Chad Thompson- Great to Have in Galesburg

Chad Thompson is a teacher and coach in District #205. Chad grew up in Galesburg and played basketball for Coach Reynolds and the Streaks. He had a very good basketball career, and he played on one of Coach Reynold’s very good teams. After graduating from Monmouth College, he came back to Galesburg to teach, and be a coach on the staff of Coach Reynold’s. Galesburg is very fortunate to have Chad teaching and coaching in our schools. It is exciting to have one of our best choose to return to Galesburg.

I have gotten to know Chad as he has officiated in our summer league since his senior year in high school. He and his brother took on the thankless job of removing all of the carpet and nails in the upstairs of our house. And this past winter, I was an assistant to Chad as he ran the Future Streaks program for the boys and girls basketball programs. He is not afraid to work hard, he works well with people (even his brother), and he really connects with young people.

He has received some great coaching growing up. His grandfather, Harley Knosher, has been Chad’s first coach in every youth sport. I had the opportunity to have Coach Knosher as my college basketball coach at Knox College. He taught me a lot about basketball, but even more about life and how to treat other people. When I started into coaching, my inspiration was to try to create the same culture with my teams that Coach Knosher established in our teams at Knox.

It is not surprising to me that Chad is a doing a great job as a coach, he has had a great coaches and mentors. He started with Coach Knosher, then in high school had Coach Hart and Coach Reynolds- some pretty good coaches. Not many young coaches have had the experiences that he has had. We are lucky to have him in Galesburg!

When did you decide to go into teaching/coaching?

I made my decision to go into coaching and teaching my senior year of high school. With my grandfather’s background in coaching, the close relationships that I built with my coaches in high school (Mike Reynolds, Ryan Hart, and the rest of the staff), and my love for the game of basketball all set the stage for me going into coaching. The teaching part was also something that I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed working with the youth players at camps in high school and college. I had great role models all of my life and now I am trying to do the same for others. 

You got out of the classroom this past year. What do you miss about being a classroom teacher?

This past year I switched from the classroom (4th grade math and social studies) to an Outreach position in the district. There are two things that I really miss about the classroom. I miss having that one group of students that you are with everyday and building that family culture in the classroom. Seeing their successes and growth throughout the year was always an amazing thing to be a part of. The other thing that I really miss is teaching math on a daily basis. I have always loved math and really enjoyed the challenge of engaging young learners in math. The feeling of accomplishment that the students have as they learn a new skill is another great thing to be a part of. 

You had a good high school career and were part of some good teams. What did you learn from Coach Reynolds that you have taken into your career as a coach?

 The number one most important thing that I learned from Coach Reynolds was toughness. When he came to Galesburg the summer going into my sophomore year, he was in my ear everyday about working harder for longer. I can still picture the intensity in his face and hear his voice. There were times when I was ready to break and give in but he never let that happen. When I made the varsity team as a sophomore, I understood. He was able to push me to the limit and I was able to push through it and came out physically and mentally tougher. My mind and body were prepared to have success at the varsity level. This is the same thing I try to teach out players. I want our guys to be the five toughest guys on the court. Talent is always a key to winning games, but other teams are going to be talented as well. You have to be willing to outwork your opponent but physically and mentally. 

This past year, the varsity boys had a great season. As a coach, what did you learn this past season? 

One of the things that I learned this season is how important relationships were when it comes to a team’s success. This team was a family in every aspect. There was a complete trust between the players and coaches. This was not a relationship that was built this season. This kind of team chemistry was built through years of working together and growing together. Four of the five sophomores on the varsity regularly attended varsity practices as freshmen. Two of our seniors had three years of varsity experience, two of our juniors had multiple years of varsity experience, and this past summer you could see the friendships and bonds building between the players. I have always valued the relationships between players and coaches. This season was a perfect way of showing me and everyone why it is so important. 

You played for Coach Hart, and have coached along with him for several years. What is his strength as a coach?

Coach Hart brings a ton to the table as a coach. He is calm and never rattled in crunch time situations, he builds strong bonds with his players, he does a great job with skill development, and many more aspects. However, I believe that his greatest strength as a coach is his in game adjustments. There were games this past season when he would bring up ideas or noticed things that just blew the rest of the coaching staff away. A perfect example of this was his defensive adjustment that he made at halftime against Geneseo on senior night. Rivera was dominating us in the first half and was then held scoreless in the third quarter. I had never seen anything like it. The adjustments were explained to perfection at halftime and perfectly executed by our players. Kyleb Meadows, Rylee Milan, and the Egipciaco brothers made it almost impossible for him to get a shot off and then Eric Price and Jaylin McCants were able to get multiple rebounds and steals that sparked our transition game. 

