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Chattanooga: UTC coordinator has a storied past

By: John Frierson
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Here’s how long Dick Hopkins has been involved in college football: He was on the Florida State team that played in the first Fiesta Bowl, in 1971, with Bill Parcells as an assistant coach.

When Hopkins was hired as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s defensive coordinator in March, that became his 11th stop in a coaching career that has spanned more than 30 years. It’s been a career full of adjustments and rich in stories.

“I’m still having as much fun and enjoying it as much as I ever have,” he said. “The game has changed a lot over the years, but I still enjoy teaching and working with the players.”

Staff Photo by John Rawlston -- UTC defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Dick Hopkins, left, clasps hands with players at the end of a practice session at Finley Stadium.

Hopkins, 56, most recently spent two seasons at Rhode Island and two seasons at The Citadel before that. His wife of 24 years, Debbie, whom he met while coaching at Cincinnati, moved with him every step of the way ... until she got to Charleston, S.C. There, he said, she finally found a place to call home.

She stayed behind when Hopkins took the job at Rhode Island and is still there now.

“My wife, when I married her, she’d never been out of the city of Cincinnati, and she got into it the first couple of moves, and now, obviously, she’s tired (of moving),” he said. “I told her when we got married that she’d see the country, and I kept my promise.

“She’s been here — she likes Chattanooga — and I go to see her as often as I can.”

Hopkins was a seldom-used quarterback and tight end with the Seminoles — “I was recruited as a quarterback, but I had no feet, I couldn’t move, so they moved me to tight end,” he said.

In 1971, the Seminoles went 8-4, losing to Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl. They won seven games the following season, but in 1973 — a season that’s unthinkable now because of the power that FSU became under Bobby Bowden — they were 0-11.

“I came away from there with positive images, even though I didn’t see the field very much,” said Hopkins, who earned a master’s degree in mass communications in 1975 and coached high school ball in Florida for three years.

Since starting his collegiate coaching career in 1978 as a graduate assistant under Bowden, he has worked at Vanderbilt, Duke, Rice, Cincinnati and Yale, among others.

His longest stints were five years each at Tulane and James Madison, the latter as defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2003.

“What’s real beneficial is his knowledge of the game over the years,” UTC defensive line coach Fred Tate said. “He brings a lot of knowledge and experience and know-how to the table.”

Hopkins knows the X’s and O’s of football, and he also knows and has worked with some of the biggest names in the sport. He can go on for hours about Parcells, Nick Saban, Bowden and his son Tommy and countless others, including former UTC athletic director Steve Sloan, who hired Mocs head coach Rodney Allison.

Hopkins and Allison both worked under Tommy Bowden and Sloan but never at the same time.

“We’ve known each other for 20 years and our paths kept crossing, but this is the first time we’ve ever worked together,” Hopkins said.

Now, with Allison entering the final year of his contract, Hopkins could be facing another move at the end of the year.

“I know what the situation is: We’ve got to win some games,” he said. “I really like it here, I think Rodney has put a great staff together, and we’ve got some talented players who are good, hard-working kids.

“Hopefully I won’t be moving again for a while.”