Byron Thorne
Assistant Coach
Fifth Season
(Penn State-Behrend, 1994)

   Assistant Coach Byron Thorne is in his fifth season with the YSU program. A veteran of the collegiate ranks, he is entering his 14th year as a collegiate assistant coach.
    For the Guins he handles scheduling, assists in scouting and recruiting, while working with the perimeter players.
    In 2008-09, Vytas Sulskis led the team with 39 3-pointers while Tom Parks ranked seventh in the Horizon League with a .403 3-point percentage.
    During the 2007-08 season, Sulskis set a YSU freshman record with 46 3-pointers and was named to the CollegeInsider.com Freshman Mid-Major All-America Team.
    In 2006-07, the Penguins won 14 games, their most in six years, while finishing in a fourth-place tie in the Horizon League. Guard Quin Humphrey became the first player in school history to earn first-team all-conference honors in consecutive years.
    Thorne joined Coach Jerry Slocum’s staff after serving as the head coach of the Maryland Elite AAU 17-and-under team.
    Thorne was an assistant coach at Loyola (Md.) from 2000-01 through 2003-04. For the Greyhounds, he handled recruiting, scouting, on-floor coaching and worked with the guards.
    He was an assistant coach at the University of Albany for three seasons (1997-2000), also for Hicks, before moving on to Loyola. He had similar duties on the Great Danes’ staff working on recruiting, scouting and on-floor efforts. In his initial year in 1997-98, Albany finished the season with a 19-8 mark. The school was in the NCAA Division I transitional phase in 1999-2000, his final year.
    His first assistant coaching position was with Division III Elmira College from 1995 through 1997. For two campaigns he was a member of Coach Terry Zeh’s staff. In 1997, Elmira reached the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III Upstate New York Championship Game and the ECAC quarterfinals in 1996.
    A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., he graduated from Vincentian High School where he was voted to the city’s Fabulous Five All-Star team as a senior.
    He went on to have a highly-successful playing career at Penn State-Behrend from 1990-94. He finished his career ranked first in steals (171), second in scoring (1,386), third in assists (321), fourth in field-goals made (543) and fifth in free-throws made (259) while playing in 102 contests. As a senior, he was named the school’s Male Athlete of the Year scoring 568 points. He was named to the Division III All-America team by the Basketball News becoming the first player in school history to earn all-America accolades.
    In 2004, he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
    He earned his bachelor’s degree in management information systems from PSU-Behrend in 1994 while he received his master’s in Education from Elmira in 1997.
    Byron and his wife, Lisa, have a son, Brayden. Lisa played basketball at Pittsburgh from 1989-93.