David Christopher Thurmond (born February 25, 1953) 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 wi ...
coach. He is an offensive analyst at
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, a position he has held since 2017. Thurmond served as the interim head football coach at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
for the final game of the 2007 season, the
2007 Texas Bowl
The 2007 Texas Bowl, part of the 2007–08 NCAA football bowl games season, was played on December 28, 2007 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The matchup had different conference representatives from the inaugural 2006 game (itself the rev ...
.
Early life
Born in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, Thurmond grew up in
Sand Springs, Oklahoma
Sand Springs is a city in Osage, Creek and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A western suburb of Tulsa, it is located predominantly in Tulsa County. The population was 19,874 in the 2020 U. S. Census, an increase of 5.1 percent from ...
. Thurmond was a
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
on the
Charles Page High School
Charles Page High School is a high school in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, United States, named after the philanthropist Charles Page. It is the only public High school (North America), high school in Sand Springs.
History
Char ...
football team and graduated in 1971. Thurmond then earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Tulsa in 1975.
McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History an ...
. He returned to his alma mater
Charles Page High School
Charles Page High School is a high school in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, United States, named after the philanthropist Charles Page. It is the only public High school (North America), high school in Sand Springs.
History
Char ...
to be defensive backs coach from 1977 to 1979. In 1980, Thurmond was defensive coordinator at
Claremore High School
Claremore High School is a public high school located in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Administration
As of 25 June 2023, Kenneth Hindenburg is the principal. Other faculty include:
*Darren Grisham, assistant principal - JR./SR.
*Brook Lee, assistant pri ...
in
Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore is a city and the county seat of Rogers County in Green Country or northeastern Oklahoma, United States. The population was 19,580 at the 2020 census, a 5.4 percent increase over the figure of 18,581 recorded in 2010.
Moving to the college ranks, from 1983 to 1991, Thurmond coached cornerbacks and defensive backs at
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
. During this period, Tulsa had four different head coaches: John Cooper (1983–1984),
Don Morton
Don Morton (born April 10, 1947) is a former American football player, coach, and software executive. He served as the head football coach at North Dakota State University (1979–1984), the University of Tulsa (1985–1986), and the University o ...
(1985–1986),
George Henshaw
George Henshaw (born January 22, 1948) is a former American football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Tulsa in 1987, where he compiled a record of 3–8. Henshaw also served as offensive coordinator for the Denver Bro ...
(1987), and
David Rader
David Rader (born March 9, 1957) is an Oklahoma Oklahoma State Senate, State Senator and former American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at the University of Tulsa from 1988 to 1999, compiling a record of 49–80– ...
(1988–1991). Tulsa appeared in the 1989
Independence Bowl
The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...
and won the 1991
Freedom Bowl
The Freedom Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, from 1984 to 1994.
The bowl frequently invited a team from the Western Athletic Conference to compete against an at-large op ...
. Thurmond then became the defensive backs coach at
East Carolina
East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina.
Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...
from 1992 to 1993, Tulsa in 1994, TCU in 1995, Oklahoma from 1996 to 1997, and again at TCU from 1998 to 2000. In Thurmond's second stint at TCU, TCU won the 1998 Sun Bowl and
1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl
The 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the inaugural edition of the Mobile Alabama Bowl (which has subsequently gone though several name changes). ...
and lost the
2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl
The 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the second edition of the game. With title sponsorship from GMAC (now Ally Financial) it was officially c ...
Dennis Franchione
Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951), also known as Coach Fran, is a retired American football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school w ...
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
in 2003 and was cornerbacks coach there until 2005. From 2006 to 2007, Thurmond was cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
under
Art Briles
Arthur Ray Briles (born December 3, 1955) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach for the Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Football League. Briles was the head coach of the Houston Cougars football, Houston Cougars from 2002 ...
. After Briles resigned to accept the head coaching job at Baylor, Thurmond served as Houston interim head coach for the
2007 Texas Bowl
The 2007 Texas Bowl, part of the 2007–08 NCAA football bowl games season, was played on December 28, 2007 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The matchup had different conference representatives from the inaugural 2006 game (itself the rev ...
; Houston lost to TCU.
From 2008 to 2010, Thurmond was defensive backs coach at
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, under
Rich Brooks
Richard Llewellyn Brooks (born August 20, 1941) is a retired American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of OregonMcCann, Michael C. (1995). Oregon Ducks Football: 100 Years of Glory. Eugene, Oregon: McCann Communic ...
from 2008 to 2009 then
Joker Phillips
Joe "Joker" Phillips Jr. (born May 12, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He is the assistant head football coach and wide receivers coach at North Carolina State University, a position he had held since the 2021 season. Philli ...
in 2010. Thurmond's tenure at Kentucky included a win in the
2009 Liberty Bowl
The 2009 Liberty Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 2, 2009. The 50th edition of the Liberty Bowl, it was the first edition ever played in January. With sp ...
following the 2008 season. In 2011, Thurmond joined
David Bailiff
David Edward Bailiff (born May 26, 1958) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 2019-2022; prior to that he was the head coach at Rice University in Houston, Tex ...
's staff at
Rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
to be cornerbacks coach; Thurmond added defensive coordinator to his duties in 2012. Rice won the
2012 Armed Forces Bowl
The 2012 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 29, 2012, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas in the United States. Th ...
in Thurmond's first season as defensive coordinator.