College basketball
Tony Tompkins will become the head coach of the Judson College men’s basketball program, but Jim Cook will keep the chair warm for him for another year.
Tompkins, a 1993 graduate of Ohio High School, has been added to the Judson staff as an associate head coach next season, under Cook. Cook, the head coach of both the men and women’s teams at Judson for two years, will then turn the reins of the men’s team over to Tompkins in 2008-09.
Tompkins, 31, has been head men’s coach at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis for the past five years, where he led his Spartans to two American Midwest Conference titles and two trips to the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Tournament in five years.
He was a two-time American Midwest Conference Coach of the Year selection (2004 and 2005) and coached four NAIA All-Americans. He recorded a 110-47 career record including four 20 win seasons in his five years.
“We are thrilled to have Tony join our staff,” Judson athletic director Nancy Smith said. “He has a wealth of experience building a program to be nationally competitive. We are very optimistic that he will do great things with our program as well.”
The move to the NAIA Division II school in Elgin is a step down professionally, but is one that will enable Tompkins and his wife, Heidi, to move their two daughters, Brooke, 4, and Haley, 2, and a two-month son, Samuel, closer to home. Both sets of grandparents live in their native Rock Falls.
“It’s a good fit for me. We have three kids we want to be closer to their grandparents,” Tompkins said from St. Louis, Thursday morning, where he was busy packing for the move and trying to sell their home.
Starting out on the new job, Tompkins will be gearing toward building his program for the 2008-09 season and developing recruiting contacts, helping out in some practices and scouting for Cook as he can.
“The majority of my job will be building my team for the following year,” he said. “They want me to be flexible because they want me to build my team.”
He said Judson is a good school for academics, and he will able to attract good student-athletes. With NAIA looking to merge into one division in the next three or five years, Tompkins believes Judson will offer more toward scholarships to keep competitive.
Judson went 6-23 and returns seven of their rostered players from last season.
Tompkins has no idea how Cook has managed to coach both the men and women’s teams at Judson.
“He’s done pretty well, which is a tribute to him. I think it’s kind of wearing on him a little bit,” Tompkins said.
After graduating from Ohio, where he was an All-BCR pick, Tompkins continued his playing career at Sauk Valley Community College and then two years at Missouri Baptist, where he was the captain and the leading scorer both years.
He graduated from Missouri Baptist in 1998 with a bachelor’s of science degree and received his master’s degree from the University of Phoenix in 2003 in organizational management.
Prior to returning to Missouri Baptist in 2002, he was a member of the coaching staff at Rock Falls High School for the 1998-99 season when the team won the Illinois state championship.
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