Tulsa picked up some Oklahoma talent Monday. This was for the coaching staff.
Calvin Thibodeaux, a starter on the Sooner defense in the mid-2000s, was hired to coach defensive tackles, announced by coach Bill Blankenship.
During his playing career, Thibodeaux helped the Sooners to four BCS Bowl games, which included two for the national championship. His first college experience as a player came at TU, where the Sooners opened their season against the Golden Hurricane at Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Thibodeaux’s freshman season of 2002.
“It’s a blessing to be able to come back to the state of Oklahoma,” Thibodeaux said. “My first college football game was against The University of Tulsa in the 2002 season. I started my career there, so being able to come back and coach at Tulsa is a real blessing.”
“I’d describe my coaching as being passionate, a motivator and a teacher. In order to be a great coach your players have to trust you and believe in what you’re doing,” Thibodeaux said.
While at OU, Thibodeaux, a Houston native, was named All-Big 12 during his junior campaign in 2005 after leading the conference with 10 sacks. He received a bachelor’s degree in public affairs in December of 2006.
Thibodeaux, had previously coached as a graduate assistant at Houston in 2008-09, and as defensive line coach at Navarro (Texas) Junior College in 2010 and Dartmouth College this past season. He is married with a child on the way.
“We’re excited to have Calvin join our Tulsa family,” Blankenship said. “There are multiple things that really excite us about Calvin joining our coaching staff. First, his ability to teach and communicate is very impressive. He has a great background playing at Oklahoma and coming from that family tree certainly gives him impressive credentials.
“Calvin did a great job at the University of Houston so he has some familiarity with Conference USA, and I really like that fact that he spent a year at Dartmouth. In recruiting for Dartmouth, he understands the type of young men that we’re trying to reach out to academically. Then, having been at Houston, Calvin has a great idea of the kind of players with the combination of academics and athletic ability that we need to have at The University of Tulsa to win Conference USA championships,” Blankenship said.
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