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John Thompson

John Thompson went 5–⁠20 as a head coach, 2003–⁠2013, at East Carolina and Arkansas State.

Record
5–⁠20 career
Seasons
4
Schools
2
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Best season
2012 10–⁠3

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1640 in 2012
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2003East Carolina1–⁠1110th
2004East Carolina2–⁠9T–10th
2005–⁠11: not a college head coach
2012Arkansas State interim, bowl game1–⁠0GoDaddy.com Bowl W
2013Arkansas State interim, bowl game1–⁠0GoDaddy Bowl W

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams31–⁠2
Against top-10 teams10–⁠1
Against rivals10–⁠1
Conference games163–⁠13
Bowls and playoffs22–⁠0
Decided by 8 points or fewer74–⁠3
At home112–⁠9
On the road111–⁠10
At neutral sites32–⁠1
As our Elo’s favorite43–⁠1
As our Elo’s underdog212–⁠19

His own 25 games on file, 2003–⁠2013, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Armyseries22–⁠0
Tulaneseries21–⁠1
South Floridaseries20–⁠2
Louisvilleseries20–⁠2
Wake Forestseries20–⁠2
Memphisseries20–⁠2
Houstonseries20–⁠2
West Virginiaseries20–⁠2

Career

YearsTeamJob
1982ArkansasGraduate assistant
1983–⁠86Northwestern StateDefensive coordinator
1987AlabamaLinebackers coach
1988–⁠89Northwestern StateDefensive coordinator
1990–⁠91Louisiana TechDefensive coordinator
1992Southern MissDefensive coordinator
1993–⁠98Southern MissAssistant head coach and defensive coordinator
1999MemphisDefensive coordinator
2000ArkansasCo-defensive coordinator
2001ArkansasDefensive coordinator
2002FloridaDefensive coordinator and middle linebackers coach
2003–⁠04East CarolinaHead coach
2005South CarolinaCo-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
2007Ole MissDefensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
2008–⁠11Georgia StateAssistant head coach, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
2012–⁠13Arkansas StateDefensive coordinator and linebackers coach
2012Arkansas StateInterim head coach
2013Arkansas StateInterim head coach
2014–⁠15Texas StateDefensive coordinator
2017–⁠18Blessed Trinity HS (GA) high schoolDefensive coordinator and linebackers coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

John Thompson

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (12)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Lou HoltzArkansas1982Graduate assistant
Bill CurryAlabama1987Linebackers coach
Joe PeaceLouisiana Tech1990–⁠91Defensive coordinator
Jeff BowerSouthern Miss1992–⁠981992: defensive coordinator; 1993–⁠98: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator
Rip SchererMemphis1999Defensive coordinator
Houston NuttArkansas2000–⁠012000: co-defensive coordinator; 2001: defensive coordinator
Ron ZookFlorida2002Defensive coordinator and middle linebackers coach
Steve SpurrierSouth Carolina2005Co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
Ed OrgeronOle Miss2007Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Bill CurryGeorgia State2010–⁠11Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
Gus MalzahnArkansas State2012Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Bryan HarsinArkansas State2013Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Dennis FranchioneTexas State2014–⁠15Defensive coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (9)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Jerry OdomEast Carolina, 2003–⁠04: defensive coordinator and special teams coachTusculum
Rick StockstillEast Carolina, 2003: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachMiddle Tennessee
Robert McFarlandEast Carolina, 2004: offensive line coachStephen F. Austin
Brandon HallArkansas State, 2012: safeties coachTroy
Casey WoodsArkansas State, 2012: wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinatorMissouri State
Eli DrinkwitzArkansas State, 2012: running backs coach; 2013: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coachApp State, Missouri
Keith PattersonArkansas State, 2012: defensive coordinatorPittsburgh, Abilene Christian
Rhett LashleeArkansas State, 2012: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachSMU
Lee MarksArkansas State, 2013: assistant strength and conditioning coachFresno State
Other assistants under him (10)
CoachWith him
Art KaufmanEast Carolina, 2003–⁠04: defensive line coach
Noah BrindiseEast Carolina, 2004: offensive coordinator
Jon BradleyArkansas State, 2012: graduate assistant
Kodi BurnsArkansas State, 2012: graduate assistant
Scott SymonsArkansas State, 2012: defensive quality control coach
Anthony TuckerArkansas State, 2013: wide receivers coach
Blake BakerArkansas State, 2013: safeties coach
Bush HamdanArkansas State, 2013: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Colin HitschlerArkansas State, 2013: graduate assistant
Eliah DrinkwitzArkansas State, 2013: co-offensive coordinator

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2015Texas Statedefensive coordinator$132,000 USA Today
2014Texas Statedefensive coordinator$118,800 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Thompson’s teams went for it on 13% of fourth downs and on 13% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 20.9 seconds a play, in 2004.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2004 4 g5 of 40 13%13%55%20.9−0.17

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.