Antwaun "Coach T®" Thompson is a youth leadership and personal development expert whose nearly 40 years of basketball coaching and mentorship have shaped the lives of hundreds of young people across North Carolina and beyond. As the Founder and Executive Director of JLT Fieldhouse, Inc. — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Salisbury, NC — Coach T® has built a program that uses basketball as a vehicle to develop character, confidence, and life skills in young people from grades 1 through 12.
JLT Fieldhouse, Inc. is named in honor of Coach T's® late father, Sgt. Maj. Joe Lewis Thompson, USMC (Ret.), whose defining philosophy — if you ever see that someone needs help, you do it without hesitation and without any expectation of reward — serves as the north star of everything the organization does. That philosophy is not a tagline. It is the operating standard by which every program is designed, every scholarship is awarded, and every young person is welcomed through the door.
Coach T® currently serves as Director of Basketball and Head Varsity Coach — Boys and Girls — at Rockwell Christian School in Rockwell, NC, where he oversees the entire basketball program from middle school through varsity. His approach is guided by the principle of One Program. One Standard. One Family. — building a sustainable pipeline of athletes developed not just as players, but as leaders, teammates, and people of character.
His passion for mentoring young people is rooted in a belief that is both personal and unconditional: every young person deserves a village. Coach T® has spent nearly four decades being part of that village — showing up on Friday nights to watch his athletes compete, investing in the whole person rather than just the player, and creating environments where young people feel seen, heard, and valued long after the final whistle.
Beyond the gym, Coach T® is the author of The S.E.A. of Success®: The Ultimate Guide to Success for Preteens and Teens — a published work available on Amazon that distills his coaching philosophy into an accessible framework for young people navigating the challenges of adolescence. He is also the host of two active podcasts — Developing Tomorrow's Leaders and TeenSpeak – Empowering Today's Youth — through which he reaches audiences well beyond Salisbury with practical strategies and genuine encouragement.
