Although she grew up 30 miles east in Monroe playing softball at Neville High School, Anna Claire Thomas’ roots run deep in Ruston and throughout the Louisiana Tech University community.
Dad (Bob) played baseball for the Bulldogs back in the 1970s. Brothers (Drew and Patrick) played baseball for the Bulldogs during their collegiate time. Mom (Donna) is the chair of the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Tech as well as the faculty chair for the Athletics Council.
And Anna Claire earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Tech in 2012 before spending the next seven years working in the athletic communications office at her alma mater.
She is considered one of the most well-respected professionals in the athletics communication’s world, spending the past two years at the Assistant Athletics Director at UTEP where she ran the entire Miners media relations area.
“Anna Claire has been on a meteoric rise within this profession since she started working here almost 10 years ago,” said Louisiana Tech Senior Associate AD Malcolm Butler. “When I tell you she is one of the most sought after young professionals in this business, well take my word for it. I have received so many phone calls from both Power 5 and Group of 5 schools about her over the last three years. She has made a name for herself within this industry, and I am proud that she started it right here in Ruston.”
Name a sport, and AC – as she is affectionately known by – has worked it. Football, check. Baseball, check. Basketball. Softball. And go on and on and on.
“Not only did I have the opportunity to learn from great leaders during my time at Louisiana Tech, but I was also able to work with a lot of different sports,” said Anna Claire. “I think that has set me up well for success in the various roles I’ve been able to serve in since leaving Ruston.
“I had the chance to serve some sort of role in just about every sport at LA Tech in my seven years there, which translated well to being able to serve more in a leadership and teaching role at UTEP and beyond. The chance to work for my alma mater right out of college was one that not everyone gets and I was grateful for the opportunity to cover student-athletes and programs that I grew up watching.”
Before departing Tech in the summer of 2019, Anna Claire served as the primary contact for the Bulldog football team becoming the youngest female FBS football contact in the country. She served in the same role in El Paso for the past two years.
“There are definitely moments that you have to plan for a little bit more as a female than as a male in this business, but I don’t necessarily look at it as a gender divide as much as maybe I did when I first started,” she said. “There has been a ton of growth when it comes to females serving in high-level roles since I started in athletics, which is great to see, but there is definitely room to grow in that area.
“I’ve been fortunate to have great leaders and mentors in my career that didn’t necessarily see gender as an issue, so I’ve never really thought of it as an issue. I try to be the best in whatever role I’m in without factoring in gender.”
And now for the next step in her career. Just this week, she moved to Starkville, Mississippi, where she will serve as the primary contact for the reigning national champion Mississippi State baseball program.
“This is an opportunity that has been in the back of my mind for a long time – the chance to get back to my roots and work for a baseball program with such a storied history as Mississippi State,” said Anna Claire. “I was fortunate enough that everything came together and worked out the way it did.
“The timing just lined up perfectly for what I wanted to do next in my career. I grew up around the game of baseball and always wanted to return to the game eventually in some way, so I really jumped at the opportunity as soon as it presented itself.”
It won’t be the first time she has worked baseball. Anna Claire was the primary contact for Louisiana Tech during the Greg Goff era in Ruston, including in 2016 when the Bulldogs made the NCAA Tournament and played in a regional in … coincidentally enough … Starkville.
Now she will be working for the Bulldogs once again, just in a different state and different league.
Photo: Tom Morris
