Tulsa’s Joseph Gillespie Named FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year
2/23/2021 1:12:00 PM | Football
TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach Joseph Gillespie has been selected as the FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf, it was announced today.
Gillespie completed his sixth season coaching the linebackers and his second full season as defensive coordinator.
In addition to Gillespie, finalists for the Linebackers Coach of the Year included Jeff Casteel and Jeff Koontz from West Virginia, Notre Dame's Clark Lea, Auburn's Travis Williams and Georgia coaches Dan Lanning and Glenn Schumann.
The Hurricane finished the 2020 season with an overall 6-3 record, a 6-0 American Athletic Conference mark, an appearance in the AAC Championship Game and the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.
Gillespie tutored Consensus All-America linbeacker and the 2020 Chuck Bednarik, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Lombardi Award Winner Zaven Collins. During the season, the 6'4" linebacker won the Chuck Bednarik, Walter Camp and Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week awards in three separate weeks and earned The American's Defensive Player of the Week four times.
But Tulsa's linebacking corps was more than just its leader. In fact, sophomore Justin Wright led the unit with 63 tackles over nine games en route to earning second-team all-conference honors, and senior Treyvon Reeves ranked fifth on the team with 43 stops.
Under Gillespie's direction, the Tulsa defense was ranked second in The American for total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, pass defense and pass defense efficiency. Tulsa also ranked among the nation's best defenses for a variety of statistical categories. The Hurricane held opponents to 333.6 total yards (19th in NCAA) and 21.6 points per game (27th in NCAA). Tulsa also ranked 18th for fewest passing yards, 19th nationally in pass efficiency defense, 20th in red zone defense and 43rd in rushing defense.
Tulsa's defense totaled 69 tackles for loss, 23 quarterback sacks, 32 pass breakups, 10 forced fumbles, 10 fumble recoveries and six interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns.
Previous winners of the Linebackers Coach of the Year award are Bill McGovern (Boston College, 2008), Bob Fraser (Rutgers, 2009), Luke Fickell (Ohio State, 2010), Dave Huxtable (Wisconsin, 2011), Bob Gregory (Boise State, 2012), Jim Reid and LeVar Woods (Iowa, 2013), Jeff Casteel (Arizona, 2014), Dave Aranda and Tim Tibesear (Wisconsin, 2015), Mike Siravo (Temple, 2016), Tyson Veidt (Iowa State, 2017), Dave Aranda (LSU, 2018) and Tim DeRuyter and Peter Sirmon (Cal, 2019).
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