Paula Thoms enters her sixth season as an assistant coach with the BU women's rowing program.
In 2013, Paula helped coach the Terriers to their first CAA Championship, earning an automatic team bid to the 2013 NCAA Championships for the first time since 2001.
Named to the position in the fall of 2008, she came to BU from Brock University, having also coached at Michigan State and the St. Catharines Rowing Club.
While working as the assistant novice coach at Brock University in Canada, she motivated, engaged, and educated athletes new to the sport of rowing and organized land and water practices for the Beavers.
Thoms is a 2007 graduate of Michigan State University, where she rowed for and coached alongside Rippetoe, serving as a volunteer novice coach after graduating, and helping the Spartans capture the Big Ten Conference championship.
A four-year member of the varsity eight, Thoms was part of the Michigan State crew that won the 2005 Big Ten championship and attained a team-record sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championship in 2006. She earned second-team All-Big Ten recognition her senior season and the team's Spirit Award for best exemplifying the passion and integrity of the team.
Thoms has also rowed and coached at the St. Catharine's Rowing Club in her native St. Catharines, Ontario, since 2000. She is a three-time champion at the Royal Henley Regatta in 2000, 2002, and 2006 and a 2004 Head of the Charles Regatta champion. In 2002, the club recognized Thoms as its Female Oarswoman of the Year.
She spent three summers as head coach of the St. Catharine's Youth Rowing Camp and coached the club's junior `A' women in 2007, leading the crew to a top-10 finish at the Canadian Henley Regatta. Thoms earned a bachelor of arts degree in marketing from the Broad School of Business at Michigan State and was honored with the Big Ten Conference Scholar Athlete Award.
