Spaulding Roundup: Coaching Notes

Some news and notes on the coaching front to pass on to close out this Friday. If anyone was wondering about the working relationship between CRN and DW Dohn served up this answer on his blog:

How was the relationship between coach RN and DW???
It was very good. Neuheisel let Walker do his thing, and Walker had autonomy over the defense. I don't think the relationship was a reason Walker left. He wanted to run his own program and believed he was ready to do so.

 s we have said many times already good luck to Walker. Meanwhile, Football Scoop injects a new name into the DC search for UCLA:

UCLA: Sources tell FootballScoop that UCLA head coach Rich Neuheisal is interested in talking with veteran defensive coordinator John Thompson and Montana head coach Bobby Hauck regarding the Bruin’s defensive coordinator job. 

Who is Rich? lol

Anyway, we already knew about Bobby Hauck. Thompson’s name is intriguing. He is currently the DC for Steve Spurrier at USC. Here are few excerpts from his bio:

John Thompson, whose 24-year college coaching tenure includes 19 seasons as a defensive coordinator, serves as co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach for Coach Steve Spurrier's staff at the University of South Carolina. Thompson is recognized as a top defensive mind and has experience at four Southeastern Conference schools - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas and LSU. Thompson came to USC following a two-year stint as head coach at East Carolina University. While he was with the Pirates, he coached a total of three first-team All-Conference USA players and had seven players chosen to the Freshman All-Conference team.

As a defensive coordinator, Thompson's units have led their respective conferences in total defense three different times. Twenty-eight of his defensive players have been drafted or signed with National Football League teams, 40 have earned all-conference honors, five have been named All-America, and one- former Northwestern State linebacker Gary Reasons - has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

"John Thompson is an experienced defensive coordinator who I probably should have hired three weeks ago," said Gamecock head coach Steve Spurrier. "The best guy is usually the one that wants to come the most and John really wants to be at South Carolina. He is an enthusiastic, upbeat individual. His defenses like to come after people. We will blitz and we will blitz intelligently. He will be in control of the defense and will coach the linebackers."

Thompson has served as the defensive coordinator at Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. A native of Forrest City, Ark., Thompson began his coaching career in the high school ranks in 1977 while pursuing his bachelor's degree at the University of Central Arkansas. He graduated from there in 1978 and continued to coach high school football until moving on to the college ranks at the University of Arkansas as a graduate assistant for head coach Lou Holtz in 1982.

Honestly, I think he will be a tough get given his extensive experience primarily in the SEC. If he were to become a serious candidate, it would be come intriguing because I like the idea of combining a SEC type of defense with Chow’s offense.

Lastly, Kenny is apparently still thinking about the UCLA job. When Jill Painter put him on the spot after last night’s game whether he would entertain a call from CRN, he was "non-commital":

After the game, Ken Norton was asked what he would do if Rick Neuheisel called him to talk about the UCLA defensive coordinator opening.
``The season's not over,'' Norton said.
The clock at the Rose Bowl read 00:00, so yes, it was over.

Sucks to be Kenny:

It Sucks To Be Kenny (via Killbait06Films)

See you during the hoops thread.

GO BRUINS.