Rob Thomson, a catcher in the early ’80s for Kansas University and a member of the New York Yankees’ organization for 19 years now, recently was promoted to serve as new manager Joe Girardi’s bench coach.

It’s a huge career break for Thomson, who has served in a variety of instructional and administrative roles for the Yankees.

What’s a bench coach?

Here’s how Don Zimmer, Joe Torre’s bench coach during the run of four World Series titles in five years, described it: “It’s just like it sounds. A bench coach is the bench (pause) coach.”

There you have it.

Before hearing Thomson’s take on his new role, take a trip with Zimmer back to his days as manager of the Chicago Cubs. It was 1990, and Mitch Williams had gotten into and out of a ninth-inning, bases-loaded jam for the second consecutive Opening Day.

Afterward, Zimmer looked puzzled when a television reporter twice asked him if it was a case of deja vu.

Once the TV reporter left his office, an exasperated Zimmer turned to the lone remaining reporter and said, “What’s that guy talking about, ronja vu? I don’t know nothing about no ronja vu.”

Zimmer knows plenty about baseball. His instincts made him a successful manager and the most famous bench coach in the years since bench coaches became part of baseball, roughly 15 years ago or so.

Thomson’s instincts are highly regarded, as are his organizational skills and ability to merge an old-school approach with modern technology, which supplies so much data it can be overwhelming.

So what does a bench coach, who sits next to the manager, do?

“The manager, especially in New York, has a lot of other things he has to do besides being a manager,” Thomson said. “My job is to get the tendencies of the opposition, whatever situation comes up. How are we going to attack them? … There is some data involved, some video you have to watch, some information from the professional scouting department, and you combine the whole thing and come up with a plan.”

Asked for an example of statistical minutia available, Thomson said, “We get a breakdown of what pitchers throw, what percentage of what pitch they throw on what count and what percentage of strikes they throw on that count with that pitch. … We’ll pass it on to certain players who can handle that. Some don’t even want to know.”

At KU and as a minor-league player in the Detroit Tigers’ organization, Thomson always wanted to know, always sought the edge. That endless quest makes him a prospect to manage in the majors.

“I focus on the job that is at hand right now,” Thomson said. “I think there are a lot of guys thinking about that next job instead of thinking about now. They never end up getting that next job.”

While at Kansas, Thomson concentrated on the game at hand, when conditions allowed.

“We didn’t win as much as I thought we should have,” Thomson said of his three KU seasons. “We’d run into some snow and rain issues. We got off to a good start my junior year, got snowed out for two weeks, and that ended our momentum.”

Thomson’s career momentum never has been stronger.