Kelton Thompson’s Road Back to Coaching

With only rare exception, all people in life deserve a second chance. Some people get that chance right away while others have to wait for it a long time. Kelton Thompson falls somewhere in between after making a mistake that could have sunk his coaching career for good. Now he’s making the most of his second chance by righting the ship as the head boys basketball coach at Picayune High School.
For someone this passionate about the game of basketball, it’s hard to believe Kelton Thompson never actually wanted to be a coach, but now it’s part of his DNA.
He was set in his ways by the time he graduated from St. Stanislaus as a boarding student in 1996. From there he went on to play for Steve Knight at William Carey and then returned to his alma mater in 2001 to help coach the Rock-A-Chaws on a volunteer basis. But even then, there was another side to Coach Thompson. “My aunt who took me in and raised me, she kind of saw the path I was going down after I got out of college. She called Coach Ladner and kind of initiated that. She said look coach I know you have a lot of stroke with him, I need a little help. That’s kind of what initiated that phone call.”
Former St. Stanislaus Head Coach Jay Ladner said, “Six days a week he was Coach Thompson and the seventh day, he’s KT. You can’t do that in our profession. It’s too important.”
Important yes, but no harm, no foul, at least that’s how Thompson saw his personal life at the time. To his credit, he did a good job of keeping work and play separate.
In 2006, the Louisiana native then took his first head coaching position at Bay High where he went on to win the school’s first state title in 2010. After that he rejoined Coach Ladner at Jones County Junior College for one season before accepting the head women’s job at JCJC. That’s when KT finally got the best of Coach Thompson. “About a month before the season, I was arrested for DUI and marijuana possession,” said Coach Thompson.
“Basketball always came first; the teaching part always came first. I always made sure that was my priority. I was under the impression that as long as I did that, my personal life was mine. I could do what I wanted to do and as disciplined as I was in the professional aspect of my life, I was probably that much more undisciplined in the personal aspects of my life,” said Thompson.
Both charges were later expunged from Thompson’s record, but the damage had already been done. Before he even thought about being a coach again, step one: he had to own it. “It’s something I’ll never escape. I’ve accepted that from the beginning. There’s a lot of people, it’s the first thing they think of. When you go to a job interview and they Google you, it’s gonna be there forever.”
“What I was most proud of him about was that he didn’t try to hide behind it. He owned his mistake,” said Ladner.
Step two: the drive to get back on the sidelines had to come from within. “I didn’t just want to coach, I needed to coach.”
Step three: getting that second chance. Two years after his arrest, he got his break at Pearl River Central. After one season there, another stroke of good fortune as he took over as the head man at Picayune. That’s where you can find him now, no longer KT, with a jumper still as pure as ever, and a coach perhaps even more fiery than ever before.
What he has to prove has less to do with coaching and more to do with the new and improved Coach Thompson being that same guy Monday through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Better late than never. “First of all, at 35 years old, you’re supposed to be a little more grown than that, a little more mature. Let’s just say I’m a late bloomer,” said Coach Thompson.
In Thompson’s first season at Picayune, the Maroon Tide are currently 16-7 overall with a record of 3-1 in district play.