John Thurston (basketball)

John Thurston

Biographical details
Born	(1948-04-17) April 17, 1948
Playing career
Basketball
1966–1970	Seton Hall
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Men's basketball
1971–1972	Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham (assistant)
1972–1975	Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham
1975–1985	James Madison (assistant)
1985–1988	James Madison
1988–1997	Wingate
Women's basketball
2003–2006	UNC Wilmington (assistant)
2006–2008	Northwood
2008–2010	Fordham (assistant)
2010–2012	St. Francis Brooklyn (assistant)
2012–2018	St. Francis Brooklyn
Head coaching record
Overall	165–232 (men's) 114–131 (women's)
Tournaments	Men's 0–1 (NIT) Women's 0–1 (NCAA Division I)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Women's 2 FSC regular season (2007–2008) NEC tournament (2015)
Awards
Men's CAA Coach of the Year (1987) Women's FSC Coach of the Year (2008)

John Thurston (born April 17, 1948) is a retired American college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the St. Francis College women's basketball team from 2012 to 2018. Thurston was born in the Bronx, New York and is an alumnus of Archbishop Molloy High School and Seton Hall University. Through both high school and college, Thurston was a two sport player playing baseball and basketball. After graduating high school in 1966, Thurston was drafted by Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1966 MLB Amateur Draft.

Coaching career

Thurston is one of only a few coaches who has been a head coach at the NCAA DI, DII, DIII and NAIA levels in 26 years of coaching men's college basketball from 1971 to 1997. Thurston started out as an assistant basketball coach of men's basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Florham Campus in 1971. Then from 1972 to 1975, he served as the FDU-Florham Devil's head coach. Thurston next served as an assistant to Lou Campanelli at James Madison University, and was promoted to head coach in 1985. With the Dukes, Thurston helped lead the team to three straight trips to the NCAA tournament from 1981 to 1983, and was named Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 1987. In 1988, he moved to Wingate University as athletic director and head men's basketball coach.

Thurston then began coaching women's basketball. From 2003 to 2005, he was the top assistant at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and in 2005, became the head coach at Northwood University, as the first head coach of the women's program. In two seasons with Northwood, he led the Lady Seahawks to two Florida Sun Conference titles, a trip to the NAIA national tournament, and was named Coach of the Year in 2008. After the 2008 season, Thurston resigned from Northwood and became an assistant at Fordham University for two years. In 2010, Thurston was hired as an assistant coach by then Terriers head coach Brenda Milano for the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers women's basketball program.

In 2012, Thurston was named the head coach of the Terriers women's basketball program. His 2013–14 squad set the program record for wins in a season with 19. The following year, his 2014–15 squad won the NEC tournament and participated in the NCAA tournament, the first in the program's history. After the 2017–18 season Thurston retired from coaching the St. Francis Terriers women's basketball team.

Head coaching record

Men's

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham Devils () (1972–1975)
1972–73	Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham	9–15
1973–74	Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham	12–14
1974–75	Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham	18–10
Fairleigh Dickinson–Florham:		39–39 (.500)
James Madison Dukes (Colonial Athletic Association) (1985–1988)
1985–86	James Madison	5–23	3–11	T–6th
1986–87	James Madison	20–10	8–6	T–3rd	NIT First Round
1987–88	James Madison	6–11	2–4
James Madison:		31–44 (.413)	13–21 (.382)
Wingate Bulldogs (South Atlantic Conference) (1988–1997)
1988–89	Wingate	17–13
1989–90	Wingate	10–15
1990–91	Wingate	8–20
1991–92	Wingate	11–17
1992–93	Wingate	11–15
1993–94	Wingate	9–17
1994–95	Wingate	8–18
1995–96	Wingate	11–16
1996–97	Wingate	10–18
Wingate:		95–149 (.389)
Total:		165–232 (.416)

Women's

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Northwood Seahawks (Florida Sun Conference) (2006–2008)
2006–07	Northwood	18–13	8–2	1st
2007–08	Northwood	23–8	9–3	1st	NAIA First Round
Northwood:		41–21 (.661)	17–5 (.773)
St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers (Northeast Conference) (2012–2018)
2012–13	St. Francis Brooklyn	11–19	8–10	7th
2013–14	St. Francis Brooklyn	19–11	10–8	5th
2014–15	St. Francis Brooklyn	15–19	9–9	5th	NCAA Division I First Round
2015–16	St. Francis Brooklyn	7–22	4–14	9th
2016–17	St. Francis Brooklyn	8–22	6–12	T–7th
2017–18	St. Francis Brooklyn	13–17	9–9	T–3rd
St. Francis Brooklyn:		73–110 (.399)	46–62 (.426)
Total:		114–131 (.465)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• St. Francis Brooklyn profile