Austin Thornton - Staff Directory - Michigan State University Athletics

Staff Directory

Austin Thornton

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
Phone:
355-1643

Austin Thornton, a four-year letterwinner and co-captain for Michigan State’s men’s basketball program, enters his fourth season working with the Spartans and his first as an assistant coach.

Thornton, who has spent 10 years with the Spartans including his playing career, returned to his alma mater in June 2021 as the team’s video coordinator. In that role, he helped aid the coaching staff in scouting reports, practice and game preparation, implementation of offensive and defensive strategies, along with assisting in player development. He has also been responsible for the hiring and training of MSU’s graduate assistants and student managers.

He returned to MSU after spending the 2020-21 year as the head coach for both the freshman and varsity boys basketball teams at Sparta High School in Michigan.

From 2017 to 2020, Thornton spent four years playing professional basketball overseas, making stops with teams in Italy, Switzerland, Australia and Hungary.

Following his collegiate career, Thornton made his return to Michigan State in 2015 as a graduate assistant, spending two years on Head Coach Tom Izzo’s staff (2015-16 and 2016-17). As a graduate assistant, Thornton helped with player development, defensive scouting reports, on-campus recruiting and basketball operations. Thornton worked closely with Denzel Valentine, Matt Costello, Bryn Forbes, Eron Harris, Deyonta Davis, Miles Bridges, Cassius Winston, Joshua Langford, Kenny Goins, Gavin Schilling, and Nick Ward. During this time, MSU won the 2016 Big Ten Tournament title and appeared in the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Tournaments.

While working as a graduate assistant, Thornton also spent the 2016-17 season as a seasonal front office operations intern for the Detroit Pistons. Thornton aided the Pistons’ front office in the 2017 Pre-Draft process by providing film breakdown and scouting analysis on various NBA prospects.

Previously, Thornton spent three years working in healthcare, two in human resources and one as a physician liaison for Spectrum Health (now CoreWell Health).

Thornton spent five years as a student-athlete at Michigan State. During his playing career, the Spartans won more than 130 games, three Big Ten regular season titles, one Big Ten Tournament championship, played in five NCAA Tournaments, went to four Sweet 16’s, appeared in two Final Fours and were the 2009 National Runner-Up.

A four-year letterwinner, Thornton’s best year came as a redshirt senior in 2011-12, when he was named co-captain along with Draymond Green. Thornton started in 20 of 37 games, averaging 5.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists while leading the team in 3-point field goal and free throw percentage. The Spartans went 29-8 and won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Thornton had a decorated high school career at Cedar Springs High School, helping guide the team to 75 wins, three conference championships and four-straight district titles. A four-year starter on varsity, Thornton is Cedar Springs’ all-time leader in minutes played, games played, points scored, rebounds, assists and wins. He owns the Michigan High School state record with 572 career made free throws and ranks 3rd all-time in the state with 54 consecutive free throws made. As a senior, Thornton was named to the 2007 Associated Press All-State Class B team, 2007 Grand Rapids Press Dream Team, Detroit Free Press Dream Team and the Detroit News Class B First Team. He led Cedar Springs to the Class B Regional Finals, averaging 26.3 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. As a junior, he averaged 24.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, leading Cedar Springs to a 19-5 record and the regional semifinals. He was named to the 2006 Grand Rapids Press Dream Team, 2006 Detroit Free Press second team, 2006 all-area, all-conference and named all-state honorable mention by the Associated Press. As a sophomore, he averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He was named 2005 first-team all-conference. As a freshman, he started on varsity and averaged 7.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while helping Cedar Springs to its first ever No. 1 Ranking in the state.

Thornton earned his Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies in social science/human resources in 2011 from Michigan State. He went on to earn a Master of Science in kinesiology from MSU in 2017.