Western Michigan University Athletics

Thomas Kithier joined the Western Michigan men's basketball program as an assistant coach in May of 2025. The 2025-26 season was his first with the Broncos.

In 2025-26, Western Michigan ranked among the conference's best in rebounding, finishing fourth in the MAC in overall rebounding and third in offensive rebounding in conference play. The Broncos also boasted one of the top bench units in the league, with their 28.6 bench points ranking second in the MAC and 42nd nationally. WMU greatly improved its free throw shooting, going from ranking last in the league in 2024-25 to posting the fifth-best free throw percentage (.742) in program history, which included a single-game program record 20 consecutive made free throws in a late-season win at Bowling Green. The Brown and Gold succeeded in the classroom as well, posting a program-record 3.59 GPA in the fall semester, and also picking up three CSC Academic All-District selections, as well as a pair of Academic All-MAC honorees. 

Kithier arrived in Kalamazoo after spending the prior two years as an assistant video coordinator/player development with the NBA’s Utah Jazz. With the Jazz, Kithier worked with numerous players, including Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler and Kelly Olynyk. Along with player development, his other duties consisted of scouting reports, analytical projects and pre-draft workouts. During the 2023 and 2024 NBA Summer League, he spent time as an assistant coach for the organization.
 
He began his coaching career at Valparaiso, where he was a graduate assistant for one season after wrapping up his playing career with the Beacons in 2021-22.
 
An All-State performer in high school, Kithier began his collegiate career at Michigan State, where he played under WMU head coach Dwayne Stephens for three seasons. Over the course of his time at MSU, Kithier played in a total of 86 games and made 19 starts. While he was in East Lansing, the Spartans won a pair of Big Ten regular season titles, a Big Ten Tournament title and reached the 2019 Final Four.
 
For his final collegiate season, Kithier transferred to Valparaiso, where he started 22 games, averaging 10.1 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds while shooting a team-best 56.5 percent from the field. His 6.6 rebounds ranked fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference, and at the end of the campaign he was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Second Team.
 
A native of Macomb, Mich., Kithier graduated from Michigan State University in three years with a bachelor’s degree in Advertising, and received a master’s degree in Sports Administration/Media from Valparaiso University.