Arkansas State hasn’t announced its new head football coach, but one candidate was eliminated from consideration Wednesday.
Interim coach and defensive coordinator John Thompson said his opportunity to become the full-time successor to Bryan Harsin ended Wednesday morning when ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir visited his office at the ASU Football Complex.
Mohajir told Thompson, who is in his second season at ASU, that he was no longer being considered for the opening because of ASU’s desire to hire a coach with a background on the offensive side of the ball. Thompson has been ASU’s defensive coordinator the past two years and has coached defense his entire career.
“He told me I didn’t have a chance because I’m a defensive guy,” Thompson said Wednesday. “I wish I would have known from the beginning, because obviously I’ve got to find a job. … It’s good to know where you stand, and the earlier the better.”
Mohajir named Thompson interim coach for the second time Dec. 11, the day Harsin officially took the head-coaching job at his alma mater Boise State. Mohajir said Thompson was a candidate for the full-time position later that day.
Thompson, 58, said he interviewed with Mohajir before an 11 a.m. news conference the day after and then interviewed with ASU System President Charles Welch and ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson, the two other members of the three-man search team, later that afternoon.
Thompson, who was hired by Gus Malzahn as ASU’s defensive coordinator in 2012, told his players of Mohajir’s decision after Wednesday’s practice at Liberty Bank Stadium. Thompson will stay on as interim coach through the team’s game against Ball State on Jan. 5 at the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
“This has been a fantastic two years for me, and our goal to finish the year with a bowl victory remains the same,” he said. “I am committed to these players, this coaching staff and our preparation to play Ball State.”
A few hours after Thompson told his team he wouldn’t be ASU’s head coach after Jan. 5, reports circulated that ASU had hired North Carolina offensive coordinator Blake Anderson as its next coach.
The website footballscoop.com reported that Anderson, who has spent the past two seasons leading the Tar Heels offense under Coach Larry Fedora, had agreed to be ASU’s next coach. Another website, coachingsearch.com, refuted the report.
Attempts to reach Mohajir on Wednesday night seeking comment on the reports about Anderson were not returned.
If hired, Anderson would be the fourth consecutive offensive coordinator ASU hired to replace its head coach, following Hugh Freeze (2011), Malzahn (2012) and Harsin (2013).
Thompson said Mohajir did not tell him during their meeting the status of his search.
“He said they didn’t have [a coach], but it could be any time,” Thompson said.
Despite losing out on what would have been his second head-coaching job - he was 3-20 at East Carolina in 2003-2004 - Thompson said he intends to continue a coaching career that began as a student assistant in 1977 at Conway High School.
Thompson, a Forrest City native who played at Central Arkansas, was hired last year by Malzahn to be ASU’s defensive coordinator after four seasons at Georgia State. He also was defensive coordinator under Houston Nutt at Arkansas in 2000-2001 and has coached at Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, South Carolina, LSU, Memphis, Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern (La.) State.
“It’s what I do,” Thompson said. “I’ve got to take care of my family, and I’m going to keep coaching this game.”
Thompson said he is open to staying at ASU for a third season, but it’s hard to plan for that without knowing who the new head coach will be.
“They don’t have a head coach,” Thompson said. “How would you know? … I’m committed to this bowl game, and I’m committed to our players, and I’m committed to my family.”
Sports, Pages 18 on 12/19/2013