Derrick Thompson

Title

Head Men's Golf Coach
Email

dthompson43@uco.edu
Phone

405-974-2139

Derrick Thompson was named head men's golf coach at the University of Central Oklahoma in June 2021 and has put the Bronchos back to the position of contenders on the national stage.

In his first two seasons with the Bronchos, he led the program to two victories, 12 Top 5 finishes and 21 Top 10 finishes in 24 tournaments. Thompson has also led Central Oklahoma back to the NCAA national tournament in both seasons. But then in his third season, Thompson and UCO leaped to the top.

Central finished third at the NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championships before falling in the match-play quarterfinals. That followed the first Regional Championship for the Bronchos in nearly 10 years. Thompson coached three All-Americans as UCO earned five victories in 2023-24, including the Central/Midwest Regional Championship that saw the second-lowest 54-hole score (823) and tied for the lowest 18-hole score (267 final round) in school history. Thompson and the Bronchos boasted top three finishes in all but one of their 12 tournaments during the season.

Thompson has logged seven wins in three seasons and adds four runner-up finishes and five third-place showings. UCO has finished in the top five in 24 of 37 tournaments since Thompson took charge.

Thompson coached UCO to 11 consecutive Top 10 finishes to start his career with the Bronchos, and five of those were Top 5 performances. He led UCO to his first team title in the fourth tournament of the year, winning the Holiday Inn Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri hosted by Missouri Western. UCO had one All-MIAA performer in Thompson's first season before the team qualified for the NCAA Division II Super Regional Championships.

In his second year leading the program, Thompson guided the Bronchos to 10 more Top 10 finishes with seven Top 5 performances. UCO got hot in the spring, finishing third and fifth before winning the Broncho Invitational at Rose Creek in March. UCO finished third and fifth in the next two tournaments before qualifying for another Super Regional bid. Thompson led two All-MIAA selections in his second season.

Thompson came to UCO from Iowa Western, where he spent seven years leading both the men's and women's programs. He led the two programs to a combined 43 tournament wins over the course of seven seasons, including five for each the men's and women's programs during the 2021 season.

He coached his teams at IWCC to more than 20 national tournament appearances and has coached more than a dozen All-Americans. He's also coached individual NJCAA national champions in both men's and women's golf.

Prior to Iowa Western, Thompson was the head men's and women's coach at North Idaho College. There he also qualified his teams for the national tournament and led multiple student-athletes to All-American honors.

A member of the NJCAA Golf Coaches Association, Thompson served as secretary from 2017-18, vice president from 2018-20, and most recently president from 2020-21.

Thompson graduated from Ferndale High School in Washington in 2000 before attending Western Washington University. He is married (Melissa) and has two children (Grady and Camryn).