
One of the faces of the National Lacrosse Association, Channing Thomas became an assistant coach for the Averett (Va.) University men's lacrosse team in July 2020. His path to the coaching ranks was not the most conventional one, but conventional means are not something that Thomas typically ascribes to.
Thomas, a native of Norwalk, Conn., began his lacrosse career as a freshman at Brien McMahon High School. A lifelong basketball player, he adjusted quickly to playing defense and made the varsity team by his sophomore year.
He began to gravitate more toward lacrosse as his career advanced.
"I got real serious with lacrosse and kind of gave basketball the back-seat role," said Thomas, "but then, after my four years, you know, I didn't get a lot of recruiting. I was talking to schools here and there, but I didn't have a lot of looks. I ended up taking a basketball scholarship going out to California for a year. Kind of didn't like that. I was missing lacrosse a lot.”