Ben Thompson enters his third season as the head men's basketball coach at SUNY Canton during the 2018-19 academic year.
Coach Thompson was selected as the head coach of the USA D-III men's basketball team for their tour of Brazil during the summer of 2018. The team featured players from around the country in NCAA D-III and Coach Thompson and the team finished the tour a perfect 5-0 with wins over Brazilian teams Jundiai, Santa Andre, LSB All-Star (G-League), Fluminese and Botafogo. Team USA outscored its opponents by over 33 points per game as they averaged 89.0 points per outing while giving up just 55.4. The team also conducted an NBA Cares basketball clinic for the local community while overseas.
The Roos earned four of their seven wins during the 2017-18 season at home on Stan Cohen Court. The Roos saw student-athletes earn weekly accolades on nine different occasions as freshmen Andrew Fitch and Danny Santana were honored three times each. Fitch finished his rookie season with an NCAA era program record 72 blocks, which ranked fifth in the nation at 2.88 blocks per game.
Thompson guided the Roos to a 20 win season during his first season at the helm including SUNY Canton's first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) playoff win in school history and the inaugural American Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) Conference Championship. SUNY Canton finished 10-1 on their home court and ranked first in New York State in average home attendance during the 2016-17 season.
Overall, the Roos earned 14 different weekly awards from various constituencies including D3hoops.com, the USCAA and the AD3I during Coach Thompson's first season, including Romario Fletcher garnering nine. Fletcher became the first men's basketball player to be named a First Team ECAC All-Star, while Sam Annorh landed a spot on the Second Team. Fletcher was named the AD3I Player of the Year and he and Annorh both earned First Team honors. Walt Jeter and Rashad Richardson earned Second Team accolades, while Annorh and Fletcher were named First and Second Team USCAA All-Americans, respectively.
Thompson was named head coach of the SUNY Canton men's basketball program on July 1st, 2016. Prior to Canton Thompson helped guide NCAA Division II Lincoln Memorial University to the National Championship game during the 2015-16 season.
Thompson assisted the Railsplitters during their 34-3 season that culminated in the team's No. 1 national ranking entering the NCAA Tournament as they reached the NCAA Division II title game. His other coaching experience features stops at Division I Virginia Tech, Virginia Military Institute and UNC Greensboro as well as Division II UNC Pembroke and Saint Leo University.
A 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, Thompson arrives in Canton following a South Atlantic Conference Championship that included a perfect 22-0 regular season mark in conference play, which was the first unbeaten mark in conference history. Prior to joining the Railsplitters he spent the 2014-15 campaign at Virginia Military Institute, where he helped the Keydets lead the Southern Conference in scoring (80.5 points/game) and was named as one of the top five assistant coaches in the SoCon by NextUpRecruits. Prior to his stint at VMI, Thompson served as an assistant coach at UNC Pembroke for three seasons, during which the Braves recorded back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in more than 20 years.
Thompson made numerous stops and held a variety of roles leading up to his time in UNC Pembroke. During the 2010-11 season, he was the video coordinator and assistant to the head coach at his alma mater, Virginia Tech. The season before that, Thompson was an assistant coach at Saint Leo University of the Division II Sunshine State Conference. In 2008-09, he was the Director of Basketball Operations at UNC Greensboro. He began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech from 2006-08.
Thompson graduated from St. Paul High School where he played for his father Rick who won the 1991 VHSL State Championship. He is a member of the the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
Thompson is a member of the local Kiwanis club and is engaged to Tiffany Brown of Wilmington, North Carolina.
