Matt Thomas joined the Washington Little Capitals in March 2018 as the Club's new Hockey Director after a five-year tenure with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).  He's now preparing to take the reins of the Little Caps 18U National Team for the 2018-19 season.  

Joining Head Coach Mike Corbett upon his hiring in 2013, Thomas assisted the Chargers since their inaugural season as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Conference (WCHA) and increased their win percentage each season. Thomas was individually responsible for team defensive systems and defensemen, but also recruited extensively in every developmental league in North America.  In 2016-17, Thomas coached UAH’s first-ever WCHA All-League selection, sophomore defenseman Kurt Gosselin.  His final season in 2017-18 featured a number of milestones for UAH; four wins against top-20 teams, first-ever WCHA goal scoring leader, highest-ever playoff seeding, and first-ever playoff win.

Prior to UAH, Thomas served as the volunteer assistant coach for the eight-time NCAA champion University of Denver Pioneers from 2011 to 2013, appearing in the national tournament in both of his seasons.  While at Denver, he contributed in numerous aspects within the program; including video, practice planning, and individual on-ice instruction.  Head Coach George Gwozdecky also utilized Thomas’s unique professional history in a variety of ways; he also organized various team-building events, personally mentored team captains, and led team-wide charitable events and public relations projects.

Thomas’s first coaching experience came at his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Assistant Coach of the Navy Hockey program (ACHA D1).  Among his many responsibilities was Recruiting Director; where, despite rigorous admissions standards and prerequisites, he facilitated the matriculation of fifteen recruits in two years—a group which led Navy to their first ACHA National Tournament.  Thomas personally recruited Navy’s first-ever ACHA Hall of Fame member, Navy’s all-time leading scorer, multiple all-league selections, and candidates for highly specialized branches of service.  He built, facilitated, and monitored robust individual in-season and off-season strength and conditioning programs for each player.  Among Navy’s other athletic teams, hockey scored #1 campus-wide in the standardized Navy Personal Readiness Test in 2011.

A 2005 graduate of the Naval Academy, Thomas was commissioned as Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy. Upon graduation, Thomas reported to Norfolk, VA, and remained there for four years, serving aboard USS MONTEREY (CG 61) as Tomahawk/Harpoon Officer and USS ELROD (FFG 55) as Damage Control Assistant.  In total, he completed three wartime deployments in support of US and NATO operations worldwide.  His final tour was as an Assistant Operations Director for Military Sealift Command Headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard.  Thomas is a graduate of Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS) in Newport, RI, and holds extensive professional and tactical training certifications.  In 2008 he was recognized for actions in combatting a warehouse fire while ashore in Mindelo, Cape Verde. 

Thomas was a four-year letter-winner and team captain at Navy, where he led the defense in scoring and plus/minus during his junior and senior seasons.  As an All-League player, Thomas earned an invitation to participate in the USA Hockey World University Games selection camp in 2004.  He is a native of Bow, N.H., and attended St. Paul’s School where he excelled in both hockey and lacrosse.

Thomas is a Level-4 certified coach and has coached at the USAH Select 15 and 16 Player Development Camps for the past six years.  He also scouts for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL). 

Thomas is married to Christine (O’Neil) Thomas of Edgewater, MD. They have two daughters, Roseanne and Penelope.