Dooley Names New Tech Defensive Coordinator

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley announced Wednesday that he has hired Tommy Spangler as the Bulldogs new defensive coordinator. "I am very excited that Tommy is joining the Bulldog family," Tech head football coach Derek Dooley said. "His energy, enthusiasm and defensive prowess make him an outstanding fit at Louisiana Tech. He has consistently had top-ranked defenses and has always had teams that play with intangibles that are important to winning football." Spangler`s hiring is pending approval by the Louisiana Tech Athletic Council and the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System. The 45-year-old Spangler has spent the past two decades as a full-time coach on the college football sideline where he served the first 10 years at Georgia Southern helping lead the program to a pair of Division I-AA national titles. He has spent the past 10 seasons at Division II Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., where he served as the head coach since 2001. "There`s no question that I`m aware of the tradition Louisiana Tech has and the type of players it has produced," Spangler said. "My decision was made much easier by the guy heading the program. Coach Dooley is the type of coach you want to be associated with given his terrific coaching background. This is definitely a people business. We`re coming here to get it right and get Tech back on the winning track." This past season, Spangler`s defense at Presbyterian ranked first in the South Atlantic Conference in scoring defense (13.2 ppg) and total defense (233.5 ypg) en route to a 7-4 record. In 2005, he led Presbyterian to a 10-2 mark, the South Atlantic Conference title and the school`s first appearance ever in the NCAA Division II playoffs, earning him the league Coach of the Year Award. He also garnered two American Football Coaches Association Region 2 Coach of the Year Awards while at Presbyterian. His Presbyterian defenses have been ranked in the top half of the South Atlantic Conference in all defensive categories each of the last eight seasons, and his 1998 Blue Hose unit forced an incredible 48 turnovers in 11 games and ranked first nationally in turnover margin (+2.27). After taking the job as the secondary coach at Georgia Southern in 1987, Spangler was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 1990 and then took over the sole reigns of the program`s defense in 1992. The Stone Mountain, Ga., native earned the Southern Conference Defensive Coach of the Year Award in 1993 as the Eagles won the league title and advanced to the playoffs. His defense ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense. Spangler played defensive back at the University of Georgia from 1979 through 1982 and was a member of the 1980 Division I National Championship team that defeated Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. He lettered his senior season helping Georgia to the 1982 Southeastern Conference title, the program`s third straight. He earned his bachelor`s degree in physical education from Georgia in the spring of 1984. Spangler is married to the former Kim Pierce of Ft. White, Fla., and they are the parents of three children: Pierce, Peyton, and Gracie.