Coach Gene Thompson serves as an Assistant Women's Basketball Coach, a role that he has held for well over a decade.
Coach Thompson previously served as the Head Men's Tennis Coach at Virginia State from January 2005 to 2022. Coach Thompson has served as the Fitness Coordinator and an Adjunct Professor for Virginia State. Coach Thompson also had a stint as the Interim Head Men's Basketball Coach of VSU in 2011, going 5-7 overall with a team that had lost 13 consecutive games prior. In 2012, Coach Thompson was named the CIAA Tennis Coach of the Year.
Before coming to Virginia State, Coach Thompson was the Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at Lincoln (PA) University. Between the Trojans and the Lions, he has secured nearly 300 victories and has won five division championships and appeared in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Coach Thompson has aso coached in Delaware with stops in North Carolina (Southwestern), Virginia (Douglass & Warren County) and Delaware (Wilmington & A.I. DuPont) where his high school basketball coaching record was 489 wins and 227 losses. At Wilmington: He was Assistant Football Coach over 10 years (with a state title in 1971); Head Track & Field Coach (with a state title in 1995); Head Basketball Coach (with 3 State titles in 78, 83 and 88) and Head Tennis Coach.
He was named Delaware Coach of the Year in Basketball (1978), Tennis (1978) and Track and Field (1995). He has been awarded high school conference basketball coach of the year honors on nine occasions.
Coach Thompson is a member of various Hall of Fames: Delaware Afro-American Hall of Fame in Basketball (2009), Delaware Interscholastic Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), USTA/MS/Delaware District Tennis Hall of Fame (2013), VIA Heritage Association Hall of Fame as a Coach (2018), The Family Journal Sarah McLean Literary Hall of Fame, USA & Overseas-Author (2022), Delaware Sports Museum Hall of Fame- Basketball, Tennis, Track/Field (2022) and Elizabeth City State University Sports Hall of Fame-Coach, Football, .Basketball, Tennis & Track/Field (2022).
Thompson has won three National Awards:
NABC Achievement Award (1978)
Eve Kraft Community Service Award, Houston, Texas (1998)
NCAA Division 3 National Community Service Award, Saddleback, Fla (1998)
He has worked the fame Five Star Basketball Camp for over 30 summers (3 weeks ea. summer) alongside coaches like Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino, and John Calipari. He coached players like Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Monte Williams, and Vince Carter on his camp teams.
A native of Newport News, Virginia, Thompson graduated from Carver High School, attended Compton College (Football), US Army (Football/Basketball) and graduated from Elizabeth City State University (Football/Tennis), BS in 1966. He received his M. ED. degree from Virginia State University. He has done advance studies at: University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Virginia State University and University of Penn. He was EPDA Fellow at VSU 1969-70.
