Byron Thomas begins his first season as Minot State University's defensive coordinator for the football program.
Thomas comes to Minot State after spending a year as the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Culver-Stockton College.
Before his time at Culver-Stockton, an NAIA school in Canton, Mo., he spent one season at Texas A&M University as a graduate assistant under Kevin Sumlin, working with cornerbacks and safeties. He also spent one season as a graduate assistant at South Florida under current Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder. Thomas was selected to move from South Florida to A&M with coach Snyder.
During his time at A&M and South Florida, he worked with future NFL players Kayvon Webster (Denver Broncos), Steven Terrell (Houston Texans) and Dustin Harris (Dallas Cowboys).
He started his coaching career at St. Cloud State, helping develop two all-conference running backs for the Huskies. Over the past five seasons of coaching, Thomas has worked with the current defensive coordinators at Texas A&M (Snyder), Boise State (Marcel Yates) and East Carolina (Rick Smith).
Thomas, a native of Palmdale, Calif., played four seasons at USD earning the Coyotes' Defensive Most Valuable Player honors as a senior in 2008, after recording 47 tackles, including a team-best 13 for a loss, and seven sacks. In 46 games for USD, he finished with 136 tackles and 11 sacks. He graduated from South Dakota with a degree in sociology in 2009.
Along with his defensive coordinator duties, Thomas will serve as the Beavers linebackers coach and will be an integral part of the Beavers recruiting team.
