Yolando Thomas is in her second season as the head coach for the Rogers State Women's Soccer program.
Thomas inherited a program that has had a strong winning tradition with seven 10-win seasons, but just one winning season in the previous six years and she guided the Hillcats to a 10-6-2 mark, including a 7-5-2 record in the final year of the Heartland Conference.
Five Hillcats earned All-Conference honors in Thomas' first season, with Melissa Cardenas and Bria Salazar also earning United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors. Goalkeeper Taylor Sargent also earned Academic All-District honors and was named the Defensive Player of the Week four times, including three-consecutive weeks in September.
Thomas is also the head coach of Fortuna Tulsa of the Women's Premier Soccer League. Thomas guided Fortuna Tulsa to an undefeated regular season (7-0-1) in 2019, before winning the Red River Conference Championship
Thomas came to RSU after serving three seasons as an assistant coach for the University of Tulsa's women's program under head coach Kyle Cussen. She served as the recruiting coordinator, travel coordinator, director of player development and academic and sports performance liaison. During her time at TU, Thomas coached five all-conference honorees, including The 2016 American Midfielder of the Year in Rachel Thun. Thomas helped the Golden Hurricane total 24 wins during her tenure as an assistant coach, including a 13-6-1 mark in 2015.
Before her time at TU, Thomas recorded a 38-8 record in four seasons as the head coach at Edmond Memorial High School. She led EMHS to a 2014 Oklahoma State runner-up finish, the program's first state championship appearance in more than a decade. Thomas totaled 15 all-state selections in her four years and coached 11 players who went on to play collegiate soccer.
Thomas, who holds a US Soccer National 'C' license, served as the director of the Soccer City OKC club for four years. She guided the Lil' Kickers Child Development Soccer Program from its inception in 2012 as it was the fastest growing franchise in the United States and Canada in 2013.
In the summer of 2015, Thomas served as the head coach of the Oklahoma City FC women's premier soccer league team, leading the team to Big Sky Conference and Southeast Regional titles along with a national semifinal appearance for the first time in program history.
Thomas played four seasons for Oklahoma State and earned a bachelor's degree in human services in 2009 and a master's degree in international studies in 2010. A four-year letterwinner, Thomas was a three-time NSCAA All-American and NSCAA Scholar All-America honoree. She was twice named the Big 12 Player of the Year.
She and her husband, Phillip, have one daughter, Sasja, and a son, Solomon.
