First Team All-CIAA honors in 1997 and 1999. During the 1999 season, Thomas’ CIAA-leading 11 field goals and 27 extra points helped WSSU to the conference championship.
Thomas has a B.S, in recreation administration, and received an ROTC Army Officer Commission from North Carolina A&T State University in 2007. He is a veteran and former Army medical captain in military finishing with 23 years service.
