In August 2020, Thomas University officials named Taylor (T.J.) Rines as its new men’s basketball head coach. A native of Clyo, Ga., Rines is a TU alumnus and a former member of the Night Hawks men’s basketball team.
Rines’ interest in basketball began when his parents introduced him to the sport as a toddler. He began his collegiate career at South Georgia State College before earning a scholarship to Thomas University. In his first year as a Night Hawk, Rines helped the team become nationally ranked as high as 15th and helped the team reach the final four of the Sun Conference his senior year.
After graduating in 2017 with a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration, Rines served two years as a graduate assistant with the Night Hawks men’s basketball team under previous Head Coach Brent Crews. During that time he helped graduate nine seniors and train four all-conference players. Rines then served as an assistant coach at Reinhardt University in 2019-20, where he graduated three seniors and coached Co-Freshman of the Year for the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
