Former Army Assistant Named DC at Georgetown

WASHINGTON – Georgetown University Head Football Coach Rob Sgarlata has named Luke Thompson as the team’s defensive coordinator. Thompson, who spent the last two seasons on the coaching staff at Army, returns to the Hilltop where he coached linebackers and special teams from 2006-2011.

“I am very excited to have Luke back on the Hilltop,” Sgarlata said. “He will be a tremendous asset to our program.  He is an excellent football coach and even better person. He has a proven track record as a detail oriented communicator who relates well to his players.”

In his new role, Thompson will oversee the Hoyas defense, while also coaching the team’s linebackers.

During the last two seasons, Thompson served on Head Coach Rich Ellerson’s staff at Army, as the special teams’ coordinator in 2012 and 2013. In addition to special teams’, Thompson also coached fullbacks in 2012, when Army led the nation in rushing. 

At Georgetown, Thompson helped turn the program around during his six seasons serving as linebackers coach and special teams’ coordinator. Defensively, Thompson mentored the top-two tacklers in Hoyas' history in All-American Robert McCabe and Nick Parrish. During his tenure, he guided the Hoyas' special teams to six top 20 finishes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision statistical rankings, including two top-five performances. In 2011, the Hoyas' kickoff return unit ranked 13th in the nation with a 23.63 yards-per-return average, while the punt return team was 15th in the country at 12.44 yards per return. Thompson mentored Jeremy Moore, who finished as the leading kick-returner in GU history, to first-team All-Patriot League honors as a return specialist. Under his guidance, kicker Brett Weiss earned second-team all-conference accolades. Weiss tied for eighth in the nation with 1.45 field goals per game in 2011. 

Prior to Georgetown, Thompson coached the outside linebackers at Harvard. While there, he helped the Crimson to a 10-0 record and the Ivy League championship in 2004. Harvard limited its final six opponents to 14 points or less, including two shutouts. The team gave up only one touchdown in the last three games of the season.

Thompson served as an assistant coach at Amherst College for two seasons in 2002 and 2003. His duties with the Lord Jeffs included coaching the inside linebackers and coordinating the team's video operations.

He also spent two spent two seasons, 1999 and 2000, as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with Holy Cross in his hometown of Worcester, Mass. Thompson began his coaching career in 1998 as the offensive line and tight ends coach at Bowdoin College in Bruswick, Maine.

Thompson, a Worcester, Mass. native earned two letters in football at Assumption College, where he graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in foreign affairs and economics. He and his wife, Kristin, have two children, Madelyn and Luke.