Casey Thousand firmly believes that things happen for a reason.
After running into University of Illinois Springfield athletic director Jim Sarra as an assistant coach at Northern Michigan during the Wildcats’ NCAA Division II women’s basketball tournament appearance in March, Thousand will now take over the top job for the Prairie Stars.
UIS announced Thousand as the new women’s basketball coach Monday.
It comes more than two weeks after the Stars hired Matt Brock as the men’s basketball coach.
Thousand replaces Mark Kost after he resigned and went 38-66 in four years at UIS, which will formally introduce Thousand at The Recreation and Athletic Center on Tuesday, May 14 at noon.
“It was the next step,” Thousand said. “I didn’t know when it was going to happen or where it was going to happen, but it definitely was the next step in my professional career and I guess when I met Jim, I believe things happen for a reason. Everything kind of came together and I came down to campus (last week) and I just really enjoyed it. I felt like this is where I need to go next and what I need to do.”
The 37-year-old Barneveld, Wisconsin-native assisted the NCAA Division II Wildcats the past three seasons on the far Upper Peninsula town of Marquette, Michigan. She joined head coach Troy Mattson’s staff after seven years as the head coach at Division III Edgewood College, located not far from her old home in Madison, Wisconsin.
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on May 6, 2019.
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