Tulsa linebacker coach Joseph Gillespie has been promoted to defensive coordinator for the Golden Hurricane. TU announced the move on Thursday.
The 47-year old has coached Tulsa’s linebackers for the past four years and takes over for retired defensive coordinator Bill Young.
“I’m excited to have Joe move into the role as defensive coordinator,” said Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery. “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.
“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.”
Gillespie has done a solid job with Tulsa’s linebacking corps, tutoring the likes of Trent Martin, Matt Linscott and Cooper Edmiston – all of which had over 100 tackles in a season. In 2018, he helped redshirt freshman Zaven Collins earn USA Today Freshman All-America honors.
Last season, Gillespie was part of a defensive staff that helped make major improvement. TU ended the regular season with the nation’s 7th best pass defense.
“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.”
Before coming to TU in 2015, Gillespie was the athletics director and head football coach at Stephenville (TX) High School for seven years. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach at the school for 13 years, coaching linebackers and defensive backs.
“The continuity with Joe leading our defense will be vitally important as we progress,” said Montgomery. “The loss of Bill is great. He brought so much to the table for us, but I know Joe brings a lot of knowledge and experience. I trust him. He’s a guy that will bring a ton of energy and enthusiasm to our defense.
“We started installing parts of this defense halfway through the 2016 season, and last spring we dove all the way into it. Joe and Bill worked hand-in-hand, along with our defensive staff, in transitioning to this scheme.”
Montgomery is hoping to continue the progress made last season by the Tulsa defense, and Gillespie feels he is up to the challenge.
“Obviously, we’re headed in the right direction with this defensive scheme,” said Gillespie. “There are more elements that can we can add that will complement what we installed last year, but there’s only so much you can do at one time.
“We have grander ideas for our defense. The thing that’s fun about running an odd-front is that there are so many different looks you can get from the same personnel on the field. It can be very simple and allows your players to play fast.”
