Chris Thomsen (born November 7, 1968) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He is the tight ends coach at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

. Thomsen was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Wildcats football program at

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

(ACU), from 2005 through 2011. Thomsen also served as the interim head football coach at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

for one game in 2012, the

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

Coaching career

Early years

Thomsen is a 1993 ACU graduate and a former Wildcats

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. Following his graduation, he remained at ACU, first as a graduate assistant and then working his way up to offensive line coach, recruiting coordinator,

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

, and, finally, assistant head coach. In 1998, the Wildcats finished 18th in the nation in passing under the direction of Thomsen, who was the offensive coordinator. Prior to transferring to ACU, Thomsen played football three seasons (1988–90) and baseball one season (All-America and All-Southwest Conference with 21 home runs and a .373 batting average) at TCU before being selected in the 17th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Oakland Athletics. Thomsen went on to play for two seasons in Oakland's minor league system. In the 1991 season, Thomsen became the only TCU player in program history to hit for a home run cycle in a March 1, 1991, doubleheader against Northeast Louisiana (now UL Monroe). In the first game, he had an inside-the-park home run, a three-run home run and a two-run home run. In the second game he had another solo home run and a grand slam. He was 5-for-7 with five homers and 11 RBI in the doubleheader. He went on to earn first team All-SWC and All-America honors and was also a member of the SWC Postseason Baseball Championship All-Tournament team. He was voted the TCU Male Athlete of the Year in 1991. He earned a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from TCU in December 1993 and received his master's in secondary education from ACU in 2000. In 1999, Thomsen left ACU to go into private business, but eventually returned to coaching as he became offensive coordinator at Wichita Falls High School in 2001. With Thomsen calling the plays, the Coyotes won back-to-back district titles and led the district in scoring both seasons (34 points per game in 2001 and 42 ppg in 2002). In 2002 they set the school's single-season record for most points in a season, and the quarterback set the school's single-season record for touchdown passes. Following his tenure at Wichita Falls High School, Thomsen served a two-year stint as offensive line coach at the

University of Central Arkansas The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1907 as the Arkansas State Normal School, the university is one of the oldest in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As the state's only n ...

Abilene Christian

In 2005, Thomsen returned to his alma mater, succeeding

Gary Gaines Gary Gaines (May 4, 1949 – August 22, 2022) was an American football coach. Gaines was the head coach of the 1988 Permian High School football team, which was the focus of Buzz Bissinger's book '' Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a ...

as the ACU Wildcats head coach. In 2006, he led the Wildcats to an 8–3 record and the program's first berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs. He was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Coach of the Year. In 2008, Abilene Christian finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1950. In the NCAA Division II Playoff second round the Wildcats knocked off rival

West Texas A&M University West Texas A&M University (WTAMU or WT) is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It was established on Se ...

93–68, the 93 points an NCAA playoff record. In December 2008, Thomsen applied for the vacant head coaching position at Northwestern State University and was named among the six finalists. Other finalists included

Bradley Dale Peveto Bradley Dale Peveto (born December 28, 1962) is an American football coach. He is defensive coordinator at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a position he has held since 2021. Peveto served as the head football coach at Northwestern State ...

, co-defensive coordinator at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and a former Northwestern State assistant, who eventually got the job. In 2011, Thomsen left ACU for an assistant position at Arizona State but left before the beginning of the 2012 season.

Texas Tech

On February 3, 2012 it was announced that Thomsen would be leaving his position at Arizona State to accept the position of offensive line coach for the Texas Tech Red Raiders On December 8, 2012, Red Raiders head coach

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

resigned to take the same position with the Cincinnati Bearcats football program, and two days later Thomsen was named interim head coach replacing Tuberville. Thomsen lead the team to a victory in the

2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas The 2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, the seventh edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 28, 2012 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas as part of the 2012-13 NCAA football bowl season. T ...

against

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Arizona State

Following the bowl victory, Arizona State hired Thomsen once more to be their running backs coach. As of March 19, 2013 Thomsen was moved to offensive line coach for the Sun Devils. Also on the staff was

Mike Norvell Michael Kelly Norvell (born October 11, 1981) is an American college football coach who is currently head coach at Florida State. Norvell was previously the head coach at Memphis. He has coached at Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and Central Ar ...

, who had played at Central Arkansas during Thomsen's tenure there. After the 2016 season Thomsen departed Arizona State to become the offensive line coach at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

under Gary Patterson.

TCU

Thomsen coached the offensive line at TCU for three seasons.

Florida State

At the end of the 2019 season he left TCU to be reunited with Norvell, the new head coach at

. Norvell named him

s coach and deputy head coach. Thomsen served as acting head coach for a single game after Norvell tested positive for the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

Florida State profile

TCU profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomsen, Chris 1968 births Living people American football tight ends Abilene Christian Wildcats football coaches Abilene Christian Wildcats football players Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Central Arkansas Bears football coaches Florida State Seminoles football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football players Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Vernon, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas