Jan. 14, 2008
Orlando, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF head coach George O'Leary announced the addition of Joe Tumpkin to the Knights' football coaching staff on Monday. Tumpkin rounds out O'Leary's coaching staff for the 2008 season as he will coach the linebackers at UCF.
Tumpkin joins the staff from fellow Conference USA member SMU where he spent the previous three seasons coaching the Mustangs' linebackers. The SMU defense ranked 24th nationally against the run in 2006.
"We are very happy to announce the hiring of Joe Tumpkin as our linebackers coach," O'Leary said. "Joe brings a lot of experience to our staff and he is familiar with our league having spent three seasons at SMU."
In the summer of 2007, Tumpkin was selected to participate in the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Program. As part of the program, the Miami native worked with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coaching staff during the team's training camp in July.
Tumpkin also has collegiate coaching experience at Sam Houston State (2002-04) where he served as the linebackers coach (2002-03) and secondary coach (2004). The 2004 Bearkats shared the Southland Conference championship.
"I'm excited to be joining the coaching staff at UCF for a number of reasons," Tumpkin said. "One being what they have done under Coach O'Leary in Conference USA over the past couple of years, going to the championship game, winning it and going to bowl games.
"Coming over from SMU, I have always respected what they have done here and we were able to see it in color last year in Dallas. I'm excited about the growth of the program, the university and the city of Orlando and coming on board to be a part of the upper swing of it all."
Tumpkin's other coaching stints include two years as defensive coordinator at Division III Lakeland College (2000-01), two years as the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Southern Illinois (1998-99) and one season coaching the linebackers at Defiance College (1996).
He also has served as a graduate assistant at Lakeland (1994), Northern Michigan (1995) and Western Michigan (1997).
During his collegiate playing days, Tumpkin was a four-year letterwinner and team captain at Michigan Tech. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan Tech in 1994.
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