Thompson gets more out of game than pinecones

Tommy Thompson doubted his son was ready for football.

Just 5 years old in a league of 7-year-olds, Lance Thompson was the youngest player on his team - "a scrub" according to his father.

Scrub or not, Tommy expected Lance to learn from his first football practice. Lance had other ideas.

With his son standing idly on the sideline, Tommy figured he could take care of a growing problem: a haircut.

As he left for the barbershop, Tommy gave his son specific instructions: "When you're not practicing or not in the game, you watch from the sideline and you learn."

Tommy returned to see his son throwing pinecones with his buddies, oblivious to their teammates practicing nearby.

Tommy honked the car horn and waved for his son. Lance's practice was over.

"I'm going to let you quit this year," Tommy recalls telling his son. "You don't seem to be interested in it. It's my fault. You're younger than those boys. I should have waited until next year."

Emotions boiled when the two returned home. Tommy remembers a slammed door and a thrown helmet as his son faced the realization that his first football season was over before it began.

Tommy still gets emotional when he recounts what happened next.

"Then he came back, crawled in my lap and said 'Will you take me back tomorrow? I won't goof off anymore,' " Tommy recalled.

Tommy agreed to the second chance. Lance held up his end of the bargain.

More than four decades later, Lance Thompson is one of the most respected football recruiters in the Southeast, boasts an impressive resume chock full of rebuilding programs and is Tennessee's first linebackers coach not named John Chavis since 1990.

Hard work and an immense passion for football continue to pay off.

• "I always told them they could be what they wanted to be but they had to work to be it." - Tommy Thompson on advice he gave his children

Lance Thompson, 45, didn't just watch football as a kid in Riverdale, Ga. He studied it - keeping stats of the Georgia Bulldogs as he watched games on the television in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"Addiction is a bad word but, to me, you've got to be addicted to ball," said Thompson. "You don't obsess over it but it's got to be something you can't do without."

Thompson's father used that addiction to his benefit.

"I've seen some of these kids stray and get in trouble," Tommy Thompson said. "I believe in them staying in school and making great grades.

"I didn't put up with no malarkey."

To play football, good grades weren't enough. There was only one letter that would satisfy his parents, who still have trunks full of notebooks chronicling his academic success.

"I had to make A's because my dad was a very forceful man," Thompson said. "I think I made maybe three B's in my whole high school career."

Lance Thompson isn't an intellectual braggart when discussing his high school career. He's simply a staunch proponent of hard work.

"It wasn't because of intelligence," Lance Thompson joked about his stellar GPA. "It was from fear of motivation. That's what I tell kids nowadays. You can do whatever you want to - or whatever you're forced to do."

The lessons stuck. Ask either Thompson and they'll admit there's a little bit of Tommy in Lance's coaching.

• "I want guys to do their best. That's all I want." - Lance Thompson

At some point during his career, Lance Thompson learned that teaching linebackers to tackle was only part of what he enjoyed about coaching.

"The greatest value of the game is what you teach the young men," Thompson said.

Thompson talks as much about teaching fundamentals of life as he does fundamentals of football. And as one would expect given his upbringing, a strong work ethic is a big part of the instruction.

"Where you get your issues," Thompson said, "is when you're not doing your best."

Thompson, like any coach, can scream at his players; but he's determined to do more than motivate out of fear. Such tactics have their limitations.

"I want them to want to do it for themselves," Thompson said. "That's when they can really obtain the level of play they want."

Thompson uses the common analogy of leading a horse to water when he discusses his motivational tactics:

"I always tell the kids 'I'm not really concerned about making you drink. I'm going to make you thirsty because if you're thirsty, you're going to want to drink for yourself.'

"If they want to do it, that's when they can get really good."

To get his shot at Tennessee, Thompson had to prove he was really good, too.

• "Lane knew how I was about coaching. I want them to be great recruiters. I know how important that is, especially here at Tennessee, but I also said we can't just hire a recruiter who can't coach." - UT defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin

New Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin decided he wanted to hire Lance Thompson as he continually heard his name while on the road recruiting in December. It wasn't going to be easy.

Thompson was coaching for UT's bitter rival, Alabama, and Kiffin knew his father, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, would have the final say in the hiring since Thompson would be joining UT's staff as a linebackers coach.

"I know he had his fingers crossed," the elder Kiffin said of his son. "… Lane didn't know for sure how it would go. He didn't really know. He only knew about him (Thompson) as a recruiter.

"He kept saying, 'Dad, this guy is an awesome recruiter. He knows the whole Southeast. He was born and raised in Atlanta and we need to get back stronger in Atlanta. He's Nick Saban's right-hand guy.'

