Exclusive: Ex-TCU defensive coordinator concerned about NIL, said players asked for money

Joe Gillespie says he “got the ax,” and understands the specifics behind TCU coach Sonny Dykes’ decision to change out his defensive coordinator.

Gillespie’s preference was to stay for what would have been a third season as TCU’s defensive coordinator, but that was ultimately not his call when Dykes made the decision to change out the position after the season.

Despite the fact that Gillespie was part of the staff that won a college football playoff game and reached the national title game in 2022, the way college football has evolved, “There is a sour taste, yes,” he said.

“I do agree with a lot of things related to NIL, but not the way it’s being utilized,” Gillespie said in a phone interview this week, after he became the new head football coach at Waco Midway High School.

“At times you had kids asking for more money than I make. Certainly asking for more money than some of my assistants were making. Unfortunately, I grew up in the school of, ‘Holy moly, I get my school paid for?’ That would have blown my mind. It’s a different time.

“I had kids coming to me that had not played a down saying, ‘I need to get this.’ I’m like, ‘I’m sorry man, until you start producing and playing that’s going to be a hard sell.’ Kids reach out. The parents ask. Some have agents that start hitting you up. You just have the wild west (with NIL), and now the transfer portal. It’s a crazy, crazy time in college football, and it’s hard to make an impact on a kid if the roster is changing every year, and if the focus is how much money they’re making.”

Gillespie’s anecdotes are similar all over major college football, and men’s basketball.

Gillespie covered an array of topics in an interview.

Star-Telegram: Are you and Coach Sonny Dykes still ‘good?’

Joe Gillespie: Yes, personally, absolutely.

S-T: Did he want you to change from your preferred 3-3-5 defensive scheme?

JG: Yes, he wanted me to do some things differently. I wasn’t digging my heels in. I was saying, ‘This is who we are.’ We recruited for (that scheme) as soon as I got there. I had another class coming in. To get that (defense playing well) it was going to take us a few classes.

I didn’t want to make wholesale changes. There were some areas he wanted to change but I didn’t want to change the integrity of who we were.

They have (talented players) coming. The pipeline is getting bigger, and as long as you can hang on to them there is an opportunity. Now, the new step to that is every year it’s going to cost you more and more.

S-T: So it was your preference to stay on?

JG: Yes, and that’s well known. I didn’t uproot my family and move my son out of his high school during his sophomore year not to make this work long term. It was a beautiful opportunity for my family; through a series of discussions (with Dykes) I kept saying, ‘This has to be a good marriage, or I am going to get concerned about my ability to be successful and our ability to be successful. We’re going to have to see eye to eye.’

I didn’t want it to end that way. It was my intention to make this last a good long minute, but I know what comes with it. You have to win, and meet expectations.

I think what played a little bit into it is what happened in our first year. We played in the Fiesta Bowl with four guys on our roster who had played in a bowl game. We play Michigan, beat them, and now we’re playing for the national title.

There needed to be some progression to it. We beat Texas (on Nov. 12, 2022 in Austin) and we’re 10-0. I went into his office and I said (half tongue in cheek), ‘We need to win seven or eight games and then 10 or 11, and do all of that stuff.’ He said, ‘I know, and I don’t want it to stop.’ I knew the monster it would create, and I get it; that’s society.”

S-T: Did you take the Midway job because you no longer wanted to be in the college game with its schedule, or was this the best opportunity for you?

JG: The first 21 years of my career were spent in Texas high school coaching and teaching, at the secondary level. I loved all of it. My wife and I are both teachers and educators and this is my first love.

I was grateful and thankful to go to Tulsa (in 2015). It was the optimal time in my career. It was what what I working for and I arrogantly wanted to see if I was capable of doing it.

The opportunity to go to TCU, and a different level, was a blessing, even if it didn’t end the way I wanted it to. I knew what it entailed; the bigger (level) you get the less security you have.

The landscape of college football has really changed, and it’s a little haywire right now. Some things took away from the purity of it. I always said (high school) is where I would probably end up, and I did.