Oregon Coaching Profile: Adrian Klemm
In the coming weeks, ScoopDuck will publish profiles on each member of Dan Lanning’s Oregon coaching staff.
First up was offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham. Next was defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi. Now we turn to associate head coach, run game coordinator, and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.
Yes, you did read that last sentence right. Adrian Klemm is Dan Lanning’s associate head coach, run game coordinator, and offensive line coach — all at the same time.
So what do each of these roles mean? And why have we been hearing Klemm’s name so much more in the past few weeks?
The following is a review of Klemm’s career along with a few relevant stats for each season.
Early days
Klemm went to high school in Santa Monica, where he was a two-time all-state athlete in both football and basketball.
Klemm played linebacker, tight end, and tackle at the University of Hawaii from 1996-99. In his senior season, he moved to tackle and helped an 0-12 team turn into a 9-4 team under new head coach June Jones. (Remember that name.)
The New England Patriots drafted Klemm in the second round in 2000 (yes, ahead of Tom Brady). By the time he moved to the Green Bay Packers in ’05, Klemm had three rings.
That ’05 season included Klemm’s most playing time (eight of his 16 career starts), though it was the last of his playing career. Having been forced out of the NFL by injuries, he went back to Hawaii to finish his degree.
SMU
Klemm began his coaching career under June Jones at Southern Methodist University as a graduate assistant in 2008. Jones had just completed his ninth year at Hawaii, pivoting a program destined for failure into a perennial WAC contender. During his final year in Honolulu, Jones took the Rainbow Warriors to the Sugar Bowl. Jones also has plenty of ties to Oregon himself.
Anyways, back to SMU. The Mustangs were bad. They hadn’t made a bowl game since 1984. Jones was brought in to turn the tide of the program — just like he did in Hawaii — and called up Klemm to be a GA for this new project.
A preface on all these tables: O-line stats are the hardest to find and use (especially in the run-and-shoot), but I believe it’s still valuable to see whether or not a coach worked as part of a successful offense.
| Year | Role | Yds/Play | Total Offense | SMU Recruiting Ranking (Rivals) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | GA | 5.4 (65th) | 314.3 (98th) | T-90th |
| 2009 | OL | 6.0 (32nd) | 391.8 (51st) | 80th |
| 2010 | OL | 6.3 (19th) | 414.6 (33rd) | 76th |
| 2011 | OL, RC | 6.1 (32nd) | 388.6 (58th) | 50th |
(Data from sports-reference.com)
Things didn’t go so well in ’08. SMU equaled its 1-11 record from the prior season, although having one of the worst defenses in the country didn’t help.
Klemm was promoted twice at SMU: first to offensive line coach and then to recruiting coordinator (a title usually bestowed upon a staff’s best recruiter to help the program recruit better overall).
That second promotion truly outlines Klemm’s best ability: recruiting. This profile from the Dallas Observer in 2011 describes Klemm’s upbringing as central to his recruiting prowess:
When Jones called in 2008, it was only with an offer for Klemm to be an unpaid graduate assistant. Now 34, Klemm has evolved into Dallas’ one-man, hard-streets-to-the-Hilltop welcome wagon. He goes to L.A. as one of the city’s own, and always seems to haul back a player who will soon be one of SMU’s own.
“I know what it’s like to leave L.A.,” he says, “and to be both excited and scared at the same time.”
Klemm was directly responsible for eight of SMU’s 27 commitments in 2010, including six three-star recruits and one four-star blue chip.
Richie Whitt, Dallas Observer
Klemm excelled at bringing kids from his native Los Angeles to Dallas — and to an SMU program that had no business climbing into the top 50 of Rivals’ recruiting rankings.
Rivals named Klemm the top BCS non-AQ recruiter in college football (and had him in their top 25) while Scout.com named him the top recruiter in Conference-USA.
UCLA
Klemm’s recruiting acumen earned him a job under Jim Mora at UCLA in 2012. Mora was in his first season, replacing Rick Neuheisel. Klemm was named offensive line coach and run game coordinator. In 2014, “associate head coach” was added to his title — these are the same three roles he now fills at UO.
An offensive run game coordinator is usually the o-line coach. It’s basically another set of eyes focusing on each series. Read a coach explain it here.
An associate head coach technically comes with more responsibility, but it’s essentially just a pay bump. Klemm’s salary increased by $300k-400k when the title was applied at UCLA. He’ll make $800k-plus per year at UO.
