Bio

As the most veteran member of East Mississippi Community College’s athletics staff, former All-SEC Mississippi State University basketball player and longtime EMCC women’s basketball coach Sharon Thompson has spent more than two decades of dedicated service on the Scooba campus. Having retired from her coaching duties following the 2021-22 season, Thompson is set to begin her fifth year working in an administrative capacity at EMCC. She currently serves in an expanded administrative role as EMCC’s Director of Athletics and Dean of Students/Scooba Campus.

Thompson, a 2021 MSU Sports Hall of Fame inductee, continues to be no stranger to doing double duty at East Mississippi. She has spent the past four years serving as the college’s AD after taking on additional administrative duties in January 2020, while at the same time winding down her successful 21-year coaching career with the Lady Lions. Thompson served 17 seasons as women’s head coach after spending her first four years in Scooba as the program’s assistant coach.

Administratively during Thompson’s first four years overseeing East Mississippi’s athletic department, the Lions have enjoyed success both athletically and academically. During her watch, EMCC’s sports landscape has increased to include men’s and women’s soccer as well as men’s golf to go along with previously established programs in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s rodeo, baseball, and softball. Along with facilitating the recent sport additions, Thompson was instrumental in the hiring process for new head coaches in women’s basketball and softball. Also under her leadership, EMCC earned 2022-23 NJCAA Football Academic Team of the Year accolades on the heels of the Lions’ softball program garnering the same national academic honor in 2020-21.

Recent highlights within the EMCC sports scene under Thompson’s supervision have included an eighth conference championship during a 14-year span for EMCC’s five-time national champion football program, as well as a pair of men’s basketball conference tournament titles within a four-year span. The Lions baseball team has made consecutive postseason appearances the past two years, including a No. 2 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament seeding in 2022.

Along with being on track to graduate from the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy’s year-long program in 2024, Thompson was also a 2023 nominee for the Women in Higher Education – Mississippi Network (WHEMN) Leadership Award.

Previously on the sidelines, Thompson guided the 2019-20 Lady Lions to the school’s first women’s basketball conference championship since 1983-84 with a 24-3 overall record that featured a 19-game winning streak and included an undefeated division slate.

Thompson compiled a 17-year head coaching record of 215-189. The two-time MACCC Coach of the Year previously guided the Lady Lions to an NJCAA Region 23 Tournament championship and NJCAA Tournament appearance in 2009. For her efforts that season, she also earned the honor of participating as a court coach during the 2009 USA Basketball National Team Trials in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Thompson’s EMCC teams also claimed a total of four MACCC North Division regular-season titles.

In addition to being selected to Mississippi State’s Sports M-Club Hall of Fame, Thompson was also previously chosen to the SEC Greats Program in 2005. An SEC All-Freshman pick as a rookie, Thompson went on to claim second-team all-league honors as a junior and capped her MSU career as a first-team All-SEC recipient in 1997-98. She completed her MSU playing days as the Bulldogs’ all-time leading rebounder (936) and No. 2 scorer (1,526 pts) at the time.

On the heels of her standout playing career at Mississippi State, Thompson was the No. 6 pick overall in the 1998 American Basketball League Draft. She played the 1998-99 season with the ABL’s San Jose Lasers in California and spent 1999-2000 playing professionally in Italy.

A native of Geiger, Alabama, Thompson received her bachelor’s degree in educational psychology from MSU. She earned her master’s degree in physical education from the University of West Alabama.