July 2, 2009

Auburn, Ala. - Each week AuburnTigers.com will give fans a chance to get to know a member of the football coaching staff with a quick Q&A. One coach will be highlighted each week, beginning with safeties coach Tommy Thigpen...

You were born in El Dorado, Ark., did you grow up there?
TT: I grew up there until my last two years of high school, I moved up to north Virginia. I was in El Dorado from birth until I was 16-years old. I went and stayed with my dad for my last two years of high school.

Is that how you ended up playing football at North Carolina?
TT: Yeah, that's exactly how I ended up there because I moved from the Deep South to, well, it's still the south, but we called it the southeast. I was three hours away from Chapel Hill in Virginia where I was at. I wanted to stay close to my father. I wasn't going to go back to the University of Arkansas. I was going to stay close to my dad. I had made a change in my life. I had bad grades when I was coming up into my 10th grade year, but in my last two years I made 4.0s and I attributed that to my dad's presence so I wanted to be somewhere near my dad.

What was your breakfast preference, cereal or pop-tarts?
TT: Neither. No, I was a ham, bacon and eggs man. I don't do those quick breakfasts. My mom would always make breakfast when I was a kid. Even today, it's still bacon and eggs and grits or whatever I can load up on, I'm fine.

Do you shave your head or is the look natural?
TT: It's shaved. If I didn't, the hair would turn into an afro so I have to shave it once-a-week.

Do you ever think about doing something unusual like giving yourself a Mohawk or letting it grow out into an afro?
TT: No, I'm clean. No tattoos, no piercings, no nothing. I'm from the school of Mack Brown back from the days when he coached me. Every day was an interview in the way that you present yourself. It's always important, especially when you're dealing with your players. I never did any of that - body parts, body piercings.

What was the first concert you ever went to?
TT: Ready For The World. Man, that was a long time ago back in Arkansas because there were no big coliseums. Some people would know Ready For The World. And then the other one was The Time. That was probably right around 13-years old.

You lived in Spain while playing in the World League, what was that like?
TT: It was the World League Football in Barcelona and that was probably the best time I've ever had playing football. I worked for a guy named Jack McNeil who was around during the time of `the pass,' when Doug Flutie beat Miami. He was the head coach for Boston College and he had a different routine, as far as practicing went. He believed in keeping the guys fresh so we never practiced in full pads. Everything was so mental, so your body was fresh when you played. To him, it was to take as many mental reps as you can and you should, when you get to that level, already know how to tackle. That was the best time that I ever had while playing football.

If you could swap one aspect of life in America and make it just like Europe, what would it be?
TT: The siestas. From one o'clock to four o'clock every day, the shops closed and everything closed. You would go home and rest and at four o'clock, you would go back out and everything opened back up and stayed open until eight or ten at night. That was a big difference because people were energized to do better. That was the one difference because in the United States, you go from nine to five and you go as hard as you can. They were built on `work as hard as you can, rest, and come back and work again.' That's probably was contributed to the life expectancy, because over there, I want to say that it's like 88 to 90-years old. It was a lot better than what it is in the United States. I don't smoke or drink, but over there, people smoke and drink more than I've ever seen, but they live longer and live healthy lives for whatever reason.

Who was your favorite superhero when you were a kid?
TT: I would always go back and forth from Superman. But back in the day, we had the Super Friends and older people would know about that. The Super Friends were Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aqua Man, the Green Lantern, and Flash. Those were the guys that I would always try to be like. Every day I would switch between them. One day I would be Superman and the next day I would be Batman. I went out every week being someone different.

What is one thing that surprised you most about one of the coaches in getting to know them?
TT: You know, the guys that I've spent more time with and that I've gotten to know are the guys on defense. Our group is pretty great, but (you worry that) it's kind of like bacon. Bacon never tastes as good as it smells, but Ted (Roof) is as good a person as I've ever met. Sometimes the hype gets built up about a person and you get disappointed, but Ted has far exceeded my expectations. Rock (Tracy Rocker) and I have got to know each other real well. I would've thought that I had known Rock for 25 years with as close as he and I have become already and I don't normally get that close to people. He and I, we'll call each other a couple days a week while he's on vacation just to see how he's doing. And then (Phillip) Lolley is as good a friend as anyone. Being on this side of the ball and working with this group has probably been the most fun I've had being on staff. This room of guys is a really good mix of us.