Bio

Bobby Thigpen begins his first season as a coach back in the MACCC with Gulf Coast, where he’ll be the cornerbacks coach. The former East Central Community College player is also an active duty reservist in the Army and returns to the college coaching ranks for the first time since 2014.

Thigpen starred at Forest High before playing two seasons at defensive back at East Central. He played the 2011 and 2012 seasons at Belhaven, where he played switched to receiver as a senior and was second on the team in receptions.

He graduated from Belhaven with a bachelor’s in history and a minor in education in 2013, then was a coaching intern there for a season. He finished his master’s in education from the school in 2017 and added a master’s in sports administration from Arkansas State in 2020.

Thigpen taught history at Forrest County High from 2014-16, where he was also an assistant coach. He coached and taught at Clinton from 2016-2018, then was an assistant and the history department coordinator at W.H. Adamson High in Dallas from 2018-19.

He joined the U.S. Army Reserves in 2016 and has been accepted to Officer Candidate School.

Thigpen and his wife Lauren have a daughter, Taylor, 8. He also has twin daughters Da’Kiyah and Da’Miyah, 18.