When Jeff Thompson was first starting out coaching gymnastics, he interviewed for an assistant job at Penn State and didn’t get it.

Now, after 11 years and two SEC and NCAA Regional Coach of the Year awards with Auburn, the Nittany Lions called him.

“They came at us and told us we were their No. 1 choice,” Thompson said. “They told us they really wanted us. They shared a package for what they put together for us. We didn’t even ask Auburn to try to match it. It was going to be the right place for us so we let them know we were going to take it.”

Thompson was hired as the ninth head women’s gymnastics coach in Penn State history Wednesday.

His wife Rachelle will be his associate head coach, the same position she held with the Tigers.

Jeff Thompson had one year left on his contract at Auburn and said he wasn’t looking for a new job.

But the Nittany Lions made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and, after less than 10 days of courting, the deal was done.

“It’s always tough to leave when you lived somewhere for 25 percent of your life, the only place our boys (Parker, 14, and Griffin, 12) have ever known,” Thompson said. “We’re going to a place where we know we are going to be able to recruit. These are all good kids. It’s academic reputation is a strength. Their academic reputation is actually stronger than Auburn. The campus is very safe, very family-friendly. We’re going to go there and do our best job and try to get the team back to where they were.”

The Thompsons coached four NCAA All-Americans, four All-SEC team members, three SEC Gymnast of the Year winners and one SEC Freshman of the Year in their time at Auburn.

Their 2010 season was one marked by the high of beating five-time defending national champion Georgia for the first time in program history and the low of finishing last in the six-team Salt Lake regional to end the year.

Penn State finished third at its regional in the spring, one spot shy of advancing to the national championships.

“We are so excited to welcome Jeff, Rachelle and their family to Penn State to lead our women’s gymnastics program,” Penn State Director of Athletics Tim Curley said in a statement. “Jeff has been very successful in his time at Auburn, as well as at the club level. His leadership and dedication to the sport of gymnastics will make a positive impression on our student-athletes.”

Thompson has coached in the Big Ten before, as an assistant at Illinois and Wisconsin.

He will have a familiar foe to welcome him in his first meet as the Nittany Lion coach next year: Alabama, which he never got the best of in his time at Auburn.

“We appreciate everything that Jeff and Rachelle Thompson have given to Auburn and the gymnastics program during the last 11 years,” Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs said. “They worked tirelessly to elevate and improve the Auburn gymnastics program.

“Jeff and Rachelle recruited and mentored many outstanding student-athletes who succeeded on the competition floor, in the classroom and in the community.We will be forever grateful for all that they have meant to Auburn. They will always be a part of the Auburn Family.”

Auburn University beat writer Andrew Gribble contributed to this report.

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