Joe Glenn (American football)

Joe Glenn (born March 7, 1949) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at the University of South Dakota, his alma mater. He was named head coach on December 5, 2011 after the school's athletic director, David Sayler, fired Ed Meierkort. Glenn served as the head football coach at Doane College (1976–1979), the University of Northern Colorado (1989–1999), the University of Montana (2000–2002), and the University of Wyoming (2003–2008). He won two NCAA Division II National Football Championships at Northern Colorado, in 1996 and 1997, and an NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship at Montana in 2001.

Early coaching career
Glenn served as backfield coach at the University of South Dakota in 1974. He was also a backfield coach at Northern Arizona University in 1975.

Glenn's first head coaching job was at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. There he was the youngest head college football coach at 27 years of age. While at Doane he compiled a 21–18–1 record over four seasons. After Doane, Glenn made his first stint at the University of Montana as a quarterbacks and wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 1980 to 1985. He was out of coaching in 1986. In 1987, he joined the staff at University of Northern Colorado (UNC) as quarterbacks and kicking coach. He was named head coach of UNC for the 1989 season.

Prior to coaching at Montana, Glenn led the Division II University of Northern Colorado to two NCAA Division II national football championships in 1996 and 1997. Glenn spent eleven seasons at UNC, with a 98–35 record.

Montana
Glenn coached at the Montana for three seasons, from 2000 to 2002, and compiled a 39–6 record. In 2001, the Grizzles won the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship, defeating Furman in the title. The year before, the Grizzlies finished as the NCAA Division I-AA runner-up, losing to Georgia Southern in the championship game. In 2002, Montana finished in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

Wyoming
Over a three-year period, Glenn and his staff took a team that won only five games in the three previous seasons to a Las Vegas Bowl win in two seasons. The 24–21 victory over UCLA on December 23, 2004 marked the first bowl appearance for Wyoming in 11 years and their first bowl victory in 38 years. In 2005, after starting 4–1, including a victory over the Ole Miss, the Cowboys went on a six-game losing skid, finishing 4–7.

The 2006 season was one which saw the Cowboys picked to finish last in the conference. After an opening day victory over Utah State, the Cowboys suffered four heartbreaking losses, two of them in overtime. Then the Cowboys fortunes began to shift. The team enjoyed a four-game winning streak, all against conference opponents. The Cowboys next two games were both embarrassing road losses, the first against TCU, in which they managed only a field goal. The next game was on the road against than #25 BYU. The Cougars trounced the Cowboys, 55–7. The Cowboys fell to 5–6. The Cowboys won their final game against UNLV, moving them to a 6–6 record, and making them bowl eligible but the team did not receive an invitation.

The 2007 Cowboys season started off with a 23–3 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference-member Virginia. By the end of October, Wyoming was 5–3 and needed only one win in its last four games to become bowl-eligible. However, the Cowboys lost all four games to finish 5–7, including a 50–0 thrashing at the hands of Utah on November 10.

The 2008 season began with the unspoken mandate to get Wyoming bowl-eligible. Offensive coordinator Billy Cockhill was fired at the end of the 2007 season and replaced by Bob Cole, formerly of Florida A&M in an attempt to improve the Cowboy's anemic offense. Junior college signal caller Dax Crum came to the Laramie campus from the Mesa Community College in Arizona to compete for the starting quarterback job, which he won over junior Karsten Sween.

The 2008 Cowboys opened the season with a win over Mid-American Conference-member 2008 Ohio Bobcats football team (21-20), a loss to Air Force (23-3) and a win over FCS North Dakota State (16–13). Wyoming followed up that victory with five straight losses: to BYU (44–0), Bowling Green (45–16), New Mexico (24–0), Utah (40-7), and TCU (54–7). On November 1, the Pokes beat hapless San Diego State, 35-10, at home and then followed with a historic win over Tennessee, 13–7, on the road a week later. Five days later, on Thursday, Wyoming lost to UNLV, 22–14, on the road. Wyoming finished the season by losing to arch rival Colorado State, 31–20, at home in the 100th Border War. The following day, November 23, 2008, Glenn was fired. Glenn finished his career at Wyoming with an overall record of 30–41 (.423), and 15–31 (.326) versus Mountain West opponents.

Glenn joined the Mtn. as a game-day analyst in 2009. In 2010 he left the Mtn. and joined the WAC Sports Network as a color commentator.

South Dakota
Glenn was named USD's 29th head football coach on December 5, 2011. Glenn started coaching the Coyotes during the 2012 season as they started their first season as a full fledged member in Division I-FCS football, competing in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Personal life
Glenn graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1971. While there, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in health, physical education, recreation and athletics. He played quarterback and wide receiver for the Coyotes, and was selected a team captain as a senior. During college he completed Army ROTC and upon graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant serving two-years of active duty as an MP at FT Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1975 he received a master's degree in education from South Dakota. In 2006, Joe Glenn was inducted into the University of South Dakota Hall of Fame.

Glenn and his wife, Michele, are both natives of Lincoln, Nebraska. They have two adult children: a daughter, Erin, and a son, Casey. Casey was an All-American offensive lineman at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, concluding his playing career in 2002 when Carroll won their first of five NAIA National Championships. After coaching at Idaho State, South Dakota and Oklahoma. he served as tight ends and fullbacks coach after serving as Director of Football Operations for Wyoming under his father.