"I was thinking, 'Oh gosh, I've seen a lot of these guys.' They're great recruiters but they really can't coach."

Who could blame Monte Kiffin for having his doubts? He coached in the NFL for 25 seasons and is widely considered one of the best defensive minds in football.

Thompson had such a strong reputation as a recruiter that it overshadowed most anything he had done on the field. Thompson would have to face an extensive interview with Monte Kiffin just to be considered by UT.

It would have been understandable had Thompson balked at the notion of interviewing. Shouldn't his track record speak for itself? After 14 successful seasons, he seemed a natural fit for Lane Kiffin's young, energetic staff.

Thompson, however, didn't see the interview with Monte Kiffin as an insult - quite the opposite.

"That was a great opportunity, to interview in front of a guy like Monte and a guy like (UT assistant head coach) Ed (Orgeron)," Thompson said.

Thompson was excited, but certainly not scared.

"I felt real confident in my coaching ability because of who I've been with in the past," said Thompson, who has coached with Saban, Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher, Bobby Ross and Ralph Friedgen among others. "I've been around guys that know what to do and how to do it."

Asked to break down plays on a dry-erase board (as others have done) in front of Monte Kiffin, Thompson more than held his own. Kiffin quickly gave his blessing to the hire:

"I said 'Lane, we hit a home run here. He can coach and he can recruit.'

"I had never seen him coach a player, but the interview was so extensive, and so tough because I pin them down."

Said Thompson: "Monte and I hit it off pretty good."

After agreeing to terms with UT, Thompson spent three weeks on the road recruiting, then moved into a multi-million dollar home: UT's athletic complex, where he often slept on the couch.

"I'm sleeping in a bed now," Thompson said. "But understand, I slept in an office because I wanted to."

Thompson felt he needed to learn Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 defense, which is far different from what he had just coached at Alabama.

Thompson spent countless hours studying game tape. In a month he watched four years worth of defensive tape from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Southern California.

Thompson calls the educational experience "awesome."

Monte Kiffin, also known for crashing on an office couch during his career, was impressed.

"He's a tireless worker," Kiffin said. "He's either on the phone talking to recruits or he's on the phone talking to his players or texting his players that are here at Tennessee. Or he's in there studying tape."

• "The more I looked at it and the more I thought about it, it was just a great opportunity." - Lance Thompson on his decision to come to UT

Alabama is one of the most tradition-laden programs in the nation and is back in the spotlight under Saban. The Crimson Tide posted a 12-2 record last season and has been one of the region's best recruiting schools since Saban took over in 2007.

"Why would you leave Nick Saban or why would you leave Alabama to come to Tennessee when Tennessee was making a change?" Thompson asked aloud, echoing the sentiments of his colleagues.

Sure, Monte Kiffin was a factor. Most every coach UT has hired has said as much.

Yet Thompson saw something in Lane Kiffin, the first-year college coach with confidence to spare.

"The thing that I pulled from Lane when I talked to him is that he had a lot of energy," Thompson said. "He's really upbeat."

During the interview process, Kiffin asked Thompson what he thought about UT. In answering his future boss' question, Thompson gave himself another reason to head to Knoxville.

"I told him Tennessee can be as good as anybody in the country," Thompson said. "For whatever reason, it's not right now. It's still Tennessee. It's a great opportunity to build it back where it should be."

Thompson knows how to rebuild. He's helped do it at LSU, Georgia Tech, Central Florida and twice at Alabama.

Thompson also knows just how to get the job done.

"It's going to come from recruiting," said Thompson, who picked up his first commitment last week when defensive end J.C. Copeland from LaGrange, Ga., pledged to play for the Vols in 2010.

UT's focus on recruiting means Thompson can expect plenty of late nights, bad flights and dark, desolate roads as he pursues the Southeast's top players. He's not complaining. After all, hard work and football is what he knows best.

"It's such a great game," Thompson said. "I won't know what to do in the fall when I quit coaching. Hell, I haven't done anything on (fall) Saturdays but be a football player and be a football coach."

Like all football families, Thompson, his wife and three daughters have paid a price for his dedication to his career.

Thompson's wife, Stacy Lynn, filed for divorce earlier this year but the two have since reconciled.

Thompson's family stayed in Tuscaloosa to finish school and soccer season, but is moving to Knoxville in June.

"People don't understand that we aren't just coaches," Thompson said. "It's really your life. It's not your job. You live being a football coach.

"It's a great life but it's like anything else, there's good and bad in it."

Drew Edwards contributed to this report.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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