Joe Lee Dunn
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach

After locking in on several battles in the Southeastern Conference in the late 1990's, Joe Lee Dunn decided to combine forces with Hal Mumme in 2008 rather than coach against him anymore. Dunn enters his first season as the defensive coordinator at McMurry University in 2009.

As the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State from 1996-2002, Dunn ran into Mumme's Kentucky Wildcats four times from 1997-2000. A combined 11 points decided the first three meetings with Dunn's Bulldogs taking two of three. Then in Mumme's final year at Kentucky, MSU rolled over the Wildcats 35-17 Nov. 7, 2000.

Though Dunn took three wins against Mumme's Air Raid offense, Dunn said that the Air Raid Offense gave the Bulldogs fits.

On the other side of the ball Mumme hired Dunn as defensive coordinator at New Mexico State in 2008 as a result of their battles in the previous decade. While Mumme is credited with originating the Air Raid, Dunn is the pioneer of the 3-3-5 defense.

“The reason we ended up going to it was the fact that we couldn't get enough defensive linemen at [Mississippi State],” Dunn said. “We could get linebackers and defensive backs by the drove, but those big old guys up front are hard to come by.”

Dunn implemented the 3-3-5 defense while he was the defensive coordinator at the University of Memphis. He and the Tigers were up against the University of Southern California in Pasadena, Calif. In preparation for the game, he decided to move his defensive ends and made them defensive backs. Memphis upset the No. 14-ranked Trojans 24-10 Sept. 2, 1991 partly due to Dunn's antics on defense.

The 3-3-5 defense consists of three down-linemen with three linebackers and five players in the secondary. Pre-snap Dunn moves defenders around and constantly shows blitz from different parts of the defense to confuse offenses.

Dunn was a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1968. He began his coaching career with nine years on staff, and later he was inducted into the school's hall of fame.

He spent seven seasons at the University of New Mexico where he was the head coach for four seasons from 1983-1986.

Then, Dunn broke into the Southeastern Conference as the defensive coordinator for the University of South Carolina from 1987-88. In his first season as defensive coordinator, Dunn helped the Gamecocks finish in the top five in all major defensive categories.

From there, he went to the University of Memphis from 1989-91 as defensive coordinator.  Then he spent three seasons at Ole Miss from 1992-1994 and was the team's interim head coach in 1994.  For the 1995 season, Dunn returned to the SEC where he took the defensive reins at the University of Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks to an SEC West Division title.

From there, he spent seven seasons at Mississippi State. His 1999 team had the No. 1 defense in NCAA Division I. Dunn helped the Bulldogs to three bowl appearances including back-to-back wins at the 1999 Peach Bowl (17-7 win over Clemson) and the 2000 Independence Bowl (43-41 win over Texas A&M in overtime).

He returned to the University of Memphis from 2003-2005 and resurrected a defense that was 101st in the nation in rushing defense in 2002. In his first season back in 2003, the Tigers finished ninth in NCAA Division I in total defense. He followed that in 2004 with the seventh-best defense in the nation.

He coached at Ridgeway High School in Memphis, Tenn. in 2007 before taking the defensive coordinator position at New Mexico State.

Dunn, 62, and his wife Susie have three children Kacey, Ashley and Joseph Levi, Jr.

Back