Chase Thrasher - Rodeo Coach

Chase Thrasher

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
cthrash3@utm.edu
Phone:
731-881-7426

Chase Thrasher, who produced a remarkable career as a University of Tennessee at Martin rodeo student-athlete, is in his fourth season as the Skyhawk head coach in 2025-26. The fifth head coach in program history, Thrasher was named head-coach-in-waiting on April 26, 2022 before officially taking over on July 1 that year following the retirement of longtime head coach John Luthi.

Last season, the UT Martin produced a pair of representatives to the College National Finals Rodeo in Caden Ussery and Anna Wilder. The Skyhawk women's team collected a pair of victories (at Southern Arkansas on Oct. 10-12 and at East Mississippi on March 13-14) while placing in the top-four in seven Ozark Region rodeos. On the men's side, the UT Martin cowboys claimed a win at Arkansas Tech (March 6-8) and finished in the top-four in half of its 10 rodeos.

In 2023-24, Thrasher oversaw six top-three finishes by the Skyhawk women's team, including first-place efforts at Murray State (Nov. 16-18) and at Arkansas-Monticello (April 18-20). UT Martin sent three participants to the CNFR in Leah Pitts, Madde Shelton and Clint Southworth. The 56th Annual UT Martin Spring College Rodeo also won Ozark Region Rodeo of the Year accolades.

In Thrasher's debut season as Skyhawk head coach, the men's squad won a pair of rodeos while the women's team earned one victory. Both the men's and women's team won the 55th Annual UT Martin Spring College Rodeo as the Skyhawks also boasted three event winners and an arena record in steer wrestling by Jesse Keysaer to wrap up the successful weekend in April.

The UT Martin men's team qualified for its 48th appearance in the College National Finals Rodeo in the last 49 years behind 5,630 points in 2022-23 - which ranked the squad seventh nationally headed into the weeklong event.

Overall, the Skyhawk men's team placed in the top-two in six of their 10 regular season rodeos while the women's squad earned top-two finishes in five rodeos during the 2022-23 regular season under Thrasher.

Thrasher spent the 2021-22 season as a UT Martin assistant coach, helping the Skyhawk men's and women's teams combine for one victory and six runner-up finishes in 10 Ozark Region rodeos. The men's team qualified for the CNFR before placing 10th in the national standings - the ninth top-10 finish for the men's team since 2005.

History was also made at the 2022 CNFR as Cole Walker outlasted the field to bring home men's all-around national championship honors. The Sparta, Tenn. native - who competed alongside Thrasher in team roping at the 2021 CNFR - became UT Martin's first national champion since 2010 and the ninth overall cowboy to win individual national champion accolades.

As a student-athlete from 2017-21, Thrasher was a four-time CNFR qualifier. He represented the Skyhawks at the annual event in Casper, Wyo. on three different occasions, concluding his freshman season ranked fourth nationally in tie down roping after winning the short round finals.

Thrasher also advanced to the finals in tie down roping in 2019, placing 11^th in the event. He ranked second in the Ozark Region (seventh nationally) in tie down roping in 2020, punching his ticket to the national championship event before it was cancelled. He completed his collegiate career at the 73^rd annual CNFR in 2021, competing in both tie down roping and team roping events.

In addition to his National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association success, Thrasher is a four-time International Professional Rodeo Association Finals qualifier and a four-time Lonestar Rodeo Association qualifier – winning the year-end calf roping championship three times on that circuit.

A Columbia, Tenn. native, Thrasher graduated from UT Martin with a degree in farm and ranch management in 2021. He is married to the former Mollie Stroup of Cape Girardeau, Mo., who is also a UT Martin rodeo alum and currently serves as the program's administrative assistant.