GARDEN CITY - A familiar face is returning to West Texas, pending school board approval April 13, to be the head girls basketball coach at Garden City.
Former Grady boys basketball coach Thomas Clay has accepted an offer to be the head coach of the Lady Bearkats to take over for Jordan Merkord, who resigned after just one year in Garden City.
Clay was very successful at Grady leading the Wildcats to a 141-27 record from 2010-15 and led the program to four regional tournament appearances, a state tournament appearance in 2012 and a Class 1A state championship appearance in 2015.
Clay also coached boys basketball at Valley, Monahans, Meadow, Krum and Lorenzo and most recently was the girls head coach at Lorenzo.
An Iraan native, Clay said he’s got family in the area so he’s got a chance to be closer to them and added he’s also been long intrigued with the great athletics tradition that Garden City has.
“I always thought that Garden City was the best 1A school in Texas, so when you get the opportunity to coach there, you take it,” Clay said.
The long-standing relationship between Clay and Garden City athletic director Jeff Jones also helped in the hiring. They both grew up as rivals as Jones is a Rankin High School graduate, and have followed each others’ career over the years.
“I got to know Coach Clay when I coaching in Crane and he was coaching in Monahans,” Jones said. “We’ve gotten to be pretty good friends. When this job came open, we talked about it and he was excited to take over the program. I think his mentality and basketball philosophy is going to fit in well with our girls.”
Clay, a 20-plus year coaching veteran, said he took over the girls’ basketball program two years ago to fill a vacancy at the time and it’s been a great experience as the Lady Hornets finished second only to New Home in District 6-1A over the last two seasons.
“The girls worked hard and always tried to do what you wanted them to do,” Clay said. “Coaching girls, I don’t have to yell as much or repeat as much.”
Clay said unfortunately because of the pandemic, he had to inform his team of his decision via messaging instead of in person.
“That was tough to do,” Clay said. “They’ve been a great group of girls who have done everything that’s been asked of them. They graduate seven seniors off the team and they are going to have an influx of young players on the varsity, so this is going to be another change for them. I feel bad for them but it’s hard to turn down an opportunity to coach at a great school.”
Clay, who will finish out the year at Lorenzo before arriving in Garden City over the summer, is inheriting a program in Garden City that went 10-24 overall and 2-8 in District 8-1A, missing out on the playoffs, which was a rarity for a program that has tasted so much success over the years including a state tournament trip in 2016-17. The Lady Kats are expected to return every player from this team.
“I know that they’re hard-working girls and we will work out of the run-andgun, which is what we do and we’ve been successful at,” Clay said. “I know they’re in a tough district and I’ve played Sands, Borden County and Klondike, all of whom made the playoffs out of that district. I know we have a chance to get better and compete because of the hard work and basketball tradition Garden City is known for.”