Parkersburg South football coach Larry Thompson, left, talks to Taj Joyce during a drill last season at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Kamryn Sallee)

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg South assistant football coach Larry Thompson is moving up the ladder for the Patriots.

A former head man in the Mountain State at Mount View, Wyoming East and Parkersburg Catholic, the board of education approved him to be the newest gridiron leader in Wood County on Tuesday night, replacing former Patriot boss and current Princeton head coach Nate Tanner.

“I have a passion for the game, coaching and teaching. Super appreciative and blessed to be in this spot. One of the biggest schools in the state. Some of the best facilities, great administrators, great kids, great families, coaching staff is also one of the best staffs I’ve been around. I’m not just saying that. I mean that,” admitted Thompson, a Concord University graduate who wore numerous hats at Parkersburg Catholic from the Crusaders’ athletics director to the dean of students.

“I have a great relationship with the current staff and the plan is to keep everyone that has been on the current staff. Coach Tanner had an amazing staff put together across the board. I was on that staff and had a great relationship with all these guys. The plan is to keep everything intact. Going forward if I feel we need some pieces filled I’ll be looking to bring on some more guys.”

The new Patriot head man spent basically his first three years in high school in Louisiana before coming to Virginia at the end of his junior year and then graduating at Massaponax High in 2007.

“I was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It’s a military base. Both of my parents served in the Marine Corps so I’ve lived all over the world,” he said. “My dad was in for 22 years and my mom was medically discharged after about eight years. She thanks me everyday because I was so big when I was born it like ruptured something and they medically discharged her.

“My whole family is military and I didn’t want to live that lifestyle. My experience in Louisiana as a student in high school, I really, truly, fell in love with that area and that state. I’m still an LSU fan to this day. I got an LSU tag on my truck I drive around town with.”

After eventually finding his way to Concord, where he was a walk-on for the Mountain Lions, he earned his degree in physical education in 2013.

Thompson said “I was fresh out of college in December and I got hired as a teacher in January. I believe I signed the football contract in May (at Mount View) right before the season started in June.

“I was the youngest head coach in the state at the time at age 24. I appreciate that start because Mount View didn’t have to give me that job.”

He spent five seasons in Welch and guided the Golden Knights to their first playoff appearance in more than a decade during the fall of 2018. At the same time he was the freshman boys basketball coach at Wyoming East, where he ended up coaching the Warriors into the state football playoffs during his only year as their head coach in 2019.

Thompson then left the hills and headed to the Bayou State to be an assistant at University Lab High School in Baton Rouge, which is affiliated with Louisiana State University.

“Andy Martin, the head football coach and he’s still there, a really smart guy and I learned so much from him and Lucas Peters,” Thompson added. “To be an assistant down there and to see how they did everything from the weight room to the logistics to the travel, I don’t want to say it gave me an edge, but it gave me an edge.

“It gave me some information that I never really assumed my first six years as a new young head coach. That was really the main reason I wanted to be an assistant and learn under someone.”

As fate would have it the new PSHS head man made his way back to Parkersburg to take over the Crusaders in 2021.

“We used to play against each other and we used to show up to camps against each. We were at Concord together. I’ve known Nate for a long time,” Thompson said. “Part of the decision making process when I was down in Baton Rogue deciding if I wanted to take this Catholic job, a little birdie, my wife, and shout out to her she’s amazing – she’s a coach’s wife and a football gal through and through – she said ‘Larry, you know, if Catholic doesn’t work out in regards to numbers you can just go volunteer at Parkersburg South if Nate will let you.’

“That right there I didn’t even think about. Shout out to coach Tanner, obviously, and the administration here at South because they knew I was the head coach at Catholic. They knew that I loved coaching and I just wanted to help a program out. I just came in to be part of a program. I have so much respect for coach Tanner and what he’s done at Summers County, Martinsville (Va.) and here at South, so I wanted to be part of it. I got to grow with the coaches and all the players. I felt as if I was part of the school and organization for the last three years.”

Coach Tanner admitted of Parkersburg South’s new leader “he has a great rapport with the kids. He did a great job as an assistant on our staff the last couple years. I think it will be a seamless transition.”

Thompson, who has a one-month old son in Makai Kash as well as son Nico Blaze, age 2, with wife Chelsea admitted “I definitely love running the football and I’m a spread guy. We’re going to be pretty similar to what we’ve looked like in the past. I’m a tempo guy myself and obviously I’ll add a couple little wrinkles here and there. In a perfect world I’d love to play with a tight end or an H-(back). I love 11 personnel. In a nutshell we are going to be fast. We’re going to play hard and the plan is to score a lot of points. We’ve got two beautiful baby boys who I can’t wait to see run around here at the (Erickson All)-Sports Facility and up at the school and just to grow on the sideline, growing the program, growing the weight room.

“My wife is fully invested. When we first got together I was a head coach and she understands the time commitment, but I can’t put enough emphasis on how appreciative I am of Ms. (Maria) Francisco, Ms. (Jennifer) Null, the board, superintendent, everybody. The coaching staff for giving me a vote of confidence to put in for it and all the players having my back. I can’t stress enough how appreciative I am. They handed me this silver platter and I’m going to polish it and I’m going to make it as shiny as it ever can be.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com