Alonzo Hampton got his first taste of being a college head coach last year.
This spring, Hampton is applying lessons he learned from his debut season as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff football team prepares for his second season in charge.
He said the biggest thing he has learned is to delegate more to his coordinators and assistants.
“As a schoolteacher, I’m used to doing everything, and being at places that don’t have all the resources, I’ve been hands on,” Hampton said. “So, what I’ve been able to do is just delegate things, and then it just allows me to step back. When I say step back, allows me to kind of see the program from a holistic point of view and not just a defensive side, not just a special teams side. I can just sit back and watch everybody coach, and then, you can really evaluate guys.”
Hampton started his coaching career at Warren High School in 2000 as the Lumberjacks’ defensive coordinator, then served as head coach at Dumas from 2004-05. After stints at UAPB and Western Kentucky, he briefly returned to the high school ranks to coach defensive backs at Tift County High School in Tifton, Georgia, before returning to college football.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The 2023 UAPB season was Hampton’s first as a collegiate head coach and his first as a head coach overall since 2005 at Dumas.
He has otherwise mostly coached defense and special teams throughout his career, and those habits carried over into his first year as head coach. He said this year, he will spend more time with the offense, led by new offensive coordinator Tony Hull, and trust defensive coordinator David Calloway to handle the defense.
“I think it’s been good for me as a head coach to see it from the offense’s perspective, what they go through, and I can kind of tell them some things, what a defense may do to stop them,” Hampton said. “I probably should have did it last year. I didn’t do it, but again, I’m not the same coach I was last year, either. I’m a better coach, and so now I kind of looked at the error of my ways.”
Although Hampton won’t be as involved in coaching the defense this spring, he said there are still things he wants to see from that side of the ball.
UAPB gave up 33.8 points and 444.7 yards per game last season, the most in the SWAC on both counts. The Golden Lions had the fewest interceptions, four, and the second-fewest sacks, 18. UAPB was better at forcing and recovering fumbles, ranking fifth and fourth in the SWAC, respectively.
Hampton said he wants the defense to be more aggressive and run more stunts, but overall, it just needs to be quicker and better at every position. He said some of that comes from bringing in better players, but he is also trusting Calloway and the defensive staff.
“I ain’t gonna blame it all on the players,” Hampton said. “We gotta do a better job of coaching them, as well, and so put them in the best position to succeed. I do feel comfortable with our defensive staff, Coach Calloway. Coach [Jeff] Burrow, he got the passing game coordinator title. Then I got my [graduate assistant], JaMario McClendon, he’ll be coaching corners in the spring, which is good for him. It’s about growth for those guys, and again, they don’t gotta worry about me looking over their shoulders. I’m on the other side. I’m trying to whoop them every day in practice.”