TCU football’s new defensive coordinator was longtime North Texas high school coach
Joseph Gillespie is coming back to Texas.
Gillespie, Tulsa’s defensive coordinator the past three seasons, has agreed to become the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at TCU, joining Sonny Dykes’ staff, sources confirmed on Tuesday. Gillespie is expected to bring Tulsa defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Carlton Buckels with him to TCU, a source told the Star-Telegram. Buckels has experience coaching in the Big 12, working at Baylor from 2011-16.
Gillespie joined Tulsa as its linebackers coach in 2015. Before coaching in college, Gillespie served as Stephenville High School’s head coach from 2008-14, winning the Class 3A state championship in 2012.
As the Star-Telegram has reported, Gillespie has been among the favorites for the position since Dykes took over the program. TCU liked the idea of Gillespie bringing his 3-3-5 defense to Fort Worth, a scheme that Iowa State has run and had success with in recent years.
Among the notable players developed under Gillespie’s watch at Tulsa was linebacker Zaven Collins, who was a first-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2021 NFL Draft. The last time Tulsa produced a first-round pick was 1977. Collins earned consensus All-America honors and won the 2020 Chuck Bednarik, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Lombardi Award.
Gillespie, 50, played at Angelo State from 1990-93. He spent 13 seasons as an assistant at Stephenville under Art Briles, Mike Copeland and Chad Morris before becoming its head coach.
Gillespie joins a TCU program that had one of its worst defensive seasons in program history in 2021. The Frogs ranked ninth in the 10-team Big 12 in total defense, allowing 461.8 yards per game.
TCU allowed 222 yards rushing per game and 5.8 yards per carry. The 222 yards rushing allowed per game ranked 122nd of 130 teams in college football. The last time TCU allowed more than 222 yards rushing per game in a season was in 1986 (229 yards rushing allowed per game) when the team went 3-8 under Jim Wacker.
The 2021 season was an outlier during the Gary Patterson era. Patterson, TCU’s all-time winningest coach who parted ways with the school on Oct. 31, is regarded as one of the top defensive minds of this generation. That isn’t going to change after one forgettable season.
TCU had the nation’s top-ranked defense five times under Patterson (2000, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010). The Frogs ranked in the top three in total defense among Big 12 teams in five of their 10 seasons in the league under Patterson and his signature 4-2-5 defense.
Patterson adapted to a three-man front at times in recent years, but the biggest issue he faced this season was a depleted safety corps. Bud Clark and Deshawn McCuin were two notable safeties that missed significant time. Depth became such an issue at safety that TCU had to move cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson to safety at one point.
But TCU and Patterson have moved on. Gillespie takes over for Patterson, who called plays for TCU’s defense the last 24 seasons (three seasons as defensive coordinator 1998-2000 and 21 seasons as head coach 2001-21). After Patterson’s midseason departure, defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow called the defense from the box upstairs with safeties coach Paul Gonzales signaling on the field.
With Gillespie’s hiring, Dykes now has both coordinator positions filled. Garrett Riley is following Dykes from SMU to serve as his offensive coordinator.
Along with Gillespie and Riley, other on-field assistant positions filled to date include A.J. Ricker (offensive line), Ra’Shaad Samples (running backs), Malcolm Kelly (wide receivers), Gonzales (defensive backs), Chidera Uzo-Diribe (defensive line) and Mark Tommerdahl (special teams). Buckels is also expected to join the staff. Kelly and Gonzales are the only holdovers from Patterson’s staff so far.
There is one on-field assistant position left to fill. Former TCU offensive coordinator Doug Meacham remains in the mix for a possible assistant position, or analyst role, under Dykes.
Other hires under Dykes to date include strength and conditioning coach Kaz Kazadi and recruiting coordinator Bryan Carrington.
TCU would like to have its entire staff in place when the early signing period starts Dec. 15.
The Frogs will begin offseason workouts in January with spring practices starting in early March. TCU is scheduled to open the 2022 season at Colorado on Sept. 3.
This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 11:33 AM.
