BYU Football Hires Former Oregon State DC Kevin Clune As Defensive Assistant

PROVO, Utah – BYU football has officially hired former Oregon State defensive coordinator Kevin Clune as a linebackers coach.

Clune has extensive coaching experience that spans over 28 years. Last year, Clune was an analyst on BYU’s staff, and in the Boca Raton Bowl against UCF, Clune wore a headset communicating with Ilaisa Tuiaki on the defensive side.

#BYU has hired Kevin Clune as linebackers coach. Clune was a former defensive coordinator at Oregon State, Utah State, and Hawaii.

He was an analyst for the Cougars in 2020.#BYUFootball @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 5, 2021

Before arriving at BYU last year, Clune was a linebackers coach for the Memphis Tigers from 2018-19.

From 2014-2017, Clune was a defensive coordinator at Hawaii, Utah State, and Oregon State from the Pac-12 Conference.

Clune has a strong relationship with BYU head coach Kalani Sitake that dates back to their days at Southern Utah in the early 2000s.

“I’m excited to announce Kevin Clune is joining our defensive staff,” Sitake said. “I have known Kevin my entire coaching career. He is a great person and an outstanding coach with a ton of experience, both as a position coach and coordinator. With his experience and expertise, Kevin is a great addition to our defensive room working with Coach Tuiaki, Coach Lamb and our defensive staff as we build on our past successes.”

Clune played football at Fullerton Junior College and the University of San Diego. His first coaching stop was at Palma High School in California. He received his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology in 2000 from Cal State-Fullerton.

“I can’t express how excited I am to join Coach Sitake and the rest of the staff for the 2021 season,” Clune said. “I am honored by the opportunity to be a part of the BYU tradition and to work with these student-athletes.  Coach Sitake has assembled a team of tremendous young men, and I look forward to helping build on last year’s success as we move forward to next season.”

Tabbing Clune to lead the linebackers frees up Ed Lamb from that role. Lamb is BYU’s Associate Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator.

One of Clune’s coaching career’s notable stops was in 2009-13, where he was Utah State’s linebacker coach. Clune coached up Seattle Seahawk Bobby Wagner while he was with the Aggies.

BYU still has one position that needs to be filled on the offensive side of the ball. The Cougars still need an offensive line coach after Eric Mateos followed Jeff Grimes to Baylor.

BYU football begins spring practices for the 2021 season on Monday, March 1st.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.