Two weeks after Bill Young hung up his coaching whistle following a half-century career in the profession, Tulsa has officially named his replacement.
In a press release, Tulsa announced that Joseph Gillespie has been promoted to the position of defensive coordinator. The 47-year-old Gillespie has spent the past four seasons as the Golden Hurricane’s linebackers coach.
There’s no official word on whether Gillespie will continue on as a position coach as well or concentrate solely on his new coordinating duties.
“I’m excited to have Joe move into the role as defensive coordinator. More than anything, Joe was a key part in our transition over to the 3-3-5 look last season, just as was our entire defensive staff,” said Golden Hurricane head coach Philip Montgomery in a statement. “Most of Joe’s background is out of an odd-front and he was really able to provide a lot of knowledge and experience with this defensive scheme.”
“Joe brings tremendous energy, great experience and a lot of excitement and enthusiasm to the position. He does a great job of communicating with our players.”
This will mark the first time Gillespie, who has spent the majority of his coaching career at the high school level, has been a coordinator at the collegiate level.
“I’m tremendously excited about the opportunity and extremely thankful to Coach Montgomery for the confidence he’s shown in me and our defensive staff with the direction we’re headed as a defense. I’m humbled by it,” said Gillespie.
“I’m also extremely thankful to Coach Young. He had the opportunity to go out and get any linebacker coach he wanted, and to come in and coach with him has been an awesome experience. Coach Young really took me under his wing and has certainly been instrumental in me getting to this point. I cannot thank him enough for spending the amount of time that he’d allow me to spend with him, and break-out every piece of his knowledge as far as defense is concerned.
“He’s truly one of those individuals who has forgotten more than I’ve ever known from a defensive standpoint. He’s just a wealth of knowledge and a great legendary football coach. Those are some huge shoes to be filled with the impact that coach Young had on this University, our football program and these kids. I’m excited about the challenge.”
