News, Analysis and Opinion from Bonesville's Denny O'Brien

Pirate Notebook Special
Saturday, August 23, 2003

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

John Thompson has spent much of his professional career in pursuit of one goal � to become a college head coach. After 20-plus years as an assistant at a Who's Who list of programs, the Arkansas native finally got his wish in December when East Carolina Chancellor Bill Muse tapped him to replace the Pirates' all-time winningest coach, Steve Logan.

Since migrating north from Gainesville to Greenville, Thompson has embraced all aspects of the job and quickly has won favor among the fans. His infectious enthusiasm left an indelible impression during the interview process, and that has carried over into his day-to-day activities.

Somewhere between spring practice, the Pirate Club banquet trail and summer camps, Thompson found time to sit down this summer with Bonesville.net staffer Denny O'Brien for an exclusive conversation about football, family, integrity, and faith. A small sampling of their in-depth exchange is captured below.

[ For the complete, never-before published, behind-the-scenes glimpse at the journey John Thompson has taken as a son, teacher, mentor, and coach, you'll want to ready Denny's upcoming story, "In His Father's Footsteps...", in the 2nd annual edition of Bonesville Magazine, which will hit the shelves at Trade Marts and U.B.E. any day now. ]

Q: Aside from the opportunity to be a head coach, what attracted you to East Carolina?

A: I always had great respect for East Carolina. The first game that I ever had as a defensive coordinator was right out there at Dowdy-Ficklen with Louisiana Tech in 1990. Then, all those years at Southern Miss, the one team that we had respect for every year was East Carolina. I've said this before, but we made a push in the mid-90s that for us to get over the top with what we wanted to do, we had to beat East Carolina. And when you come here and see the fans... I think it's absolutely the best place in the conference, and I've thought that for a long time.

A: The most enjoyable six months of my professional life. I have truly enjoyed every single day, and there are so many different things that have gone on. I mean, when we first jumped in here, it was recruiting and putting a staff together. Then we go to offseason and then to spring. Then it's back to recruiting and then to (end-of-year) meetings with players. All of that has really been a lot of fun.

Going to these Pirate Clubs... it has been a lot of travel, meeting a lot of people. There are so many things that are different. There's nothing that I've done that was similar to being an assistant coach. You almost have to be aware and have some knowledge of so many things. What I used to really be able to focus on, I have less knowledge of that now � how we were playing in a certain coverage or a certain front. You just have to rely on the people we have, and we've got great people.

Q: One of the first things you said when you were hired was that you would bring a big-time staff to Greenville. Talk about your strategy there.

A: There's no question that having the right staff is the difference in winning and losing. It doesn't get any more important than that. I've been building this staff for years and years and years. I didn't start building this staff on December 20 when I got the job.

The kind of people that I wanted to work with were teachers, recruiters, but more than anything else, they were guys that had integrity. Good, solid people that I would want my own sons to play for. I can honestly say that about every single guy. I wanted to know the staff � I wanted them to know me. I wanted to hire nine different guys � ten if you count operations. I didn't want to hire anybody who was like me.

All of that is like putting a puzzle together. This guy's coming, this guy's coming, and this guy's coming. Then, you just start making it fit. The guys I didn't know totally blew me away as men, as teachers, as recruiters, and just family men. I mean, Jerry McManus, Rick Stockstill, Lonnie Galloway... didn't know those guys, but they are just wonderful people.

We have assembled a big-time staff. When you look at them individually, these guys are really special people, special coaches with experience and then with the blend of the other (less-experienced) guys. I've worked with Matt Graves, and after being around him for a while I found out just how smart he was and that I wanted him on our staff. I knew all along that that was the secondary guy that I wanted. Steve Janski... that is a guy who has persevered a lot of things over the past seven or eight years at Arkansas. I knew he would be a great fit here. Those are two guys who never have been full-time coaches, but so what? There was a time when I wasn't a full-time coach. Everybody starts that way.

Q: Given that your background primarily has been in defense, just how important was that offensive coordinator hire?

A: I know everybody had their eye on that hire. We had to get the right guy. It had to be a guy that would fit with J.B (Grimes), with Jerry (McManus), with Lonnie (Galloway), and with Steve (Janski). I kept saying, 'I know the best guy is still out there.' We just worked through and got Rick out of this deal. I think anybody that knows his background or knows anything about him knows that we got the best guy.

It was very, very important. It was a day and night, every free minute task. If we weren't involved with recruiting or involved in something else, it was like, 'OK, what direction are we going and who can I talk to?' It was time-consuming.

Q: In Stockstill, you not only got a guy who coached offense in four different systems at Clemson, you got a guy who was its top recruiter. That had to be attractive.

A: No doubt. No doubt. All of our guys... recruiting is very important to them. We are going to have a big-time signing class next year. There's no doubt in my mind.

You go back to Rick and look at that experience he has in North Florida, everything fit perfectly. He has made his name already, but I think his career is getting ready to explode.

