Thomas Cleveland West (born July 31, 1954) 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 and former player. He is currently the defensive line coach at

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...

. West served as head football coach at the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

(1993),

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

(1993–1998) and the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

(2001–2009), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 84–96. West was fired as head coach at Memphis on November 9, 2009 after beginning the season 2–7.Tommy West fired as Memphis Tigers football coach
''The Commercial Appeal'', November 9, 2009 West finished the season with Memphis. West attended Gainesville High School in

Gainesville, Georgia The city of Gainesville is the county seat of Hall County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 42,296. Because of its large number of poultry processing plants, it is often called the "Poultry Capital of t ...

, from which he graduated in 1972. There he was a letterman in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. In football, he was an All-American selection, and was also drafted in fifth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago Cubs. He is married to the former Cyndie Smith of

Germantown, Tennessee Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,333 at the 2020 census. Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east-southeast. Germantown was founded in 1841 by mostly German emigrants. The ...

, and has one son, Turner West, who is an assistant at Georgia Southern University.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Tommy 1954 births Living people People from Carrollton, Georgia People from Gainesville, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football tight ends Tennessee Volunteers football players Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Chattanooga Mocs football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches UAB Blazers football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football coaches