New Detroit Titans head basketball coach Ray McCallum added another seasoned veteran to his staff today with the hiring of Derek Thomas as an assistant coach.

Thomas was the head coach at Western Illinois for the last five seasons before resigning from his position following the 2008 campaign. The Leathernecks made steady improvement during his tenure, culminating with their most wins (12) in seven years during Thomas' final season as head coach. Thomas also led the Leathernecks to a 10-4 mark at home last winter, their best home court record in nine years. WIU qualified for four conference tournaments in Thomas' five seasons.

"Derek is very well-known in our profession. He's respected as a person and as a coach," McCallum noted. "I've known Derek for a long time. I've watched him work as an assistant and I've coached against him as a head coach. He's recruited all over the country, from coast to coast. He's built up a great relationship with basketball people here in Michigan and wherever else he's recruited around the nation. He was an outstanding player as well."

Thomas, who will work with both the post and perimeter players at UDM, had amassed 15 years of coaching experience prior to his hiring at Western Illinois in the spring of 2003. He spent his last two seasons before WIU as an assistant coach under Charlie Spoonhour at UNLV, where Thomas was instrumental in developing an offense that twice led the Mountain West Conference in scoring. Thomas served as the recruiting coordinator and big man's coach for the Runnin' Rebels, who posted back-to-back 21-win seasons and NIT appearances during his tenure. He also helped prepare point guard Marcus Banks for the 2003 NBA Draft. Banks was taken in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies before being traded to the Boston Celtics.

Thomas has also held assistant coaching positions at Illinois, Minnesota, Saint Louis and Missouri State, and helped coach each of the latter two schools in both NCAA and NIT post-season play. During those stints, he helped recruit and develop such outstanding future pro players as guard Larry Hughes, the 1998 national Freshman of the Year now playing for the Chicago Bulls, and center Joel Przybilla, a former Top 10 NBA Draft selection now playing for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Thomas also has gained experience as a personnel scout with the Atlanta Hawks during his professional career.

"Derek has worked for some of the best coaches in basketball in Charlie Spoonhour and Lon Kruger. He's been in some highly-successful programs," coach McCallum said. "He's also scouted at the highest level with where he's worked. He's evaluated talent for the NBA. He's had a keen eye for identifying talent in his college career."

Thomas is excited to get started in his new role.

"What impressed me the most is the type of staff that Ray has put together. That, and the recruits he was able to attract here as soon as he started as head coach," Thomas said. "It was important to see what he's done already, and to see the support the new program has gotten. Without support from the rest of the athletic department, no basketball program can be successful. The support I've seen here for our program is definitely a positive."

Thomas joins two other one-time head coaches, Carlos Briggs (Schoolcraft College) and Jay Smith (Central Michigan), as members of McCallum's first UDM coaching staff. The fact that he has put together such an experienced and successful staff - each member has taken teams to post-season play - at Detroit is not lost on McCallum, himself a veteran of 11 years as a college head coach.

"I wanted to get as much experience at the college level as I could for our coaching staff," McCallum said. "With Carlos and Jay, and now Derek, we got that accomplished."

Early in his career, the newest Titan assistant also served the head coach of Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis from 1992 to '95. There, Thomas posted a 45-36 record and was named the Metro Catholic Conference Coach of the Year after winning the 1995 league championship.

The 41-year-old Thomas is a 1989 graduate of Missouri-St. Louis, where he co-captained the Rivermen team that reached the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen in 1988. His father Emmitt is the secondary coach for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. The elder Thomas enjoyed a 13-year playing career with the Kansas City Chiefs, and will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.