Back to the Oregon State Beavers Newsfeed

In hiring Kevin Clune, Oregon State gets blend of continuity and new ideas

(Danny Moran/The Oregonian)

CORVALLIS — While holding low-paying assistant coaching jobs at Fullerton Junior College and Occidental College in California in the late 1990s, Kevin Clune would stash away the funds needed to get to Utah each year and help the Utes with their football camps.

Clune estimates he only earned about $200 for the week of work. But he gained a lot more in knowledge, picking the brains of Utes defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, whom Clune had established a relationship with on the recruiting trail, and head coach Ron McBride.

This is also where Clune first caught the attention of then-defensive line coach Gary Andersen, who was impressed that Clune was "basically beating down the door to have an opportunity to get with us in whatever role that was going to be.