LUNNEY JR. NAMED UA TIGHT ENDS COACH
By: UA Sports Information
Updated: January 15, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Barry Lunney Jr., a former UA letterman and graduate assistant coach, has been named Arkansas' tight ends coach, head coach
Bret Bielema announced Tuesday.
"In
the world of college football there have been numerous examples of high
school coaches joining a college coaching staff and making an immediate
impact," Coach Bielema said. "Barry has
experienced success through his seven years as a college coach and at
the highest levels in high school. He understands the demands of being a
college coach, and the championship teams he helped lead at Bentonville
High School routinely produced one of the
state's top offenses. He attended Razorback games starting at a very
early age and generations of his family have been a part of building the
tradition at Arkansas. He was a captain who led this program to its
first SEC Western Division title and he will be
a tremendous bridge to fill the gap between this coaching staff and all
of our former letterwinners, high school coaches in Arkansas and the
entire state."
Lunney
most recently has served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks
coach at Bentonville High School since 2005. He began his coaching
career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas
before coaching at Tulsa and as the co-offensive coordinator at San Jose
State.
In
his eight years at Bentonville, the Tigers won 78 games, including 25
straight in 2010-11, played in four state championship games, claiming
state titles in 2008 and 2010, and won six
straight 7A West Conference crowns from 2007-12. Bentonville played in
each of the last three 7A state championship games and won at least 12
games in four of the last five seasons.
Bentonville
quarterback Dallas Hardison broke the Arkansas state single-season
completion percentage record in 2010 and bettered the record in 2011
under the direct guidance of Lunney. In
2011 and 2012, the Tigers won their first 12 games to advance to the
state championship game with an offense that averaged 42.5 and 36.8
points per game, respectively.
The
2010 Bentonville team finished the season 13-0 and won the 7A state
championship. The offense averaged 47.0 points per game and scored at
least 40 points nine times, including 49 points
in the semifinal round and the state championship game. In 2009, the
Tigers averaged 38.5 points per game and scored more than 40 points in
six games while advancing to the quarterfinal round of the state
playoffs and finishing with a 9-2 overall record.
Lunney's
first state title at Bentonville came in 2008 as the Tigers won 12
games for the first time since 2001. The offense averaged 30.2 points
per game and scored more than 30 points in
seven of 13 games. In 2007, Bentonville won the first of its six
straight conference crowns and advanced to the semifinal round of the
state playoffs behind an offense that averaged 31.1 points per game. The
2006 Tigers qualified for the state playoffs for
the first time since 2001 as the offense averaged 34.2 points per game.
In 2005, Lunney's first year in charge of the Bentonville offense, its
per-game scoring average improved by more than 20 points from the
previous year.
Before
moving to the high school coaching ranks, Lunney compiled seven years
of collegiate coaching experience. His coaching career began with two
seasons as a graduate assistant at Arkansas.
In 1998, Arkansas won its first eight games and rose to No. 9 in the
national rankings on the way to sharing the SEC Western Division title
and earning a berth in the Florida Citrus Bowl. Lunney served as the
Razorbacks' running backs coach for the bowl game
and throughout the spring of 1999. Arkansas spent the majority of the
1999 season in the top 25 of the national rankings and finished the year
with a 27-6 win over No. 14 Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
After
his time as a graduate assistant, he spent three seasons at Tulsa,
first working with quarterbacks in 2000 and 2001 and then moving to wide
receivers in 2002. In 2000, quarterback Josh
Blankenship, who was named to the conference's all-academic team, ranked
fifth in the WAC in total offense and receiver Don Shoals led the
conference and ranked 11th in the NCAA in receptions per game.
Lunney
was hired from Tulsa to be the co-offensive coordinator and
quarterbacks coach at San Jose State. In his two seasons there, the
offense produced six all-conference performers, and
tight end Courtney Anderson was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the
2004 NFL Draft. In 2003, the Spartans ranked 17th in the NCAA in passing
offense and quarterback Scott Rislov ranked third in the WAC in passing
efficiency and total offense.
As
a player for the Razorbacks, Lunney lettered from 1992-95, starting 40
games at quarterback, and was a team captain on the 1995 team that
played in the SEC Championship Game for the first
time in school history. In his first game as the starting quarterback,
he led Arkansas to an upset win at No. 4 Tennessee. He left Arkansas
holding UA career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, pass
completions, pass attempts and total offense plays.
Lunney also played baseball at Arkansas. He was drafted by the Montreal
Expos out of high school in 1992 and by the Minnesota Twins in 1996 and
played one season of minor league baseball in the Twins organization.
Lunney
graduated from Arkansas in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in
kinesiology. He and his wife, Janelle, have two sons, Luke and Levi. His
grandfather, John lettered at Arkansas from 1946-49.
Barry Lunney Jr. Coaching History
Jan. 2013 Arkansas (Tight Ends)
2005-12 Bentonville High School (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2003-04 San Jose State (co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2002 Tulsa (Wide Receivers)
2000-01 Tulsa (Quarterbacks)
1998-99 Arkansas (Graduate Assistant-Offense)
Home Town: Fort Smith, Ark.
Birthdate: Sept. 11, 1974
Family: Wife, Janelle; Sons, Luke and Levi
Bowl Games: Cotton Bowl, 2000;
Florida Citrus Bowl, 1999
