Emily Thomas (updated 2/2026)

I was born & half raised in Chicago & half raised in Ottawa, IL. I’ve played all my life & fell in love with the game in grade school. Collegiately I played at Judson University from 2011-15 where I met the love of my life who I later down the road married after our love for the game/coaching kept us in contact. After I was done playing I decided to go down the path of college coaching. I got my first gig as an assistant coach at Aurora University (IL), then the following year got a GA spot at Drury University (MO). I spent the next 3 seasons as an assistant coach at Drury where we compiled a record of 96-8, went to the Final Four, 3-peated on Conference Championships, & so much more along the way. My last season at Drury is where I also won a WBCA Thirty Under 30 coaching award. From there I took my first collegiate head coaching job back home at Roosevelt University in Chicago. After one season & the pandemic hitting, I decided to take a job with my old boss from Drury who just got hired as the head coach at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ.

Down in Phoenix is where I had my first son, Avonté who is 5 now & absolutely obsessed with the game. Our second son, Melo, was born shortly after with some health complications & I decided to step away from college sports for a bit while I stay home with my boys. That’s when Chicago’s Finest came along! After a summer of training kids took off, I figured why not start my own program! What started with 2 teams back in winter of 2023 has grown into 9. It’s been a joy juggling both our boys, 9 teams of 70+ awesome girls, and being my husband’s team biggest fan traveling to as many games as we possibly can as he still coaches collegiately at Roosevelt University.