Marcus Thomas joined San José State as the Running Backs Coach in 2024 after one year at Navy as the Slot Backs Coach. He spent the 2022 season at Navy as the Player Personnel Director.
Thomas came to Navy from UCLA, where he was the offensive analyst for Chip Kelly in 2020 and 2021 and the Director of Strategic Intelligence in 2019.
While at UCLA, Thomas assisted the running backs coach (2020 and 2021) and the tight ends coach (2019) as well as with special teams and was responsible for the opponent personnel scouting report. He helped lead UCLA to the 2021 Holiday Bowl, its first bowl game in four seasons.
In 2021, the UCLA offense ranked 16th in the country in scoring, averaging 36.5 points per game. Thomas contributed to the weekly development of the run game plan for a unit that averaged 215.1 rushing yards per game, which was the 17th-best rushing average in the country. In 2020, the UCLA offense ranked 20th in the nation in scoring, averaging 35.4 points per game and the rushing game improved by more than 70 yards per game.
Thomas is a 2014 graduate of the Naval Academy and earned four varsity letters on the football team. The Mids compiled a 31-20 record in Thomas’ four years, won two Commander-In-Chief’s Trophies, beat Army all four times and played in three bowl games, winning the 2013 Bell Helicopter Bowl over Middle Tennessee State 25-6.
Thomas was named Second-Team All-Independent as a kick returner in 2011, 2012 Honorable Mention All-Independent, 2013 Honorable Mention All-Independent and 2013 All-East by the ECAC. He was a recipient of the 2013 Napoleon McCallum Award which is presented to the Navy varsity football player of the graduating class who has gained the most all-purpose yards in his career.
Thomas is Navy’s all-time leader in kickoff return yardage with 2,338 yards.
Thomas spent five years in the United States Marine Corps, including serving as the Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 36 Detachment Officer in charge of 55 Marines for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a forward deployed contingency-response unit in the Pacific theatre and an Aviation Supply Officer in Okinawa, Japan where he led a team of 42 Marines, providing logistics and supply support to more than 2,000 Marines with Marine Aircraft Group 36 consisting of 58 aircraft.