12.7.10 Update - Spoke to a contact of mine in Jonesboro, Arkansas and he confirmed that there has been lengthy communication with Coach Thompson about joining Arkansas State. My source was led to believe it's a matter of budget and ability to pay him a salary that is acceptable and competitive. No confirmation from there side or ours but my contact communicated with several boosters who say there has been communication between both parties and there have been appeals made to raise enough money through donations to bring Thompson in.
The rumbling from The Den at ArkSt.com, an unofficial message board of Arkansas State football is discussing the possibility of our Defensive Coordinator and Asst. HC for scheduling and strategic planning as being named the new DC under new coach Hugh Freeze.
Freeze knows Thompson very well and they served together at Ole Miss and this would be a very good hire for Arkansas State. I have the utmost confidence that CBC would hire a more than capable replacement if JT does accept this position.
This is not a shock to anyone that has followed our program as Thompson was actually a finalist candidate for the LSU DC job last season. This is the blessing and the curse of a brand new program, if you experience success, your coaching staff gets poached by much larger programs.
This would be a huge loss as a new DC could mean a new system. But these are things we will have to get used to, especially until we reach that top tier level where we can keep Coordinators for 3 to 5 years.
ReplyDeleteWhile a loss, not as big as you may think. JT is not as involved in recruiting as Pugh, Riddle and Midget are for the defensive side of the ball. We are likely to take 3-4 on that side of the ball and I agree that this is par for the course when a program experiences success.
ReplyDeleteHow many programs are coming for UGA and GT assisant coaches? Just sayin'...
Is also a function of how ridiculous our staff is for a first year FCS team. I do not think most people realize what kind of backgrounds our individual staff members have.
ReplyDelete