Utah Tech University Athletics

Candace Thornton is in her third season as an assistant coach for the Utah Tech women’s basketball program, and her second as the program's recruiting coordinator.

Last season, Coach Thornton helped guide the Trailblazers to an 18-14 overall record, which included a 12-8 mark in Western Athletic Conference play. Utah Tech wound up in fourth place in the conference standings that season to earn a first round bye into the 2024 WAC Tournament.

Coach Thornton played a vital role in the Trailblazers' fifth-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference standings during the 2022-23 season, and helped lead Utah Tech to its first-ever WAC Tournament appearance, where they recorded their first-ever Division-I postseason victory. 

Thornton came to Utah Tech after spending the last season as an assistant coach at the College of Idaho where she assisted in recruiting and player development.

She also spent the last nine years coaching the Tree of Hope Idaho program who are a club on the Nike EYBL circuit. In her time with Tree of Hope, she recruited elite athletes as well as structured individual player workouts, scouting reports and organized and ran youth skills camps and clinics.

Thornton spent six years as a head coach at Centennial High School, where she led the Patriots to an Idaho 5A state championship title, and earned 2017 Idaho 5A Coach of the Year honors.

She also spent two seasons as head coach at Mountain Crest (UT) HS where she led her team to a state semifinals appearance and earned the opportunity to coach the 2012 State All-Star game.

Thornton played two seasons at Northern Colorado in 2004-06, before finishing her collegiate basketball career at UCCS in 2006-08. She earned her bachelor's degree from UCCS in Communication before completing work on her Master's degree in Organizational Leadership.

Thornton and her husband Eli have five children – Sophie, Elin, Sylvie, Dean, and Navi.