FAYETTEVILLE — Barry Lunney Jr. won’t run through the Arkansas ‘A’ like he did as a player and a graduate assistant, but he’s glad to be associated with Razorbacks football once again.
The former Arkansas quarterback, who is now the tight ends coach on Bret Bielema’s staff, led the Razorbacks to a win at No. 4 Tennessee as a freshman, and then directed it to an SEC Western Division crown as a senior in 1995.
Lunney had served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for his father at Bentonville the previous eight seasons, where the Tigers won state championships in 2008 and 2010 while winning 78 games.
“I did have some mixed emotions about leaving,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, working with my dad every day and him being around my kids, not to mention the success we had. It was a total team effort.”
This isn’t Lunney’s first foray into collegiate coaching, however.
Following his stint as a graduate assistant for Arkansas, he was a quarterbacks and wide receivers coach at Tulsa from 2000-02 before leaving for San Jose State in 2003 to coach quarterbacks and was named co-offensive coordinator.
Coaching tight ends may be something new, but as a former quarterback, he knows how vital a role they can play in the offense.
“It’s a great position to coach,” Lunney said. “I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it. It’s a lot like coaching quarterbacks because they’re so engaged in both facets of the game (running and passing). It’s not one-dimensional. It keeps you on your toes and keeps you busy.”
In today’s era of college football, seemingly everyone is on social media, and Lunney has embraced that since joining the Razorback staff.
“It’s a lot different (since I played),” Lunney said. “I can direct message or direct reply at any recruit we’re looking at and that stuff wasn’t around back then.”
Lunney also has responsibilities in recruiting, as he’s in charge of a healthy portion of Arkansas and northeast Texas.
Sophomore tight end Alex Voelzke is from Longview, Texas, a city in east Texas which is renowned for producing top prep football talent.
“Coach Lunney keeps pounding it in our heads to keep getting better and better every day,” Voelzke said. “We’ve got a really good group with really good chemistry. We’ve all got different niches.”
Lunney said that guys like Voelzke and the other tight ends have made the transition back into college easy.
“The guys have been great,” Lunney said. “We’ve got some talent and we want to continue to push forward with that.”
When Arkansas opens with Louisiana-Lafayette on Aug. 31, he will be coaching from the press box.
“I might have to just envision running through the ‘A’,” Lunney said. “Like in the scrimmage (on Saturday), just having fans out there being supportive and clapping brings back a lot of memories.”