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After seven years at his alma mater, Barry Lunney Jr. has left Arkansas to become the offensive coordinator at UTSA.
With the Roadrunners, he'll work for former Arkansas associate head coach and running backs coach Jeff Traylor, who was hired as their head coach Monday.
Lunney was the Razorbacks’ tight ends coach and special teams coordinator before being named the interim coach for the final two games of the 2019 season following the firing of Chad Morris.
Both of those games ended in losses - 56-20 at No. 1 LSU and 24-14 to Missouri in Little Rock - but Lunney was still considered a strong candidate for the full-time job and even interviewed with athletics director Hunter Yurachek.
When Sam Pittman was hired as head coach, Lunney met with him about being retained, but Pittman and Yurachek declined to comment on his status Monday afternoon.
“I would prefer that you maybe talk to Barry about what his feelings are,” Pittman said. “Barry and I are really good friends and have been for a long time. I have high respect for him as a man and as a football coach.”
A Fort Smith native, Lunney was a two-sport athlete at Arkansas in the 1990s, starting at quarterback for four years and also pitching for the baseball team. This is admittedly a dream job for him, as he said as much when introduced as the interim coach last month. He also got choked up talking about his three weeks leading the program following the Missouri loss.
“It’s been a special team,” Lunney said with a voice called with emotion. “Despite the circumstances, it’s been a special time. I will always remember the way these guys have gotten behind me and listened to me and followed me.
“I’m very disappointed that we couldn’t come out with one today. I thought we were going to get one today, I really did. I thought we were going to. There were moments in the game I thought we were going to. But it doesn’t take away from this being a very special time for me.”
As the Razorbacks’ tight ends coach under Morris and Bret Bielema, Lunney tutored future NFL Draft picks Hunter Henry, Jeremy Sprinkle and AJ Derby. Cheyenne O’Grady could be added to that list in April.
Lunney began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 1998-99. He then moved on to Tulsa, where he was a quarterbacks coach in 2000 and 2001 and wide receivers coach in 2002, and San Jose State, where he was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2003-04.
In the eight seasons between his stint with the Spartans and return to the collegiate ranks, Lunney was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for his father, legendary high school coach Barry Lunney Sr., at Bentonville High.
As a player, Lunney started 40 games at quarterback. He is still one of only nine true freshmen to start at the position in UA history, leading the Razorbacks to an upset win at No. 4 Tennessee in his first start. He was also a team captain on the 1995 team, which played in the first SEC Championship Game in school history.
