Defensive Coordinator Joseph Gillespie Interview

WATCH HERE Bruce Howard's interview with Coach Gillespie

On Thursday, Tulsa head football coach Philip Montgomery promoted linebackers coach Joseph Gillespie to the position of defensive coordinator. Gillespie takes over the reins from Bill Young, who retired after 50 seasons of coaching football.

Gilespie has coached linebackers for his first four years at Tulsa. He came to Tulsa in January 2015 following 20 years as a high school football coach in the state of Texas.

During Gillespie's Tulsa tenure, Hurricane linebackers have been extremely productive. In his first season, 2015, Gillespie tutored two 100+ tacklers, Trent Martin and Matt Linscott, while a year later the duo ranked one-two for tackles. In each of the last two years, linebacker Cooper Edmiston totaled over 100 stops, including 106 in 2017 and 113 tackles as a junior this last season. Red-shirt freshman linebacker Zaven Collins earned USA Today Freshman All-America honors in 2018 under the tutelage of Gillespie.

Gillespie helped transition the Hurricane from a base 4-man front to a 3-3-5 alignment in 2018 as Tulsa's defensive numbers emphatically improved. Tulsa ended the 2018 regular season with the nation's 7^th best pass defense, while allowing opponents 120+ yards less in total offense than a year earlier.

Defensive Coordinator Joseph Gillespie Interview

Players Mentioned

Zaven Collins

Cooper Edmiston

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