A: It all starts in everything you do... in coaching; in teaching; parenting; everything. I think it starts with integrity. You've got to do what you believe and know is right. Integrity means a completeness, not just piecing it together. You can't shortcut things. You can't cut corners because that's all short-term, and if that happens, it's going to come back to get you. Whether it's recruiting, whether it's how I deal with you or my children, how I deal with the players, or anybody, it all starts with integrity. Without that, you don't have any chance.

You've got to communicate. You've got to let people know what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. I think maybe sometimes I overdo it, but I think communication deals with respect in terms of what everybody's responsible for in this program. Just do your best. Try. Give 100 percent effort. That doesn't mean you're at the office 24 hours a day, but you're trying. Hey, I know I've made a million mistakes since I've been here. I know I have. But you give effort all of the time and you've got to be disciplined.

Q: You can't sit here and guarantee victories, but what can you guarantee fans who come to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this fall?

A: They should expect to see a team that plays hard; they should expect to see a team that cares about each other; they should expect to see a team that understands it is responsible for more than themselves � that doesn't play selfishly. They are accountable to the whole Pirate family. I want them to see our guys having a good time, and I want to see that team have a passion about playing and doing the very best that they can. They should expect to see us give our best every time in every thing that we do.

Q: You come into a program that has a solid foundation with a history of winning. What was your initial perception of what you inherited?

A: A lot of times when you come into a new job, the program is really down and they're used to losing. We're not used to losing here... we expect to win. We get better here, we make improvements, then we're going to be winning championships. That's our goal. That's an advantage already. It's not like, 'Hey, you've got to get better to get competitive.' We get better and we're going to be jumping up there and fighting for championships. That's an advantage.

From a talent assessment, when we first came in here, I spent the first few days looking at tape because I wanted to see what we needed to do in recruiting. Where we rank in this conference with our talent level, I'm really not sure yet. I think we'll be competitive. And I don't mean that in coachspeak at all. I think we will be competitive. Now, we as coaches need to develop it. Our players have to get better and we have to execute. If we do those things, and we live up to a standard of performance � that's a term we use around here, standard of performance � is high, then we'll win a lot of games. Where that talent level falls? We'll just have to come to games and see.

A: To be as good as we possibly can be. That doesn't mean that we don't have high aspirations. Our goal is to be in Memphis on December 31st. If we're not there, we did not reach our goal. That's where our football team wants to be; that's where we as a staff want to be. Can we get there? A lot of things will have to happen for us to get there.

Q: The past few years, this program has been close to winning conference titles, but just couldn't get over the hump. Is there something you can pinpoint as to why?

A: Well, I'm into dealing with the present and what we can do to get better. Now, you learn from things and I've gone back and I've looked at tape and I've seen some things. But there are so many factors that went into that that has nothing to do with this team. It's new people, it's new coaches. It's different.

I think it all goes back to what we did in our offseason � the investment that we put into our offseason. That can get you over the hump. We had a physical spring. That will help us. What we did this summer will be the difference. I'm excited. Sure, we've got deficiencies, but everybody does.

Q: The theme going into the past few seasons is that the defense has got to be better. That has to be the case again this year.

A: Absolutely. You just look at our numbers, we've got to get better. You're not going to win a whole lot of games with those kind of numbers. We've got to be better on offense, too. We can't turn the ball over.

Some things that we went into spring practice with, they were real simple and I think we accomplished them. We wanted to be a physical team on both sides of the ball. We wanted to put two backs in the backfield and have that power presence on our team where we can hammer the ball in there. That absolutely helps us on offense, but it may also help us on defense more. We want to be a team that can throw it down the field... be a vertical passing team. Well, you defend the vertical pass, also.

If you can do both � if you don't give up the big play and you don't turn the ball over, and you can be physical on both sides of the football � then you can have a chance in every single game. You can be balanced. You line up against a power running team, then you're ready for it on defense because you've seen that. You line up against a spread team, you've seen that. On offense, I want to get it to be where if everybody in the stadium expects us to throw the ball, we run it for a first down and vice versa.

Q: Have you thought about that moment when you first run through that tunnel with Jimi Hendrix blaring, the purple smoke, and a packed stadium?

A: A little bit. A little bit. But I can't really envision that moment as much as I think about Cincinnati. I think about the importance of that game and the importance of us being ready for that game. I haven't thought as much about the game itself with West Virginia and being out here as much as I've thought about: 'All right, when we get back here on Monday night, it's going to be 7 or 8:00 probably. What do we do between that time when we get back and when we kick off at 7:00 or whatever the time is on that Saturday?'

I've spent more time thinking about what we're going to do those five days than I have thinking about running through the tunnel. That's what we have some control over. But it will be fun to run out of that tunnel. I'll be excited. I mean, I'm also looking forward to opening up on ESPN. Standing on the sideline and running out there, that's just part of the thrill and the extra that goes with it. There's a whole lot of preparation that gets you to that moment. I think about what it's going to take to get ready for that moment.