Oakton's Thompson Is 2008 Coach of the Year
On Saturday January 10th, Oakton's Joe Thompson won the Group AAA All Gameday Coach of the Year award after leading his team to a 13-1 finish and Northern Region Championship.
Photo By: Marc Gold/Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
The Oakton Cougars finished 5-5 in 2007, but rebounded with an impressive 2008 season, finishing undefeated in the regular season for the first time in school history.
Photo By: Oakton Football
Coach Joe Thompson of the Oakton Cougars led his team to a Northern Region Championship on the way to a 13-1 season in 2008...
Photo By: Oakton Football
LEESBURG, VA- Moments after the Oakton Cougars had wrapped up a blowout win to become champions of the Northern Region, the team's Head Coach addressed his winning club. Joe Thompson, who once guided Oakton to a state tile, told his team to be smart in the way that they chose to celebrate.
Thompson also told his players to make sure everybody on his team got to participate in the celebration, because - as the veteran coach put it - everybody wearing a uniform contributed to Oakton's Northern Region crown. He then called on each of his assistants - from his coordinators to the volunteers who work under him - to address the victorious student-audience.
The way Thompson addressed his team after that late December win is the symbolism of what he's all about. He's a guy who prides his teams on togetherness and on the fact that the players on Oakton's scout team are just as important to his program as the stars whose names are read on the announcements on Monday morning.
Thompson is also the consummate professional in how he delegates and incorporates the input of his assistants. His knowledge of the game allows him to scheme and strategize with all of his district counterparts, but his ability to oversee and to delegate - allowing for the input of all of his assistants - is what makes Thompson such a successful leader of a program.
Under Thompson's tutelage the Cougars finished the 2008 season 13-1 with the team's lone loss coming in the semifinal round of the state playoffs. The only team to beat Oakton, the Oscar Smith Tigers, went on to win the state title.
Oscar Smith only beat Oakton by three in a game that saw the Cougars lose starting quarterback Chris Coyer to a neck injury in the first-half. After squeaking out a win at Oakton, Oscar Smith dominated its' opponent in the state championship game - providing one final measuring stick for just how good the 2008 Cougars really were.
The trophy the Cougars earned by winning the Northern Region wasn't the only one that Thompson added to his collection this season. Just this week he was named the Group AAA All Gameday Coach of the Year, a distinction that was announced at the All Gameday banquet on Saturday afternoon.
"Well first of all, I want to say that Gameday does a great job, they are absolutely amazing. There is nothing like it in the country for high school sports and to get their respect is great. You have to recognize that there are so many good coaches out there now, so this means a lot to me. I feel very blessed to have gotten it."
Choosing a winner for that award is never easy at the AAA level. Most of the coaches at that level in this area are good enough to be top whistle-blowers for teams that play on Saturdays. Thompson is certainly one. But the success he guided his team to and the fact that Oakton stayed unbeaten through a brutal Concorde district schedule and was within a field goal of the state finals, made this year's decision a whole lot easier for the Gameday staff.
The one moment I won't forget about Thompson's efforts on the sideline in 2008 came just after the injury Coyer suffered in the state semifinal game. After a long delay - while Coyer was loaded onto a stretcher and taken to a local hospital for examination - Thompson asked that all of his players meet in the end zone. He then briefed the team on their friend and teammate before mentally preparing his players to get back into "game mode."
Oakton responded by continuing to play suffocating defense, as well as moving the ball consistently through the air and on the ground, throughout the remainder of the game. Some teams would have crumbled under the duress that had been thrust upon the Cougars. But not a team coached by Joe Thompson.
A genuine individual with a passion for teaching and a love for his players, coaches of Thompson's caliber are a rarity. He's as easy to work with (from a media stand point) as he is calm and collected on the sidelines, and he's always been greatly admired by all of the folks who attend the Cougars' games.
Thompson's 2008 season didn't result in his second state championship at Oakton, but he was able to get the Cougars back into the post season. He was also able to continue to positively influence the lives of each of the young men who spent the season playing for him.
The Cougars will be losing a plethora of talented seniors (including All-Gameday performers Jack Tyler and Trey Watts). As long as Thompsons is around, however, Oakton should be considered a contender for the district championship on an annual basis. Next year will be no different.