I am sure you have had many of your Grandpa Knosher's former players and colleagues tell you stories about him as a coach. As you have digested all of it, what is your take on your Grandpa's impact as a coach?

Everywhere we traveled when I was young there seemed to be someone that knew my grandpa and/or played for him. They were always so thrilled to see him and he always remembers everyone’s name. It really showed how much of an impact a coach can have on a person’s life. This impact can go way beyond the sport. It is still overwhelming to try to digest all of the information that I get told about him. In the past year a movie has come out about him and his coaching career. I think the film does a great job of showing the impact that he has had on people and how he is still having an impact on people. It has always been clear to me that he has been able to change peoples’ lives and I think that is his impact as a coach. He has been able to make life better for hundreds and thousands of people. 

Obviously your first coach was your Grandpa Knosher. How was he as a youth coach? How was he to play for?

 Playing for him was a combination of amazing and miserable. There is really only one miserable moment. It was youth baseball and my first year of pitching. I had hit three batters on three straight pitches. I remember looking at the dugout begging him to take me out after I hit the second batter. Then after I hit the third I was embarrassed and felt absolutely miserable. He finally made a mound visit and I thought I was coming out of the game. All he told me is that I had no choice but to finish the inning. It took me a long time to learn the lesson that he was teaching me about mental toughness, finishing what you have started, keeping my head up in times of adversity. I am still grateful for it to this day and it is something I will always remember. The rest of the experiences were amazing. I always had someone to talk sports with, I always received honest and constructive criticism about my performances, and he always made the experiences positive and fun. A lot of people asked me if he treated me differently than everyone else on the team and that really wasn’t the case. He treated me like his grandson the entire time and the thing that makes him different from a lot of parents in youth sports is that he treated all of the other kids on the team like they were his grandchildren as well. He made us all feel loved and important. He taught all of us life lessons that go way beyond sports. Most players on the team came over before and after practice just to hangout and they all developed great relationships with him. 

Your grandpa is a positive and enthusiastic man. But do you remember any time when you were playing that you or the team may have done something, and he had to give you some "tough love", to let you know what you were doing was not what you should have been doing?

I remember breaking my foot the second practice of my sophomore season at Monmouth College. My grandpa was the one that took me to the doctor for x-rays and was always there for me during the rehabilitation process which took almost 90 days. Once I was cleared to play, I just couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively. I struggled with my jumpshot and couldn’t explode off the floor like I could in high school or my freshmen season. My conditioning wasn’t what it needed to be and I was struggling. I remember going to his house one night and instead of the usual positive Harley speech, I got a “this is your issue and it is up to you to fix it speech”. He was hard on me, lectured me about my attitude, and really put things into perspective for me. I had lost that mental edge that I had had for many years. This was his way of digging it back out of me. 

You have been a ref for me in the girls summer league for many years. How would you rate yourself as a ref? As a ref, any pet peeves about coaches or players?

 As a ref, I would say my best attribute is consistency. I know I am not the best ref in the gym but I know that I will give an honest effort to call the game the right way. On a scale of 1-10 I’d probably give myself a 7. Some coaches might say 10 and some might say 1 but it is all good either way. I really do not have many pet peeves about players and coaches. I understand the intensity and frustrations that come with coaching so an intense coach and players do not get to me. I know that is the way that I coach so I completely understand. My biggest thing is to play the game the right way. Respect the game and play it clean and competitively.

You are running the Future Streaks. Any visions you have about things for that organization in the coming years?

 My vision for Future Streaks is to continue to build a program that allows the youth in Galesburg to have a chance to learn and play basketball. This game is a fun game to play and teaches you about yourself and life. You are introduced to struggle and adversity, successes and championships, friends and working together. These are all things that are needed to be successful in life and I think sports can allow kids to get a step in the right direction. I want to see our numbers continue to increase and draw new kids into the sport. I want to continue to build a culture and community that we are all proud of and make it something that others want to be a part of as well. 

Last question- if you could invite three people (living or dead) for dinner, who would you invite?

The three people that I would invite are Don Haskins (head coach of the 1966 Texas Western College team that beat Kentucky in the NCAA National Championship), Herb Brooks (Coach of the USA Olympic Hockey Team that beat the Soviet Union in 1980), and Kobe Bryant. I think the amount of knowledge that they could share and stories that they could tell would be life changing. All of these men accomplished amazing things and I would love to pick their brains about how they went about their lives.