Tom Dickman enters his seventh season at the helm of the Blazer men's basketball program.

Last season, Hood finished with an overall mark of 9-16 and finished seventh in the Capital Athletic Conference at 6-10.

In 2007-08, the Blazers posted a record of 15-11 and finished in third place in the CAC with a mark of 9-7.

In 2006-07, Dickman coached the Blazers to their most successful season in the program's five-year history. The Blazers went 21-8 overall and won the regular season Capital Athletic Conference title with a stellar conference record of 12-4. Hood capped off its spectacular season earning one of 18 at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where the Blazers fell to Hampden-Sydney, 68-65.

After leading Hood to its first ever NCAA Tournament berth, Dickman was honored as the CAC Coach of the Year, D3Hoops.com's Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year and the Bob Flynn Memorial Pride of Maryland Coach of the Year.

Under Dickman's guidance that season, junior center Jesse Gutekunst was honored as the PrestoSports/Pride of Maryland Player of the Year and was a first-team all-region selection. Additionally, sophomore guard Ryan Junghans earned second team all-region status and joined Gutekunst on the all-state first team.

In Hood's inaugural 2003-04 season, Dickman helped the Blazers achieve a 13-11 mark and followed that with a 12-13 record in 2004-05. That same year, Hood captured its first-ever in-season tournament championship when the Blazers downed eventual ECAC Metro Region champion New Jersey City in the title game of the Moravian College Greyhound Starters Classic.

Dickman, who also serves as the associate director of athletics at Hood and has been the head coach of the men's and women's golf teams since June 2005, played basketball at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, W.Va., from 1968-1972 under legendary coach Bob Starkey. Dickman was Starkey's first-ever recruit and was honored as a Shepherd "Outstanding Alumnus" in 1987.

After graduating from Shepherd, Dickman spent one season as an assistant coach for the Rams before taking over as the boy's basketball coach at Gov. Thomas Johnson in 1973.

In his 29 years at Thomas Johnson, Dickman led the Patriots to remarkable success, winning seven state championships and 18 league championships and also taking four teams to the state runner-up spot and three more to the state semi-finals. He collected a total of 592 victories - a former Maryland state record for most wins by a public school coach. Additionally, Dickman's players were recruited to dozens of collegiate basketball programs, including the University of Maryland, Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Among Dickman's basketball progeny is Terrence Morris, a 1997 Gov. Thomas Johnson graduate who gained fame at the University of Maryland before moving on to the NBA, where he played for the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic.

Dickman's accomplishments include coaching more teams to state championships (7) than any other coach in Maryland history; coaching the U.S. All-Star team in the McDonald's Capital Classic in 1999; being inducted into the Frederick County Hall of Fame; and being named to the Maryland governor's advisory committee on physical fitness in 1999.

Dickman, who was also Thomas Johnson's athletic director, has also served as the president of the Maryland State Basketball Coaches Association.

Dickman is a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, W.Va. He earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Shepherd College and a master's degree in education from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College).

He and his wife, Kay, have three children, Chad, Adam and Erin. Chad and Adam played for their father at Gov. Thomas Johnson and went on to play collegiately at Saint Vincent College and Catholic University, respectively. Chad is now an assistant men's basketball coach at NCAA Division II Wheeling Jesuit University, while Adam joined Hood's coaching staff in 2007 and also works in the admissions office at Hood. Erin graduated from Gov. Thomas Johnson in 2004 where she played volleyball and basketball and in May 2009 earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond.