Brannon Dunn completed his second season as Valpo's defensive line coach in Spring 2021. 

Dunn was on staff in Spring 2021 as Valpo posted its best winning percentage since 2003 and tied for the squad’s best winning percentage since 1999. The team garnered Pioneer Football League runner-up honors, the program’s highest finish in the league standings since the PFL championship season of 2003.

Dunn’s defensive line played a key role in holding opponents to 111.2 rushing yards per game in Spring 2021, the team’s best rushing defense since 1999. The pass rush provided by the defensive line also helped Valpo hold opponents to 172.2 passing yards per game, the program’s best since 2008. Overall, the Brown & Gold limited opponents to 283.3 yards per game, the program’s best total defense in the last 40 years. The team also held the opposition to 18.7 points per game, the program’s best scoring defense since 1999.

Dunn instructed several defensive linemen who garnered academic and athletic honors in Spring 2021. Cade Bishop earned CoSIDA Academic All-District recognition while also garnering a place on the Academic All-PFL First Team. Trejuan Purty received All-PFL Honorable Mention.

Dunn played a key role in Valpo ranking fourth in the Pioneer Football League in rushing defense in 2019 by allowing just 184.2 yards per game on the ground, the team’s highest league ranking in rushing defense since 2007. His position group included Trejuan Purty, who earned All-PFL Honorable Mention status in his first season on campus. Purty finished tied for sixth in the PFL in sacks with 3.5.

Dunn was part of the defensive staff for a 2019 Valpo team that ranked in the Top 5 in the PFL in scoring defense (32.0, fifth), total defense (381.6, fourth), rushing defense (184.2, fourth) and passing defense (197.3, fifth). The defense also thrived in critical down-and-distance situations, as the team’s opponent third-down conversion percentage of 32.4 ranked second in the league and its opponent fourth-down conversion percentage of 46.2 was third.

In Dunn’s first season, Valpo ranked in the Top 5 in the PFL in scoring defense for the first time since 2004. The team finished fourth in the PFL in total defense, its best ranking in that area since 2007. The rushing defense (fourth) and passing defense (fifth) cracked the top five in the league for the first time since 2007 and 2008, respectively. On third down, the Valpo defense permitted opponents to convert just 32.4 percent of the time, the team’s best third-down defense since holding opponents to 28.7 percent in 2000. The 2019 campaign marked the first time Valpo finished in the top five in the PFL in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense and passing defense all in the same season in over 19 years. 

Dunn was part of a unit that had a knack for dropping opponents behind the line of scrimmage as Valpo racked up 70 tackles for loss, the program’s most since 2007 and tied for the fourth-most in a single season in program history. Valpo had seven or more tackles for loss in four different games, a feat the team had achieved just once in the previous three seasons combined.

Dunn was part of the first victory of the Landon Fox head coaching era on Oct. 26, 2019 as Valpo topped Stetson 19-10. That win came behind a dominant defensive showing as Valpo allowed 10 points or fewer in a game for just the fourth time in a 19-year span. Stetson entered the contest ranked first in the FCS nation in total offense. The Hatters came into the game with a 5-1 record, the first time Valpo beat a team that stood at 5-1 or better since 2003.

Dunn came to Porter County in 2019 after a stint as the co-defensive coordinator at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio that began in July 2016. The team compiled a 29-4 record in his three seasons on staff and produced the conference defensive player of the year all three seasons. His defense held opponents to an average of 19.2 points per game.

Before joining Wittenberg’s staff, Dunn was an assistant coach at Missouri Baptist University from June 2015 to July 2016. He began his coaching career at Brookville High School in Brookville, Ohio after graduating from the University of Dayton with a degree in chemistry in December 2014. He played defensive tackle for the Flyers under defensive coordinator Landon Fox.

What They’re Saying About Coach Dunn

Reed Florence, Wittenberg Offensive Coordinator: “Coach Dunn is one of the hardest working coaches I’ve been around. His high energy and passion for the game and his players is unmatched.”