John Thompson misses the little moments from his time as Georgia State’s defensive coordinator.
He misses watching Travis Evans do somersaults from a muddy field into a brier patch at the team’s first practice field.
He misses Atlanta and going to Braves games.
He misses the special guests that would to sit down and talk, such as Andrew Young.
Mostly, he misses coach Bill Curry and the players, many of whom he will see Saturday when the Panthers (0-10, 0-5 Sun Belt) take on Arkansas State (6-4, 4-1). Now the Red Wolves’ defensive coordinator, this will be the first time he has faced the Panthers since resigning in February 2012 so that he could return home to Arkansas.
“It’s a great, great city. I miss Georgia State,” he said.
But he doesn’t miss the losing, particularly the experience of his second and final season, when the Panthers went 3-8.
Thompson said they knew in the second season, playing what the coaches thought would be a more difficult schedule would make it hard to match the 6-5 record in the first season. But he said he didn’t expect the results they experienced. The Panthers gave up an average of 31.2 points and 403.3 yards per game. Of course, those are high-water marks compared with what the team has experienced since. But at the time those averages weren’t good, and Thompson still doesn’t seem happy.
“We didn’t play well,” he said. “It wasn’t fun. I certainly expected a lot more. We just didn’t do a good job.”
Thompson took responsibility for the poor play. He said the only thing he would have done differently was to coach better. He agreed that some personnel decisions made things more challenging than they were in the first season. Thompson wouldn’t name any specific decisions, but the team’s starting quarterback, Drew Little, quit during the season and there were other disciplinary actions that the coaches were forced to make with suspensions, etc.
He said he doesn’t think the program’s move from FCS to FBS, which occurred after he left, came too soon. He said had the decision been made sooner the coaches would have had a chance to sign more highly coveted players, a few of whom wanted to come to Georgia State but didn’t want to play on a lower level.
But that’s not what Thompson wanted to focus on. Instead, he wanted to know how some of the players he used to coach were doing.
Some of those players, such as seniors Kail Singleton and Demarius Matthews, said they look forward to shaking their former coordinator’s hand. They said they miss him as a coach and person.
They wanted to know if he still wore the “crazy shoes” that forced him to walk on his toes to alleviate the pressure on his bad back. He doesn’t, but said he might dig into his closet and break them out for Saturday’s game.
“They still don’t know cool, do they,” he joked.
Thompson told stories about the early days in the program, when the coaches had to put notebooks on their laps because they didn’t have desks.
After winning the first game against Shorter, Thompson said he’ll never forget Curry lying in the fetal position on the Georgia Dome turf after the players hit him in the head with the water cooler, briefly knocking him out cold.
“They didn’t know how to do the Gatorade bath,” he said. “He came to pretty soon. It was a blessing to be around coach Curry for four years.”
Thompson is just as anxious to say hello to Singleton, Matthews and the other seniors. None of the coaches who were on Curry’s staff, save one, were retained by Trent Miles.
Thompson said the Panthers’ 0-10 record this season and 1-20 over the past two doesn’t reflect what he sees when he watches film. He said trying to slow Albert Wilson is “scary.” He said freshman wide receiver Robert Davis reminds him of former Panther Sidney Haynes.
“I wish the best for them,” he said. “I hurt for them, to see all the losses that have come through the last two years. They’ve hung in there and are good guys. I wish them the best … except for Saturday.”
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