A Tremendous Legacy For Chris Thomas During His Pitman FB Coaching Tenure

by Marc Narducci | Feb 2, 2026

Chris Thomas recently resigned as the Pitman football coach after 11 seasons, and the contributions that he made went beyond the won-loss record, although he was also impressive in that regard.

A 2002 graduate of Pitman where he was a wide receiver, running back and free safety, Thomas’ greatest achievement is that he helped save the football program.

That is not hyperbole.

During his third season in 2017, Pitman faced some key decisions. The Panthers had just 13 players in the entire program. The school decided to take a gap year and hope that the program could rebuild itself. During that season, Pitman played a full JV schedule.

“It was difficult,” Thomas recalled. “We struggled for so long and then had some kids who were some of our better players transfer out. We weren’t winning with those kids then, and so there was little hope.”

There was no guarantee that the program would rebound. Thomas was especially grateful for the effort of the seniors who stayed with the program and played JV in their final year.

“That group sacrificed their senior year so the program could survive, and I can’t say enough about kids like that,” Thomas said. “You have to be a special person to sacrifice your senior year because they could have transferred.”

Pitman only won a single JV game, but the Panthers actually gained players and ended the season with 20 on the roster.

The next year Pitman returned to varsity action, playing four games and going 1-3. Since then, the Panthers have played a full varsity schedule.

The Panthers kept improving and in 2022 they went 5-4 overall and won a West Jersey Football League Royal Division title with a 4-0 record.

To show that it wasn’t a fluke, Pitman won another championship in 2024, going 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Royal Division.

When the program had to take a year off from varsity competition, few could have imagined that the program would win not one, but two division titles in the first seven years after.

Thomas was certainly grateful to emerge as a conference champion, but as a typical coach he was looking for more.

“In 2024 we were 6-1 at the (playoff) cutoff and the one loss was by a point, and I don’t think we showed up for that game,” he said about a 21-20 loss to Gloucester Catholic. “So we missed the playoffs, but I don’t want to lose sight of the big picture.”

All told, Pitman was 42-43 in the 10 varsity seasons that Thomas coached, a remarkable record considering all the adversity the program faced. After the program returned in 2018, the Panthers went 38-29.

Thomas, who teaches special education at Pitman, said that he felt he needed to take a step back.

“I was pushing to the point where burnout was something I could see happening,” he said. “I didn’t want that to happen. The kids can’t have somebody running on fumes.”

That said, Thomas says he will continue to do whatever it takes to assist the program.

“I will be in the building and do all I can to help whoever comes in here to coach this team,” he said. “We all worked too hard to let any of this go and I will do all I possibly can to make sure we have numbers to continue to compete.”

Pitman’s Aidan Upham / Marc Narducci

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Author: Marc Narducci

A Tremendous Legacy For Chris Thomas During His Pitman FB Coaching Tenure

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