Thoma stepping down from Leopold post

Carlton Thoma is ready for another break. The coach of the Leopold High School boys basketball team for the last 13 seasons, Thoma will not be back in that post for the 2005-06 season.

"I just want to sit back and relax and take a look at it," Thoma said last week. "It seems like the season is getting longer and longer. We start in September with the junior high and the season ends in March. I'm kind of looking forward to next year."

Thoma, 57, has been a high school coach for 20 seasons and was an AAU basketball coach before that.

He coached for five seasons at Leopold before taking over the Scott City program for one season in 1989-90 and posting a 14-12 record.

"It was their first winning season in 10 or 11 years [since 1979]," Thoma said. "That's when the turnaround started."

But Thoma stepped away from the game, citing burnout, then returned to coach Meadow Heights for one season in 1991-92 before returning to Leopold for the last 13 seasons.

Thoma calculated his win total to be "pretty darn close" to 230 victories. Records compiled by Southeast Missouri sports historian Al Jackson have Thoma at 222 victories.

"That's 11 1/2 per year," Thoma said, "and by some standards, that's not great, but most of those were at a small school, and we just tried to be competitive."

Leopold, listed on the Missouri High School Activities Association Web site with an enrollment of 74, was 4-19 this season. It was Thoma's worst season in terms of wins and losses.

His best season was a 23-5 campaign in 1986-87 at Leopold, which has never won a district title.

"There are so many memories ... the close games," Thoma said. "We lost two times in the district championship game. Those are games I will remember. I was talking to some kids in class the other day, and they were surprised I could remember so many games. In a coach's head, those games are played and replayed over and over so many times."

He will continue to teach math and may again coach in AAU or junior high basketball.

"I just love the classroom," Thoma said. "I love teaching kids. I'm not ready to give that up yet."