Zachary Winn
Equinox Staff
The highly decorated coach Peter Thomas has kept Keene State track and field competitive since his tenure started 28 years ago.
A native of New Ipswich, N.H., Thomas eventually attended Keene State College from 1973 to 1977. Just after graduation, Thomas briefly coached high school track until one day, he got a call.
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“In the summer of ’81 the coach at KSC called me and asked me if I would help out in the fall, so I was essentially an assistant coach. But the following year the head coach left for sabbatical, and I inherited the job,” Thomas said.
However, Thomas said that even he didn’t see his employment at Keene State College lasting as long as it has.
“I was only part time, I think I was making around $1,000,” Thomas said.
But Thomas said he realized KSC was where he belonged and is nearing the completion of his third decade with the school. In that time he has established himself as one of the most gifted coaches in the region.
Winner of multiple Coach of the Year awards at both the Division II and III level, Thomas is showing no signs of slowing his success. Last fall, the KSC men’s cross country team turned heads by placing third at the New England regional meet to earn its first NCAA bid since 2005.
KSC’s Lady Owls also continued its dominance last fall with their tenth consecutive LEC championship, finishing the season ranked fifth regionally.
Overall, Thomas has led a combined 47 cross country and 104 track All-Americans, including one cross country and 18 track national champions. Thomas said he doesn’t want to take all the credit though.
“I’ve been lucky to have a continually good group of kids who come in and want to work hard and be successful. I think at all schools there’s talent and it’s just all about providing an environment where they want to push themselves and excel,” he said.
Motivation is Thomas’ specialty. Phil Elmer is a junior and captain of the throwers. He said a lot of the success the teams had to the coaches ability to drive athletes.
“He’s really good at pushing athletes to their peak performance. If he sees your potential then he’s not going to let you sit back and get lazy. He’ll ride you until you meet that potential,” Elmer said.
But there is more to coaching than motivation. Thomas also handles the unique challenge of coaching both genders. He gives a lot of credit to his assistant. “For track fortunately I have some assistants, some good assistants that are taking groups of kids and handling them well so that reduces my workload,” he said.
But he admits it takes some adjustments when dealing with different teams, “You have to be nicer to the women, but obviously for both groups you need to give positive reinforcement. What we hear coaching wise is, ‘Men need five positive references to each negative whereas women need nine positive references to each negative,’” Thomas said.
Sam Person, a former Keene State track runner, reiterated that statement, “I think girls are generally more sensitive to criticisms,” she said.
Elmer admires Thomas’ ability to coach both teams, “He has to balance time, personalities, and athletic levels. I think you need different mindsets to coach each gender. I don’t know how he does it.”
Thomas doesn’t seem to look at gender when evaluating an athlete.
“Certain kids, you can ask them to do something and they’ll do that much and more, then other kids, you ask them to do something and they’ll do 75 percent of it or less. So you have to know who your athletes are and what their work ethic is. And you know some kids just have higher capacities. Some kids just can’t handle more work,” Thomas explained. “We’ve been fortunate to get kids who do want to work at a high level and ones who are just happy to compete.”
As good as Coach Thomas is, it’s hard to do anything for 28 years unless you genuinely enjoy doing it.
Person described the coach’s approach to the sport, “He knows how to get the whole team together and he’s good at being consistent, but above all you can tell he’s really passionate about his job and that goes a long way.”
Zachary Winn can be contacted at zwinn@ksc.mailcruiser.com