Dick Hopkins

Richard Hopkins (born October 9, 1951) is an American former college football coach. He was the defensive coordinator for Duke, Cincinnati, Rice, Vanderbilt, Yale, James Madison, The Citadel, Rhode Island, Chattanooga, Duquesne, and Emory and Henry. He also coached for Florida State, Forest Hill High School, Twin Lakes High School, Temple, Tulane, Florida Atlantic, Santaluces Community High School, and Olympic Heights Community High School. He played college football for Florida State as a quarterback and tight end.

Playing career Hopkins was born on October 9, 1951, in Toledo, Ohio. He grew up in Cincinnati and West Palm Beach, Florida, and attended Forest Hill High School. At Forest Hill, he played with future NFL player Ken Stone.

In 1970, Hopkins enrolled at Florida State and played college football as a quarterback. He was originally going to commit to Duke after visiting with Tom Harp in 1969, but ultimately chose Florida State. In his initial season, he served as the fourth/fifth string quarterback with minimal practice time with first-year head coach Larry Jones stating: "He really hasn't had that much work. We won't know until the fall whether we'll red-shirt him or not." In 1972, Hopkins transitioned from quarterback to tight end, serving as the second stringer after being the starting tight end during spring scrimmages due to an injury to incumbent starter Gary Parris. He missed two games due to injury. In Hopkins' third year with Florida State, he was again sidelined with an injury, this time a shoulder injury which required season-ending surgery that led him to quit the team entirely.

While at Florida State University, Hopkins lived with teammate Mack Brown.

Coaching career After Hopkins quit the Seminoles' football team, he immediately joined the coaching staff, serving as a student assistant, specifically with the freshmen team.

Hopkins was out of coaching in 1974, but in 1975, he returned to the sideline as the offensive coordinator for his alma mater, Forest Hill.

After one season, Hopkins was hired as the head coach for Twin Lakes High School, a team that finished the previous season with a 4–6 records. In Hopkins' second season, he immediately improved on the previous season's mark, leading the team to a 3–1 record in the first four weeks and tied for first in the Suncoast Conference's East Division. Included in those three wins was a 13–6 win over 1976 Suncoast champion Palm Beach Gardens Community High School. leading to Hopkins winning the Suncoast East Division Coach of the Year honors, beating out Otis Grey, who led his Boca Raton Community High School team to a 10–1 record and a playoff appearance.

In August 1978, Hopkins left Twin Lakes in the same position it had been left to him in, without a head coach, less than a month before the season opener, when he abruptly resigned to become a graduate assistant for Bobby Bowden at his alma mater, Florida State. Mills stated that he believed "that he violated the contract for his own personal advantage, and students have been hurt because of this." During his last two seasons with the team, Florida State finished with back-to-back ten-plus win seasons with two Tangerine Bowl appearances against Oklahoma. Hopkins took over for defensive coordinator Cliff Yoshida who resigned to coach for Virginia Tech. In his first season with the team, he helped improve the team to a 6–5 record, and coached two All-ACC players Dennis Tabron and Charles Bowser. Despite the overall team improvement, the Blue Devils' defense still struggled, with midway through the 1982 season the defense gave up over 400 yard per game. After a second-consecutive 6–5 season, with the defense again struggling, Wilson, Hopkins, and much of the staff was fired.

Following Hopkins' firing from Duke, he accepted the same positions for Cincinnati under first-year head coach Watson Brown, brother of Hopkins' college roommate Mack. The team went 1–10 and allowed 432 yards per game in his first season.

Rice went 3–8 in 1985, and Hopkins once again followed Watson, this time to Vanderbilt. Hopkins first course of action with Vanderbilt was to transition the team from its 4–3 defense to an eight-in-the-box defense, a move he had previously installed with Rice midway through the season. He stated the switch was "a simple matter of adopting a defensive to fit the talent." After a 1–10 season where the defense gave up 31.5 points per game and 409.9 yards per game, Hopkins made another switch on defense, this time changing to a 5–3 defense. Despite the change, the defense was again at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as the team went 4–7. For the third-consecutive year, the team switched defensive formations, this time to a 4–3 defense, virtually identical to the Nick Saban-led defense of Michigan State.

Hopkins spent four seasons with Temple before becoming the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for Yale, replacing Don Brown, who left to become the head coach for Plymouth State. Carmen Cozza praised Hopkins, stating: "We are very fortunate to have Dick with us...His extensive experience as a defensive secondary coach and coordinator make him a fine addition to our staff." Hopkins switched the Yale defense from a 4–3 to a 5–2 defense. He spent one season with Yale, departing after a 3–7 record.

Hopkins joined the staff of former Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens, who was now the head coach for Tulane. Hopkins was hired as the defensive backs coach. Alongside his retention, he transitioned to defensive ends coach.

Before Tulane's bowl game in 1998, Bowden left and Chris Scelfo was brought in as his replacement. After the team won, Scelfo began shaping his staff, which included not retaining Hopkins. Matthews served in Hopkins place for the game against Villanova due to Hopkins being hospitalized for a blood clot. During his tenure, he coached all-conference players Ron Atkins and Mark Coates.

Shortly after Hopkins' resignation from James Madison, he was hired in the same positions at The Citadel by former James Madison offensive coordinator, now The Citadel head coach, John Zernhelt. Zernhelt spoke of Hopkins and the hiring "His love for the game of football and his players were some of the major factors in The Citadel bringing him in." Hopkins was retained after Zernhelt left after the 2004 season, but he was let go after the 2005 season, his first alongside Kevin Higgins. During his stint with The Citadel, Hopkins coached all-conference players Avery Dingle and Shawn Grant. In his initial season, he helped lead the defense to an A-10 second-best passing yards allowed per game, with just under 160 yards per game. Hopkins was hired after David Bibee, who was promoted after Billy Taylor left, also left.

After not coaching in 2015, Hopkins returned as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for Emory and Henry under Curt Newsome. The pair had previously worked together at James Madison in the early 2000s.

Personal life Hopkins was college roommates with Tulane, North Carolina, and Texas head coach Mack Brown while at Florida State University.

Head coaching record