Cal Lutheran Entrusts Football Team to Harper

Cal Lutheran fired one past national champion football coach but managed to replace him with another.

Joe Harper, coach of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s 1980 NCAA Division II championship team, was introduced Thursday as the replacement for Bob Shoup, whose 1971 NAIA title was the highlight of his 28-year tenure as Cal Lutheran coach.

It became public in August that the 1989 season would be Shoup’s last. Shoup’s ensuing grievance did not complete official university channels until Jan. 23, but Harper said the controversy has not affected him.

“It really doesn’t bother me,” Harper said at a press conference. “My involvement has been very short.”

Dennis Gillette, vice president for institutional advancement, said the university had no qualms about hiring a new coach even though there is a possibility that the former coach will continue to contest his dismissal.

“We can’t, because the university, as far as the position of former coach, has gone through the process,” Gillette said. “What happens from this point on, we’ll have to deal with it when it occurs.”

Harper, 53, coached 14 seasons at San Luis Obispo. He coached Northern Arizona from 1982 to 1984, compiling a record of 12-20, but moved back to his native Southern California after several years in Flagstaff. A commercial real estate salesman, he has been in private business since being fired by Northern Arizona.

“I never wanted to get out” of coaching, said Harper, who has a career record of 117-64-4. “I feel it’s been a five-year search to find a situation that looked right to me.”

In 1986, Harper was a finalist for the Cal State Northridge football job.

“In my estimation (Cal Lutheran) is exactly the right place to be at this time,” said Harper, who lives in Arcadia but said he will move closer to the school. “I feel fortunate that I was in a position when Cal Lutheran had a need, I had a need, and that our paths crossed.”

Harper’s stocky build reflects his years as a UCLA lineman in the 1950s. At CLU, Harper also will be a lecturer in the physical education department.

Harper said his teams have been pass- and run-oriented at different times in his career. All three of his Northern Arizona squads averaged more than 200 yards passing per game, and his 1984 team topped out at 266.5 passing yards per game.

Harper, noting that he had yet to evaluate his personnel, said, “It would be silly to try to force a scheme that would be inappropriate to the people.”