QND hits its Mark with announcement of new girls soccer head coach

QUINCY — Mark Thomas’ biggest challenge as the new Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer head coach won’t come from replacing a legend on the sidelines or developing the right system of play for a youthful, talented team.

It will be finding time to hunt during the Illinois spring turkey season.

“I might have to figure things out and make sure we don’t play any games on a certain day,” Thomas said with a laugh.

As passionate as he is about hunting and fishing — a fishing trip to Minnesota looms this summer — Thomas is as passionate, if not more, about soccer and family.

That’s why taking on this task made sense.

A three-sport athlete at QND who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998 and played professional soccer for 13 seasons, Thomas was officially named the girls soccer coach during a press conference Thursday morning in the QND library. He succeeds Mark Longo, the winningest girls soccer coach in Illinois High School Association history and the only coach in the 34-year existence of the QND program.

“It’s not only something I enjoy, but it’s something where I think I can make an impact on the girls on the team and the program and my alma mater,” said Thomas, a 1986 QND graduate.

And like Longo, Thomas comes from one of Quincy’s most prominent soccer families.

His younger sister, Lori, and five nieces played for Longo, while Thomas and his brothers starred for the Raiders in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s, and his nephew played for QND in the 2000s.

“It definitely is a family sport,” he said.

It will continue to be that way. Thomas will have two daughters on the QND team — Alena will be a sophomore and Sierra is an incoming freshman — and full support of his extended family, which includes those he works with at Blessing Health Services.

Thomas is a talent acquisition specialist in the human resources department, a job he has had for the past decade and says he still thoroughly enjoys. The Blessing administration signed off on him pursuing the coaching opportunity even though it may mean overlapping schedules.

“They have been nothing but supportive and they thought it was a great idea,” Thomas said.

He was the obvious choice from the start.

Longo announced in mid-May he was retiring from coaching after leading the Raiders to a A career record of 608-109-74 with six state championships and two fourth-place state finishes.

That night, after the news broke, Thomas sent Longo a congratulatory email.

“I wanted to say thank you and congrats on the retirement,” Thomas said. “I told him to go hit the golf ball.”

Longo offered his appreciation in an email reply and told Thomas a couple of girls had asked if he’d be interested in coaching when Longo met with them for the final time. That started the process of deciding whether to pursue the opening.

He knew the drawbacks of following a coaching legend, but having worked with a large number of the current and future players while coaching with the Quincy United Soccer Club, he felt this would be a worthwhile move.

“Anytime you take over for someone who has been here 34 years, consistency is key,” Thomas said. “Things will be a little bit new, but you have to build confidence and a sense of safety. Overall, I think it will go well and the girls seem excited for the opportunity.”

Thomas met with the team prior to the official announcement and will talk to those who were unavailable Thursday morning. Several QND players were part of the group of students spending the week on the Catholic Heart Work Camp mission trip.

What they will learn, if they don’t know it already, is they will be playing for one of QND’s most celebrated athletes of all-time.

Thomas led the Raiders to three state soccer tournament appearances, scoring nine goals as a sophomore when QND reached the state quarterfinals. He scored 26 goals and had nine assists as a junior when the Raiders lost in a penalty-kick shootout to Palatine Fremd in the title game.

As a senior, he scored both goals in a 2-1 overtime victory over Hoffman Estates in the state semifinals and had a goal in the 2-1 victory over Collinsville in the state title game. Thomas was named all-state as both a junior and senior.

He also starred on the QND baseball team that reached the state tournament in 1986, hitting better than .400 and being named Co-Player of the Year by the Quincy Herald-Whig. 

Soccer, though, took him to Quincy College. He was twice named All-Midwest, scored 18 goals in 1989 and finished his career with 45 goals. It led to being selected by the St. Louis Storm in the MISL draft in 1990 and a lengthy pro career in which he scored 407 goals and compiled 253 assists while playing for seven different franchises.

“This is a chance for me to give back for all the support I received,” Thomas said.