Search ends with Thompson

As was expected by some, John Thompson was named the new athletic director for the University of Central Arkansas Wednesday morning.

“I’m very grateful. I’m very honored, humbled to be here,” Thompson said. “I am looking forward to serving this university. I want to be of help to everybody that’s out there – to our coaches, to all our alumni and fans. Hey, let’s get this thing rolling.”

Thompson takes over the position just five days after the position was officially vacated by Vance Strange, who held the position for just less than two years.

“The biggest thing is to keep doing what we’ve been doing in terms of our unity and our support. We’ve just got to get everybody’s care level to raise. I know there are people that love this university and love this athletic department. We’ve got to just keep continuing to grow our support and grow from the foundation that coach Strange laid and the vision and the leadership from President Hardin to get this done.”

After ending what he thought would be a lifelong career in coaching, Thompson brought his family back to Conway on Feb. 14 of this year. He said his family plans to put down “deep roots.”

“In coaching, we just got on a trail that was very hard to get off of. We were at Southern Miss[issippi] for a long time and that’s where my wife and I met. And our boys were born there. Then we said, ‘OK let’s see how good we can make this career.’ And it was just a situation where we just had to move for every job. We took the next one trying to be a head coach, and then we did that and that didn’t last. Then we went to [the University of] South Carolina. It was just too many moves for a family.”

Thompson’s family includes wife Charleen and sons Cabe, 10, and Hays, 8. During one radio interview Wednesday afternoon, Thompson said that Hays was only seven when the family moved to Conway. That made the seventh move in his young life.

“Finally, I just said ‘hey, this is not the way to spend the rest of our lives. So, I’m going to get out of coaching and we’re going to move to Conway.'”

This isn’t Thompson’s first visit to Conway or UCA. He was a student from the fall of 1974 until summer 1978.

“I loved it – absolutely loved it. Still do and always have.”

His coaching career started at the high school level while he was a student at UCA. After spending 1982 as a graduate assistant, he then spent the next 23 years at 10 different schools on the collegiate level, mostly serving as defensive coordinator. His longest tenure at any one school was Southern Miss from 1992-1998. His final coaching job came at the University of South Carolina.

“I had no idea what I was going to be doing. But we knew that Conway was a great place to raise a family.”

With the upcoming move to Division I-AA, Thompson comes into a situation that doesn’t allow much time to get started. Most of his first day was spent getting to know the administrative staff.

“Trying to let them get to know me and them to know me. I’ve got three stacks probably about a foot each of paperwork that I’ve got to get to pretty soon. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Thompson and his wife have recently opened a business downtown that he says it’s going to be a little more her than it is him now.

“We knew this was a great place to live and to raise our boys. We just knew something was going to happen, but never dreamed it would be this good.”

Strange resigns?

Shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, a message was posted on this website’s forum stating that Vance Strange, athletic director since May 9, 2003, had submitted his resignation. The story comes just days before what would have been Strange’s three-year anniversary.

Although some have taken the opportunity to criticize Strange on the forum, one coach – wishing to remain nameless – offered these comments about the possibility of Strange’s resignation:

"People can say what they want, but in his heart he has the best interest for every single program [at UCA]. He didn’t put all his interest in the two big sports – football and basketball.

"How can he be a bad athletic director if we’re so competitive in what’s considered such a great conference?" The coach then referred to the schools standing in the men’s and women’s All-Sports Trophy.

"Every person has positives and negatives, but I think with the resources he was given he’s done a great job. I always felt like I got everything I ever needed from him."

The women’s basketball, volleyball and softball coaches have all been hired under Strange. Currently, both the men and women are listed as leading for the All-Sports trophy with three sports still remaining.