Joseph Thomas Pannunzio (born July 4, 1959) 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 for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He is a former player and executive. He served as head football coach at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

(MSU) from 2000 to 2005, compiling an overall record of 30–37. Pannunzio was the director of football operations at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

from 2011 to 2014. He was the special teams/tight ends coach in 2017, and running backs coach in 2018 for the University of Alabama. He is currently the director of team development for the

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Coaching career

Murray State

In November 2002, Murray State won a share of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

championship with a 37–35 win over an

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

squad led by future NFL quarterback

Tony Romo Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Eastern Illino ...

. Kicker

Shane Andrus Shane Andrus (born October 2, 1980) is a former American football placekicker. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Murray State. Andrus has also been a member of the New Y ...

made the 52-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. The Racers finished the season 7–4 and 5–1 in conference, and MSU received the OVC's automatic bid to the Division I-AA playoffs. In the first round of the NCAA Division I playoffs, the Racers faced off against the arch rival

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

on the road in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the 2 ...

. The Hilltoppers won the

rivalry game Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both ...

59–20 and went on to win the Division I-AA national championship. On April 29, 2005, Pannunzio was placed on paid administrative leave following the arrest of a Murray State football player and a former player on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Ron Lane, a junior running back, and Terrence Biggers, a former wide receiver, were charged with trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school and possession of drug paraphernalia. Following the incident, athletic director Allen Ward stated, "charges of this severity and magnitude demand stepped-up review of our football program." Ron Lane was removed from the team and both students were banned from campus. Murray State finished the 2005 season with a winless conference record of 0–7 and an overall record of 2–9. In November 2005, Pannunzio was notified that his contract would not be renewed. According to an interview several years later with former Murray State president F. King Alexander, Alexander explained Pannunzio's departure by stating, "I fired our football coach, Joe Pannunzio, because of numerous incidents that occurred in our program under him that were quite bad." Murray State's overall record under Pannunzio was 30–37 (.448), which left him as one of five Racer football coaches with overall losing records.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Philadelphia Eagles profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pannunzio, Joe 1959 births Living people American football quarterbacks Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Colorado Mesa Mavericks football coaches CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves football players CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves football coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches Miami Hurricanes football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Murray State Racers football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches People from Pueblo, Colorado Philadelphia Eagles coaches Philadelphia Eagles executives TCU Horned Frogs football coaches