Harper Likely to Be Named Successor to Shoup at CLU : College football: Former coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Northern Arizona lists an NCAA Division II national championship on his resume.

Joe Harper, who coached Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to the 1980 Division II football championship, is expected to be introduced as Cal Lutheran football coach at a press conference this morning.

Bob Shoup had been the only coach in Cal Lutheran’s 28 years of football but news of his dismissal after the 1989 season became public in August.

Shoup could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Cal Lutheran has acknowledged that Harper and Dick Arbuckle, who most recently served as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for Boise State, are the two finalists for the job.

Contacted Wednesday afternoon at his home in Idaho, Arbuckle said: “If they’ve announced a press conference for tomorrow and they haven’t contacted me today, I guess I’m not the one who’s going to get the job.”

Harper refused to comment on whether he was the choice but, when asked if he would be attending the press conference, said: “As far as I know, I will be.”

Harper and Arbuckle interviewed at Cal Lutheran last week, at which time they met with the team captains, among others.

“Word around is that it may be (Harper),” said Dave Deisinger, a team captain, who added that he had not been officially informed of the decision. “I’m pretty certain about it.”

Harper also spent three years as head coach at Northern Arizona, a Division I-AA school. Recently, he has worked as a sales associate for a commercial real estate company in Southern California.

In a highly successful 14-year stint at San Luis Obispo, Harper was 96-43-3.

He compiled a 12-20 record from 1982 to 1984 at Northern Arizona before being fired and moving into private business.

Harper, a finalist for the Cal State Northridge coaching job in 1986, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA in 1959 and 1960.

He has been an assistant coach at UCLA, Colorado State, Colorado, UC Santa Barbara and Riverside City College. Harper, who played offensive guard at UCLA, specializes in offensive line coaching.

While Harper was coach at San Luis Obispo, the Mustangs won all three meetings with Cal Lutheran and became renowned for beating more powerful opponents such as Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State.