Joe Harper (born ) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is the offensive quality control coach at

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

. Harper served as the head football coach at Cal Poly from 1968 to 1981, at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

from 1982 to 1984, and at

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...

from 1990 to 1995, compiling a career coaching record of 131–95–4. He led the

1980 Cal Poly Mustangs football team The 1980 Cal Poly Mustangs football team represented California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) during the 1980 NCAA Division II football season. Led by 13th-year ...

to the

NCAA Division II Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

. Harper rejoined the

Cal Poly Mustangs football The Cal Poly Mustangs are the football team representing California Polytechnic State University located in San Luis Obispo, California. The team plays its home games at Mustang Memorial Field, at the NCAA Division I FCS level in the Big Sky Conf ...

program in 2011. A native of

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

, Harper attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA), where he lettered in football for three seasons, from 1956 to 1958. He was co-captain of the 1957 UCLA Bruins football team. Harper graduated from UCLA in 1959 and spent one season coaching at his alma mater, as an assistant for the freshmen football team. He moved on to

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

before serving as line coach at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

in 1962. From 1963 to 1967 Harper worked as an offensive line coach at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

under

Eddie Crowder Eddie Crowder (August 26, 1931 – September 9, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback (QB) and safety at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the early 1950s and a successful head coach and athletic dir ...

. Harper was hired as the head football coach at Cal Poly in February 1968. That July he was appointed as the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Cal Poly profile
1930s births Living people American football guards Cal Lutheran Kingsmen football coaches Cal Poly Mustangs athletic directors Cal Poly Mustangs football coaches Cal Poly Mustangs coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football coaches Riverside City Tigers football coaches UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football coaches UCLA Bruins football players Sportspeople from Glendale, California Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from California {{1960s-collegefootball-coach-stub