TCU loses another assistant. O-line coach Chris Thomsen headed to Florida State
TCU football saw two coaches depart its program on Wednesday.
Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Curtis Luper is heading to Missouri to take a similar role, and offensive line coach Chris Thomsen will join Florida State’s staff, sources confirmed.
Thomsen is expected to be formally announced on Thursday. His title will be “deputy head coach” with his specific role on offense to be determined later.
Losing Thomsen is a significant blow to TCU’s staff. He’s developed NFL-caliber O-linemen in his time and landed a number of high-profile recruits, including in this year’s 2020 class.
Athens offensive tackle Garrett Hayes signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday morning, becoming the highest-rated offensive lineman in TCU history.
Thomsen joined TCU in February 2017 as the offensive line coach after spending four seasons at Arizona State. His previous stops included being head coach at Abilene Christian from 2005-11, as well as offensive line coach at Texas Tech in 2012.
At Florida State, Thomsen will be reunited with Mike Norvell. Thomsen and Norvell have a long history together.
Thomsen was on Central Arkansas’ staff when Norvell was a player there, and were then assistants on Todd Graham’s staff at Arizona State from 2013-15.
For TCU, coach Gary Patterson has significant voids to fill on his staff with Luper and Thomsen parting ways. They were behind one of the few offensive bright spots this season, as TCU ranked third in the Big 12 with 204 yards per game on the ground.
Patterson could look internally to fill Thomsen’s role. Inside wide receivers coach Jarrett Anderson is someone on the staff who has experience coaching the offensive line, doing so from 2014-16.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 10:46 PM.
