Thad Phillips enters his fourth year as the head coach of the Elmira College women’s basketball program during the 2024-25 academic year. Phillips joined the staff at Elmira College as an assistant coach for the men's and women's basketball programs for the abbreviated 2021 seasons and was promoted to head coach of the women's program in June of 2021.
During the 2023-24 season, the Soaring Eagles qualified for the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for the second consecutive season, leading EC to an 11-13 (6-10 E8) mark. The Soaring Eagles began the season 6-2, pickung up early-season victories against Alfred State SUNY Delhi, SUNY Poly, Buffalo State, Alfred University, and Morrsville State. Down the stretch, EC would tally three consecutive Empure 8 victories over Utica (Jan. 19), Keuka (Jan. 30), and Alfred (Jan. 25). Under Phillips, Laura Bogota '25 earned Empire 8 Third Team All-Conference honors.
During the 2022-23 season, Phillips coached the Soaring Eagles to its first Empire 8 Conference Tournament appearance since the 2006-07 season. In the 48-year history of Elmira women's basketball, Phillips has established himself as just the second coach in program history to begin his stint having back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins (Jim Schieble; 1992-99). Elmira's 15 wins during the season was the most since the 2013-14 season, when the Soaring Eagles won 16 games. Phillips helped coach Desiree Roy '25 to a First Team All-Conference nod from the Empire 8 during the season.
In his first year leading the Soaring Eagles, the team finished with a 10-15 overall record and Phillips guided freshman forward Desiree Roy ‘25 to an Empire 8 Third Team all-conference selection. Roy posted one of the most efficient seasons by a freshman in recent program history, as she finished the season with 261 rebounds which ties her for 6th all-time in program history for a single season.
Phillips brings a wealth of experience to the Soaring Eagle sidelines, having most recently spent the past 10 years as the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Keuka College. As the second-longest tenured head coach in program history, he twice led the Wolves to the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Tournament, including a run to the semifinals in 2014-15.
Prior to his tenure at Keuka, Phillips spent three seasons at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, from 2007-10. He previously served as an assistant coach at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, and as a graduate assistant at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His coaching career began at his alma mater, Concordia University Wisconsin, as an assistant coach and head freshman coach in 2001.
A three-year letter winner for the Falcons, Phillips graduated from Concordia in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education. He then received a master's in Health Education from Carroll in 2006.
