Former Griz Thompson to coach at Northern Arizona
8/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Like Jimmy Buffett, the still popular singer/songwriter, Andy Thompson is the son of a son of someone he aspires to emulate.
Unlike Buffett, who left a lot to chance as he plied the waters of the Caribbian three decades ago - "Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends" - Thompson knows exactly where he wants to make landfall five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now.
"I think at age 40, being a major college head coach, that would be a pretty good feat," says Thompson, 25, who is on his way to Flagstaff, Ariz., where he has been hired as an assistant on the Northern Arizona University football coaching staff.
"I would like to be a Division I coach within six years or before," Thompson says, dead serious. "And I would like to be a coordinator in 10 years, or sooner. And eventually I would like to be a head coach."
Preferably in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, Washington State, either of the Oregon Pac-10 schools would suit him fine.
And don't count him out. Because coaching is in Thompson's blood the way the ocean is in Buffett's.
He's following in the footsteps of his father, Mark, a longtime Wa-Hi assistant coach who followed in the footsteps of his father, Roy.
The late Roy Thompson was the last coach to lead Whitman College to a Northwest Conference football championship in 1969. But he's best known for his high school coaching success in Oregon, first at Astoria, then at Roseburg and ultimatley at two high schools in Salem before he retired in 1990.
Mark Thompson graduated from Wa-Hi in 1969, accepted a football scholarship at the University of Oregon and then transferred to Whitman where he played for his father as an offensive lineman. His coaching credentials include a two-year stop as an assistant under Mouse Davis at Portland State, one year as the head coach at Cleveland High in Portland and a long and ongoing stint on the Wa- Hi staff where he got the chance to coach all three of his sons.
Mark Thompson moved his family to Walla Walla in 1981 and has stayed put. Planting roots in a small town was a priority, an attitude that set him apart from his father and apparently his middle son.
"My grandfather was willing to move at the drop of a hat," Andy Thompson said. "He would uplift the family and go get what he thought was a better job. He was willing to change jobs for different reasons. My dad wanted to make sure we had roots, to stay in the same place.
"With me right now, I'm willing to move anywhere. I have moved four times in the past year. I don't have a family right now. If a better offer calls, a certain situation and I have to move, that's no problem for me."
Mark Thompson has observed the similarities between his son and his father since Andy was in grade school.
"He has the passion," Mark said of Andy. "His personality is similar to his grandfather's. Like his grandfather, Andy loves the thrill of competition and is willing to take that risk.
"I didn't want to live out of a suitcase. But Andy will sleep on the floor. He is not attached, not married, doesn't have a family. He understands the sacrifices he will have to make."
Andy Thompson graduated from Wa-Hi in 1999 after quarterbacking the Blue Devils football team, playing a key role on Wa-Hi's state championship basketball team and dabbling in track and field in the spring just to stay in shape for football. He followed his older brother, Matt, a standout wide receiver, to The University of Montana and was a member of the Grizzlies' 2001 NCAA Division I-AA national championship team.
Andy was recruited as a quarterback but wound up playing safety and special teams as a true freshman. The following year he redshirted but was on the roster as the backup quarterback, then moved back to the defensive side of the football for his final three seasons.
His Montana experience taught him many things, he said, that have strengthened his coaching foundation.
"I played four different positions in five years," Thompson said. "I played under three head coaches and six position coaches in five years. I got to learn the entire game from three different coaching staffs, which has really helped me starting off as a coach.
"I took a little bit from each coach I had. I have seen ways of doing things well, and ways I might do things differently."
And Montana's winning tradition is something Thompson can take with him as well.
"It was a very good place to go to school," Andy said. "It is well supported by the community and by the state. We lost just eight games in five years, and winning the national championship was a once in a lifetime opportunity."
His coaching background includes working at summer camps since he was in high school, but he got his first college coaching job last fall at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. Thompson was in charge of the Mountaineers' linebackers and also handled the punt and kickoff teams.
"I got a lot of experience that first year," he said. "I didn't get as much involved in recruiting as I wanted to, but I did help them sign a couple of kids."
At Northern Arizona, Thompson will be back on the other side of the ball as the Lumberjacks' running backs coach.
"It's a good feeling to know where you are going to be," he said. "I'm excited about it. I'll be breaking down the offensive side, the opponent's defense, and I'll be involved in all of the on-campus recruiting."
He will also be back in school, working on a master's degree in administration.
"I will be a very busy guy," he said.
One game this season that Thompson is pointing to will be on Oct. 8 when NAU entertains Eastern Washington University in a Big Sky Conference counter. Andy's younger brother, David, is a junior defensive back for the Eagles.
"That will be fun," Andy said, "coaching against my brother."
Last year at Eastern Oregon, Andy got the chance to coach against one of his best friends, Joe Levens, who is an assistant coach in charge of wide receivers at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont. The Mounties won that game 48-0.
"Joe and I are best friends, and we've pictured ourselves doing this since we were four or five years old," Thompson said.
Joe Levens, an all-state wide receiver out of DeSales who played collegiately at Eastern Washington, is the son of Mike Levens, the former head football coach at Walla Walla Community College. Mike Levens and Mark Thompson were teammates at Whitman College and remain close friends.
Another of Andy's close friends, Brian Lindgren, has also joined the coaching fraternity at Redlands College in Redlands, Calif. Lindgren, an all-state quarterback at DeSales who went on to play at the University of Idaho, coaches QBs at Redlands.
"Some day I'd love to have us all get together on the same staff," Thompson said. "The first person who gets hired as head coach brings everybody else back."
And like a good son - or the son of a son - Thompson has one other idea.
"We would," he said with a grin, "hire our dads as consultants."
Unlike Buffett, who left a lot to chance as he plied the waters of the Caribbian three decades ago - "Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends" - Thompson knows exactly where he wants to make landfall five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now.
"I think at age 40, being a major college head coach, that would be a pretty good feat," says Thompson, 25, who is on his way to Flagstaff, Ariz., where he has been hired as an assistant on the Northern Arizona University football coaching staff.
"I would like to be a Division I coach within six years or before," Thompson says, dead serious. "And I would like to be a coordinator in 10 years, or sooner. And eventually I would like to be a head coach."
Preferably in the Pacific Northwest. Washington, Washington State, either of the Oregon Pac-10 schools would suit him fine.
And don't count him out. Because coaching is in Thompson's blood the way the ocean is in Buffett's.
He's following in the footsteps of his father, Mark, a longtime Wa-Hi assistant coach who followed in the footsteps of his father, Roy.
The late Roy Thompson was the last coach to lead Whitman College to a Northwest Conference football championship in 1969. But he's best known for his high school coaching success in Oregon, first at Astoria, then at Roseburg and ultimatley at two high schools in Salem before he retired in 1990.
Mark Thompson graduated from Wa-Hi in 1969, accepted a football scholarship at the University of Oregon and then transferred to Whitman where he played for his father as an offensive lineman. His coaching credentials include a two-year stop as an assistant under Mouse Davis at Portland State, one year as the head coach at Cleveland High in Portland and a long and ongoing stint on the Wa- Hi staff where he got the chance to coach all three of his sons.
Mark Thompson moved his family to Walla Walla in 1981 and has stayed put. Planting roots in a small town was a priority, an attitude that set him apart from his father and apparently his middle son.
"My grandfather was willing to move at the drop of a hat," Andy Thompson said. "He would uplift the family and go get what he thought was a better job. He was willing to change jobs for different reasons. My dad wanted to make sure we had roots, to stay in the same place.
"With me right now, I'm willing to move anywhere. I have moved four times in the past year. I don't have a family right now. If a better offer calls, a certain situation and I have to move, that's no problem for me."
Mark Thompson has observed the similarities between his son and his father since Andy was in grade school.
"He has the passion," Mark said of Andy. "His personality is similar to his grandfather's. Like his grandfather, Andy loves the thrill of competition and is willing to take that risk.
"I didn't want to live out of a suitcase. But Andy will sleep on the floor. He is not attached, not married, doesn't have a family. He understands the sacrifices he will have to make."
Andy Thompson graduated from Wa-Hi in 1999 after quarterbacking the Blue Devils football team, playing a key role on Wa-Hi's state championship basketball team and dabbling in track and field in the spring just to stay in shape for football. He followed his older brother, Matt, a standout wide receiver, to The University of Montana and was a member of the Grizzlies' 2001 NCAA Division I-AA national championship team.
Andy was recruited as a quarterback but wound up playing safety and special teams as a true freshman. The following year he redshirted but was on the roster as the backup quarterback, then moved back to the defensive side of the football for his final three seasons.
His Montana experience taught him many things, he said, that have strengthened his coaching foundation.
"I played four different positions in five years," Thompson said. "I played under three head coaches and six position coaches in five years. I got to learn the entire game from three different coaching staffs, which has really helped me starting off as a coach.
"I took a little bit from each coach I had. I have seen ways of doing things well, and ways I might do things differently."
And Montana's winning tradition is something Thompson can take with him as well.
"It was a very good place to go to school," Andy said. "It is well supported by the community and by the state. We lost just eight games in five years, and winning the national championship was a once in a lifetime opportunity."
His coaching background includes working at summer camps since he was in high school, but he got his first college coaching job last fall at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. Thompson was in charge of the Mountaineers' linebackers and also handled the punt and kickoff teams.
"I got a lot of experience that first year," he said. "I didn't get as much involved in recruiting as I wanted to, but I did help them sign a couple of kids."
At Northern Arizona, Thompson will be back on the other side of the ball as the Lumberjacks' running backs coach.
"It's a good feeling to know where you are going to be," he said. "I'm excited about it. I'll be breaking down the offensive side, the opponent's defense, and I'll be involved in all of the on-campus recruiting."
He will also be back in school, working on a master's degree in administration.
"I will be a very busy guy," he said.
One game this season that Thompson is pointing to will be on Oct. 8 when NAU entertains Eastern Washington University in a Big Sky Conference counter. Andy's younger brother, David, is a junior defensive back for the Eagles.
"That will be fun," Andy said, "coaching against my brother."
Last year at Eastern Oregon, Andy got the chance to coach against one of his best friends, Joe Levens, who is an assistant coach in charge of wide receivers at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont. The Mounties won that game 48-0.
"Joe and I are best friends, and we've pictured ourselves doing this since we were four or five years old," Thompson said.
Joe Levens, an all-state wide receiver out of DeSales who played collegiately at Eastern Washington, is the son of Mike Levens, the former head football coach at Walla Walla Community College. Mike Levens and Mark Thompson were teammates at Whitman College and remain close friends.
Another of Andy's close friends, Brian Lindgren, has also joined the coaching fraternity at Redlands College in Redlands, Calif. Lindgren, an all-state quarterback at DeSales who went on to play at the University of Idaho, coaches QBs at Redlands.
"Some day I'd love to have us all get together on the same staff," Thompson said. "The first person who gets hired as head coach brings everybody else back."
And like a good son - or the son of a son - Thompson has one other idea.
"We would," he said with a grin, "hire our dads as consultants."
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