By Sandy Schomaker * Host Communications
Running game coordinator and of-fensive line coach Paul Dunn has high aspirations for the Kentucky Wildcats. After all, he has just come to Kentucky after a successful stint at Kansas State. There he coached the offensive line for five years and was running game coordinator for the past four seasons. Dunn also helped guide K-State to five bowl games.
Dunn has been coaching for 20 years, but has had aspirations to coach his entire life. His family consisted of five boys and one girl who were always involved in a variety of athletics.”Growing up, my dad was always coaching our sports teams and it was always something that I wanted to do,” said Dunn.
Now Dunn’s love of coaching has brought him back to the SEC and to Kentucky for the first time.
“I’ve always seen Kentucky as a place that has had great fan support,” Dunn said.
Dunn was enticed to come to Kentucky because its “program is very similar to some programs that I have been to in the past. UK has the opportunity to go to some bowl games, and turn the program around.”
Dunn wants the Kentucky program to “get to a point where seniors in our program expect to go to a bowl game.” That is one of the reasons Dunn was initially drawn to Kentucky. He felt Kentucky would have the opportunity to do this on a consistent basis and could gain a reputation as a successful program.
Dunn knows that getting to a bowl game will take hard work, especially due to the nature of the Southeastern Conference.
“(Kentucky plays in) probably the toughest conference in the country, so each and every week you have to be prepared to strap it up and play a good opponent,” Dunn said. “You’re not going to play any pansies in the Southeastern Conference. Our guys have to prepare that way each and every game.”
As Kentucky has prepared for its games, Dunn has found that the biggest transition for the players has been learning the new plays and system.
“The offensive system we are in has a lot of similarities to the one they were in under the last two years,” Dunn said.
The schemes are so similar that even many of the plays are the same but are just named differently. This has been an adjustment for the Wildcats players. But they have begun to realize that the plays they are running are consistent not only at Kentucky but at other programs such as SEC teams Florida and Georgia.
To help not only the offensive line but the entire Wildcat football team, Dunn is looking to the seniors to make things happen. Although this senior class has played under multiple coaching staffs, Dunn feels this is no excuse for them not to step up and show the other members of the team how to perform.
“I’m counting on the senior leadership to carry this unit through, and the better the seniors are performing, the better your football team will perform,” Dunn said. “I feel like I’ve got four good seniors that I can lean on right now.”
Those seniors are offensive tackle Antonio Hall, center Nick Seitze, and offensive guards Sylvester “Big Kat” Miller and Nate VanSickel.
In the running game, Kentucky lost one of its most valuable assets, running back Artose Pinner, who was the leading rusher in the SEC in 2002.
“With the group that we have we will be able to continue to saw wood and be consistent with what we are doing,” Dunn said. “They have shown some steps of improvements throughout the course of the year and we just have to get better emphasis on carrying out our assignments and finishing our blocks.”
Dunn feels that these are the things Kentucky needs to do to be successful, not only in the running game, but in the passing game as well. If the running game and the offensive line come together, Kentucky will do well moving the ball on the ground this year.
Dunn has gained a lot of experience over the years when it comes to coaching. He is a “firm believer that if you take care of business things will fall into place.”
This seems to be true for Dunn, who has been successful in both his coaching and playing career.
Dunn’s coaching experience has included time at Pittsburgh, Penn State, Edinboro, Rutgers, Maine, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt and Kansas State. Dunn’s 20 years of experience at a wide variety of schools has allowed him to see many successful seasons as well as take part in 12 bowl games.
In addition to the bowl games, Dunn feels that coaching has been extremely rewarding for him.”Coaching is a good life,” he said. “You get a chance to impact a lot of young men and see them develop through their career.”
Dunn hopes to make an impact on the players he has at Kentucky as he tries to show the group of seniors and their teammates that Kentucky has the potential to be a great football school. He feels that they have the ability to go to bowl games year after year.
As Dunn says, “Hopefully you’re a positive influence on them to the point where, when they leave as a senior, they leave with great respect and admiration, and the fact of having played for a pretty good football program in the process.”
