Although it’s not officially been announced by the University of Washington, the Huskies apparently have added a new offensive assistant, Cole Thomas. He is the son of former Washington Husky, Garth Thomas.
In the early to mid-80’s his father was an offensive lineman under two College Football Hall of Fame coaches, offensive coordinator Gary Pinkel and head coach Don James. The elder Thomas went undrafted in 1987 but played for the hometown Seattle Seahawks that season.
The younger Thomas prepped at Bishop Blanchett before signing with Texas Tech in 2019. However, after a brief stint the 6-7, 290 offensive tackle had to medically retire. Football was in his blood and he joined the coaching ranks at Texas Tech before joining the Abilene Christian staff last year.
In fact, if not medically retiring from the game he would still have college football eligibility remaining.
He does not appear on Washington’s official website GoHuskies.com but his LinkedIn profile lists the job title “Offensive Assistant at University of Washington Football”.
On his Twitter feed Thomas says that the first player that made him love football was “Garth Thomas. First game I watched with my pops was Titans vs Steelers on Monday Night Football in 2001, followed by VHS tapes of the 1985 Freedom Bowl and the 1986 Sun Bowl,” he said.
Despite missing out on playing on the same field that his father played on, he’ll finally get to walk in his dad’s shoes.
