Head Coach - Golf
| 714-879-3901 x1206
The 2014-15 golf season marks the first season for Eric Thorson as the Head Coach of the Hope International University Golf Teams. The 2014-15 campaign is the inaugural season for both HIU Golf programs.
Coach Thorson is no stranger to the Southern California athletic scene as he is three years removed from serving as the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at La Sierra University in Riverside. In his two year tenure, he turned a 0-24 team the year before him into a 12-17 team in his final year (at the time the 12 wins represented a program record).
While proud of the accomplishments on the court with the LSU women, he is most proud of the academic success of the team. His last season saw the team earn NAIA Scholar Team honors with a team cumulative GPA of 3.66. Four of the women he recruited graduated from La Sierra in May. His proudest moment is “an athlete reaching academic achievements.”
Several years prior to coaching at LSU, he spent seven years coaching both boys and girls high school basketball teams. As the boy’s coach at Orangewood Academy (1994-96) and the girl’s coach at St. Anthony’s High School (1997-2001) his teams qualified for seven straight playoff appearances. His high school teams posted a combined record of 121-37. His crowning achievement was winning the CIF Championship and being named the CIF-SS Coach of the Year in 2000 at St. Anthony’s.
The one factor that remains to this day through all his coaching is that Coach Thorson’s “day job” is a Firefighter/Paramedic for the Garden Grove Fire Department. After becoming a California State Licensed Paramedic in December 1988, Thorson began working for the GGFD in 1989.
In all of his free time, he is a scratch golfer carrying a .3 index. A few of his golf accomplishments include three top ten finishes in the Pasadena City Championships and a four time North Net Fire Golf Association Club Champion.
To top off all his working, coaching, and golf playing, he decided to start working on a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management from Southern New Hampshire University. He plans to finish the degree in June 2016.
Coach Thorson lives in Los Angeles but attends church at Mariners in Irvine.
