Matt Thune is in his third season as part Utah Tech women’s basketball program, and his second year as associate head coach.
Last season, Coach Thune helped lead the Trailblazers to an 18-14 overall record, including a 12-8 mark in Western Athletic Conference play, which was good for fourth place in the conference standings and a first round bye into the 2024 WAC Tournament.
In his first season on the Trailblazer sidelines, Coach Thune helped lead the program to a nine-win turnaround as Utah Tech played to a 19-12 record during the 2022-23 campaign. That season also featured the Trailblazers' first appearance at the WAC Tournament, where they recorded their first-ever Division-I postseason victory.
Thune joined Coach Gustin’s staff following a three-year stint at Eastern Kentucky, including two seasons as the program’s associate head coach. During his time at EKU he assisted in rebuilding a program that had not won a Division I game the year before their arrival.
In 2019-20, his first season at EKU, the Colonels had the fourth-best turnaround in NCAA Division I, and set the mark for the highest GPA in program history. He helped lead EKU to the most overall wins (15) since 2015-16 and the program’s first post-season win since 2017 during the 2021-22 season.
Prior to EKU, Thune served as an assistant coach at Binghamton University, an NCAA Division I institution New York. He aided in the development of two All-America East second team selections and an all-rookie team honoree. The Bearcats were the second-best rebounding team in the America East conference, ranked third in blocked shots, and fourth in field goal percentage defense. He also worked part of the 2018-19 season at Boston College, where he handled all video analysis and recruiting media production.
Thune spent three seasons (2015-2018) as an assistant coach at Weber State, working alongside Coach Gustin during the 2015-16 season where together they helped lead the Wildcats to the most wins in program history (23) and a runner-up finish in the 2016 Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) Tournament.
In 2017-18, he helped lead Weber State to a 21-12 record and the most conference wins (12) in program history as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the WBI.
Thune got his start in coaching working on Jeff Walz’s staff at Louisville from 2012-15, helping the Cardinals amass an 89-21 record. During his time there, Louisville won at least 25 games each season, appeared in three Sweet 16's, two Elite 8's, and a National Runner-up appearance at the 2013 Final 4 in New Orleans, La.
In 2013, his first year on staff, the program received national acclaim for its run to the national championship game. The No. 5-seeded Cardinals knocked off top-seed Baylor. Louisville then defeated No. 2-seed Tennessee to reach its second Final Four in four years before beating Cal to advance to the national title game.
After working as assistant video coordinator in his first year at Louisville, Thune was promoted to video coordinator in 2013 and also served as an interim assistant coach for recruiting. He produced highlight and recruiting videos during his tenure for the staff, which signed the nation's No. 1 recruiting class in 2015.
The Indianapolis, Ind., native graduated from Indiana University in 2012 with a Bachelor's in Psychology and a minor in Management. He went on to earn a Master's degree in Sports Administration from Louisville in 2014. Thune and his wife Kaitlin have one son, Vance, who they welcomed in 2022.
