Report: Utah State linebackers coach Kevin Clune to take coordinator job at Hawaii

A report from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser indicates that one of Utah State's top assistants could soon be headed to Mountain West rival Hawaii.

Aggies linebacker coach Kevin Clune, one of the longest tenured assistants in the program, is likely to soon be announced as Hawaii's next defensive coordinator, report Star-Advertiser writers Dave Reardon and Stephen Tsai.

Utah State linebacker coach Kevin Clune is the frontrunner to be named the University of Hawaii football team's next defensive coordinator. An announcement could be made as early as today.

Reardon reported that a source confirmed Clune was down to final background checks on Tuesday afternoon.

Clune was one of three defensive assistants retained this past offseason, helping the Aggies finish as a top-10 scoring defense in back-to-back years. With defensive coordinator Todd Orlando adapting to many of the Aggies' schemes, Clune was among those who helped maintain continuity even as the coaching staff changed above him.

Leading up the linebacking corps, Clune mentored several of the best defenders to ever come through the school. Most notable among them is Bobby Wagner, a three-time first team all-conference selection who has gone on to a successful career with the Seattle Seahawks. Jake Doughty, Zach Vigil and Kyler Fackrell were all all-Mountain West selections for the Aggies this year.

Hawaii, by contrast, has struggled defensively since Norm Chow took over the program two seasons ago, this year finishing 113th in scoring defense. Clune has defensive coordinator experience at both Southern Utah and Weber State, but if he gets the job at Hawaii, it will be his first at an FBS school.

— Kyle Goonkgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon