Football
- Title:
- Linebackers
- Email:
- tigers@memphis.edu
- Phone:
- 901-678-5119
Kevin Clune, who spent 2018 as the team’s senior defensive assistant, was named the assistant coach for the linebackers in January of 2019.
Clune spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Oregon State. In 2015, Clune was the defensive coordinator at Utah State, his second stint on the Aggies’ staff. In two separate coaching stints at Utah State, Clune helped the program to four bowl appearances and the 2012 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship.
A former player at Fullerton Junior College and the University of San Diego, Clune moved to the coaching ranks at Palma (Calif.) High School, serving as the defensive line and receivers’ coach. He then spent two seasons at Dos Pueblos (Calif.) High School as the linebackers’ coach and returned to his juco alma mater in 1996 as the special teams’ coordinator and linebackers’ coach. After four seasons at Fullerton, Clune joined the staff at Occidental College in 2000 as a defensive line coach, then served at Utah for two years as a graduate assistant coach (2001-02). While at Utah, Clune coached his first bowl-bound team, as the Utes earned a spot in the 2001 Vegas Bowl, defeating USC, 10-6.
Clune, a native of Carmel, California, continued to spend time in Utah, moving to Southern Utah for his first stint as a defensive coordinator in 2003-04. In Cedar City, he guided a pair of linebackers to All-America honors as Nick DiPadova and Mazrquest Harris earned second and third team honors, respectively. In 2005, Clune became the defensive coordinator and linebackers’ coach at Weber State in Ogden, Utah. After two seasons in that role, he added assistant head coach duties in 2008, helping Weber State to a Big Sky co-championship.
That championship season was followed up by Clune’s first stop at Utah State, working as a linebackers’ coach (2009-13). Freshman linebacker Kyle Fackrell was named all-conference and a freshman All-American, while Bobby Wagner was named the 2011 WAC Defensive Player of the Year and later was drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft by Seattle.
Utah State (USU) appeared in back-to-back Famous Idaho Potato Bowls (2011 and 2012). After winning the WAC in 2012, USU would make it to the Poinsettia Bowl in 2013, defeating Northern Illinois, 21-14, in Clune’s last year in his inaugural stop at USU.
After a one-year hiatus in Hawai’i, where he also served as defensive coordinator, Clune returned to Utah State to serve as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator, helping guide linebacker Kyler Fackrell to a semifinalist spot on the Butkus Award list. Fellow linebacker Nick Vigil ranked sixth in the NCAA that same season in tackles per game (11.1), and the Aggies defense ranked 17th nationally in total defense (332.5/ypg), 13th in passing yards allowed (180.5) and 21st in third-down percentage (33.8 percent). The Aggies again returned to the Idaho Famous Potato Bowl in 2015 and ranked in the top four in the Mountain West in 12 defensive categories.
In January of 2016, Clune was named the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Oregon State. His 2016 defense allowed 52.3 yards per game fewer than the previous season and ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in pass defense (211.2 ypg) and fifth in pass efficiency defense, a seven-spot improvement from the previous year. In 2017, senior linebacker Manase Hungalu and freshman safety David Morris earned Pac-12 honorable mention honors. Hungalu ranked fifth in the Pac -12 with 97 tackles and was named one of five finalists for the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year.
