- In her third season as the head women’s basketball coach at UIS
- Led the Prairie Stars to a program-record 10 GLVC victories in 2020-21
- In her tenth year as a collegiate head coach, and enters 2021-22 with 102 career victories
Casey Thousand is in her third season as the head coach of the UIS women’s basketball team in 2021-22. She came to UIS after three seasons as an assistant coach at Northern Michigan and seven years as the head coach at Edgewood.
In just two seasons, Thousand has already built the top team during the team’s NCAA era. Playing a GLVC-only schedule in 2020-21, the Prairie Stars won a record 10 conference games, and finished the season with a 10-11 mark. UIS was just one win away from its best winning percentage for UIS since the 1998-99 season.
In 2020-21, the team’s biggest improvement came on defense where it allowed under 70 points per game, the lowest mark for the team since the 2017-18 season. UIS also went from a -6.5 rebounding margin in the year before Thousand arrived, to a +2.3 mark in her second season.
Two players were named to the All-GLVC team in Lauren Ladowski and Malea Jackson, and Ladowski was also once named GLVC Player of the Week.
In her first season at UIS, the Prairie Stars improved in the win column over the previous season, and tied for the second-most wins in the program’s NCAA era. Thousand helped the offense set a program-record in points per game since moving to the NCAA, and the defense had a 1.1 point improvement in team defensive rating.
Thousand helped Ladowski be named to the GLVC third-team all-conference squad, and Jackson was selected to the GLVC all-Freshman team.
Off the court over the last two years, UIS women’s basketball players have earned 22 GLVC Academic All-Conference honors. UIS has earned the GLVC Team Academic All-Conference award both seasons.
Thousand was named an assistant coach at Northern Michigan in 2016, and was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2018. The Wildcats improved in the conference standings in each of her three years, and they had a record of 55-36 in that span. Northern Michigan reached the conference tournament in all three seasons that she was at the school.
In 2018-19, Thousand helped Northern Michigan go 23-10 overall, and finish second in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s (GLIAC) North Division. The Wildcats reached the GLIAC Tournament Championship game, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Northern Michigan defeated four ranked opponents, including two victories over Grand Valley State, a top-10 team in the nation.
While Thousand was at Northern Michigan, she was part of a program that had one of the top defenses in the country. The Wildcats finished in the top four in the GLIAC in scoring defense in all three of her seasons, and in her final year, they ranked third in NCAA Division II by allowing just 52.1 points a game. Northern Michigan allowed opponents to shoot just 35.5 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from three-point range in 2018-19. It also had a +8.6 rebounding margin.
Thousand helped coach three all-GLIAC players in 2018-19, including two first-team honorees, and it also had two members on the all-defensive team. The previous year, one player was named all-conference and the conference Freshman of the Year, and in 2017, two players were all-conference and all-defensive team.
Thousand was the head coach at Edgewood from 2009-2016, and is the longest tenured coach in that program’s history. She won 83 games in that span, including a 74-57 record in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action. The Eagles made the NACC Tournament in four of her seasons. Thousand helped Edgewood women’s basketball players earn 15 all-NACC awards.
One of her best teams came in 2013-14 when Edgewood had one of its best seasons in over five years. The Eagles went 14-6 in conference play and reached the conference tournament semifinals.
Thousand was an assistant coach at Carthage College for three seasons. Carthage went 51-28 in that time, and reached the conference tournament three times, including one appearance in the finals. She also coached at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill. for one year.
Thousand attended Lakeland College from 2000 to 2004, and was a four-time all-conference selection. She earned first-team honors as a senior after leading her team to an undefeated conference season and a NCAA Tournament berth.
Thousand graduated from Lakeland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sports and Facility Management in 2004. She earned her Masters of Education from Carthage with an emphasis in Leadership in 2009.
