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| UW-Stout athletics photo |
The landscape will be changing for UW-Stout basketball.
Longtime coaches Mark Thomas and Eddie Andrist both stepped aside at the conclusion of the season and will not be returning as head coaches for both the UW-Stout women's and men's basketball programs, respectively.
"Both Coach Thomas and Coach Andrist have been great ambassadors for their programs and for UW-Stout in general," said UW-Stout athletic director Duey Naatz. "Their passion, integrity and work ethic have been second to none. They have been very valuable members of our staff throughout their tenures."
Thomas has been the head women's basketball coach for 31 years, while Andrist has been the head men's basketball coach for 18 years. Andrist was also an assistant coach for UW-Stout for three seasons from 1984-87 and worked with the program as a student assistant coach from 1974-76.
Thomas led his Blue Devil teams to 10 national playoff berths, nine times in the NCAA. A six-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) coach of the year, the Blue Devils have won five WIAC titles and four WIAC tournament championships under Thomas' tutelage. Thomas-coached teams are responsible for 88.3 percent of Stout's total victories.
Thomas is the longest tenured head coach in any single athletic program in Blue Devil history. Thomas, with an overall record of 472-346, was the first WIAC women's basketball coach to reach 400 career wins. Four players earned WIAC player of the year honors and 44 earned All-WIAC honors.
Andrist returned to Stout starting with the 2000-01 season after a highly successful career at Mount Senario College. The Blue Devils made the school's first-ever NCAA appearance under Andrist during the 2005-06 season, a season the Blue Devils went 22-7 overall.
At the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, Andrist has an overall collegiate record of 461-440 and a record of 211-239 at UW-Stout. Twenty-one players were named to the All-WIAC team during Andrist's tenure.
While at Stout, Andrist also coached internationally, working with the Qatar national team, winning two international championships. In his 11 seasons at Mount Senario, Andrist won six conference titles, advanced to eight national tournaments and won three national titles.
A national search for head coaches in both programs will begin immediately.