The Bruins had their most sustained success of the 21st century during Klemm’s time there, winning eight-plus games in four straight seasons. They won the Pac-12 South in 2012 and won 10 games each in 2013 and ’14.
| Year | Role | Yds/Play | Total Offense | UCLA Recruiting Ranking (On3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | OL, RGC | 6.0 (37th) | 466.5 (24th) | 14th (3rd in Pac-12) |
| 2013 | OL, RGC | 6.1 (34th) | 448.1 (38th) | 7th (1st) |
| 2014 | OL, RGC, AHC | 6.1 (36th) | 467.8 (22nd) | 19th (4th) |
| 2015 | OL, RGC, AHC | 6.2 (34th) | 465.8 (29th) | 13th (2nd) |
| 2016 | OL, RGC, AHC | 5.4 (91st) | 379.8 (92nd) | 12th (2nd) |
As expected, Klemm continued his recruiting dominance in LA:
Klemm is UCLA’s lead national recruiter. If there’s an elite out-of-state kid with an interest in UCLA, expect Klemm to come calling. Additionally, he’s also in charge of recruiting Orange County and various local powerhouse high schools. Unsurprisingly, he was a key cog in UCLA getting the third-best recruiting class in the country in 2013, according to Scout.com.
Jason Fray, Bleacher Report
Klemm was named 247 Sports’ Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year after just his first season in the conference. Here’s a great sentence from a 2013 B/R piece:
Demetrice Martin, another Bruin assistant coach (defensive backs), is becoming a local recruiting legend as well, but Klemm and Washington assistant coach Tosh Lupoi are probably two of the most respected recruiters in the West.
Lisa Horne, Bleacher Report
All three of those names are now on Oregon’s staff. Most of the 18 four-stars Klemm successfully recruited went to UCLA, as did five-star running back Soso Jamabo, per 247.
But there’s a dark side to Klemm’s UCLA story.
Like Tosh Lupoi, Klemm had his biggest missteps in the Pac-12. In 2016, he was hit with a two-year show-cause order and a $5k fine by the NCAA for recruiting violations (paying for $2.4k worth of training services and housing for a pair of recruits). The Bruins self-imposed a bunch of penalties and Klemm’s show-cause expired while he was coaching in the NFL.
- Klemm was suspended with pay for a few months before being reinstated.
- This story gets very weird. The NCAA was first made aware of the illegal benefits via Klemm’s ex-girlfriend. She then redacted her email before an anonymous tip was sent a few months later. More details here.
Unlike Lupoi, though, fans weren’t as eager to keep Klemm around:
Since Klemm has not proven himself as a top-tier Division 1 position coach and now UCLA has to spend extra effort and time making sure every move Klemm makes is in line with NCAA regulations, is it worth keeping him? Should the money be spent on getting someone else that can manage themselves in an ethical format and also coach at a higher level? I tend to think UCLA needs to cut ties with Klemm. He’s a proven recruiter but only a mediocre coach.
AnteatersandBruins, Bruins Nation
But there was more bad news from Klemm’s time in Westwood. In 2019, he and Mora were named in a lawsuit concerning injuries of UCLA players. Some of the details are not pretty. Mora was cleared of wrongdoing prior to accepting the UConn head coaching job last fall, but it’s unclear where the suit sits with Klemm.
Klemm bolted for the NFL before the 2017 season, which ended up being Mora’s last at UCLA.
Steelers
Klemm joined Mike Tomlin’s staff in Pittsburgh as an assistant o-line coach. By year three, he was no longer the assistant.
| Year | Role | Yds/Play | Total Offense | AFC North Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | AOL | 4.7 (30th) | 276.8 (30th) | 2nd (8-8) |
| 2020 | AOL | 5.1 (26th) | 334.6 (24th) | 1st (12-4) |
| 2021 | OL | 4.8 (28th) | 315.4 (23rd) | 2nd (9-7-1) |
If we’re being honest, Klemm struggled in this role. It was a tough scenario for a new NFL coach: significant OL injuries, an immobile quarterback, and only one playoff appearance.
Should Oregon fans be concerned that Tomlin let Klemm leave? I’m not sure. Tomlin said nice things about Klemm when he left, but Tomlin already had a replacement, Chris Morgan, ready to go.
Final thoughts
The generic opinion about Klemm is clear: great recruiter, not-so-great coach. But we haven’t seen Klemm back in the college ranks since his time in the NFL. Hopefully he’s absorbed some coaching skills from one of the sport’s longest-tenured HCs and best organizations, but I’m really interested to see how he works with what he has in this first year at Oregon.
The Ducks will likely be starting five seniors on the o-line. If Klemm can’t coach these guys up to a high standard, who can he?
I’ll end with some notable names Klemm has coached, as evidence that he has had some genuine success on the actual coaching side.
- Josh LeRebius (SMU)
- Kelvin Beachum (SMU)
- Xavier Su’a-Filo (UCLA)
- Alex Redmond (UCLA)
- Kolton Miller (UCLA)
- Scott Quessenberry (UCLA)
- Conor McDermott (UCLA)
Per his UO bio:
During his five seasons in Westwood, Klemm coached eight offensive linemen to all-Pac-12 honors, and Xavier Su’a-Filo was a two-time all-American under Klemm’s tutelage…Klemm currently has nine former players on NFL rosters.
Bio from GoDucks.com
Bottom line: Klemm can recruit the best of the best from LA. Period. Recruiting expectations are sky-high for the Ducks, and Klemm is a big reason why. We’ll see what Klemm can do from a coaching standpoint, but having this o-line in his first year should make for a positive start.
