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Ties to the Bayou State and the Steel City and Multiple Coaching Stops, Including ’12-14 with the Green & White
Randy Lange
Here are five things to know about Karl Dunbar, named by Jets head coach Aaron Glenn as the team’s new defensive line coach:
Bayou Through and Through
Karmichael MacKenzle “Karl” Dunbar has deep Louisiana roots. He was born in Opelousas, LA, in 1967, starred in football and basketball up the road at Plaisance High School, and was a three-year starter and was named second-team All-SEC as a senior defensive end at LSU. He began his coaching career at two Louisiana high schools, including his alma mater, then moved to Nicholls State in Thibodaux, LA, and had two short stints as an assistant coach at LSU.
Further, his wife Pamela was a University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate and their three children all had outstanding college careers in their chosen fields … at Louisiana universities.
There could be more LA connections for Dunbar, but we won’t Geaux there anymore today.
Pitt Stops
Dunbar’s pro playing career began, in a manner of speaking, with Pittsburgh, which made him its eighth-round pick (209th overall) of the 1990 NFL Draft. We say “in a manner of speaking” because he never played with the Steelers, sitting out ’90 with a foot fracture from late in his last college season and being a final cut in the summer of ’91.
He played for New Orleans in 1993 and Arizona in ’94-95 along with one-year stays with Orlando in the WLAF and the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. His NFL career totals are 21 games played and one start. He had no pro sacks but acquired the knowledge to become a coach who has made his name in the pro game as a polisher of young talent, some into potentially big sackers.
Dunbar obviously didn’t blame the Steelers for the quiet start to his pro career as he joined Mike Tomlin’s staff in 2018 and contributed to their top-10 NFL run defenses in ’18, ’22 and ’24 and to the league’s No. 1 sacking team with 392 QB takedowns combined from ’18-25.
Transition to “Safety”
Before fully committing to a coaching career, Dunbar, a criminal justice major at LSU, served as an undercover narcotics officer for the Opelousas Police Department. He was very good at his jobhe earned the nickname of :the “Human Battering Ram”for his ability to break down doors and assisted in about 60 drug-related arrests. He also was targeted by for hits by local drug dealers and was involved in gunfire during a drug bust in 1996.
Dunbar was unhurt in the shootout, but Pamela insisted he get himself out of harm’s way, and thus a safer career in coaching football was born, starting with Opelousas HS.
The Jets and a Few Others
Dunbar’s coaching climb went from major college stops at LSU (of course) and Oklahoma State to the NFL. He began his pro coaching tour with Chicago in 2004 and had other assistant positions with the Vikings, Jets and Bills, before a two-year return to the SEC with Alabama and his longer tenure with the Steelers.
His coaching superpower has been to help young D-lines and D-linemen move up in class. As a result, he’s provided his input for the careers of such as the Vikings’ Jared Allen and the Steelers’ T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward.
And in his first tour with the Jets, under HC Rex Ryan from 2012-14, he helped get the promising playing careers of first-round draft picks Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson revved up, with Richardson being named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and Wilkerson voted AP second-team All-Pro in 2013.
A Lifelong Cause
Dunbar was diagnosed in seventh grade with the skin condition vitiligo, which causes a loss of melanin in patches across the skin and has no cure. He embraced the condition, has said he views it as a “blessing,” and has advocated for vitiligo awareness.
He has partnered with the American Skin Association to highlight the condition’s psychological effects, especially and young people’s self-esteem and with Coolibar, which specializes in sun-protective clothing, in starting his own foundation. For his efforts, Dunbar was presented with the ASA’s inaugural Trailblazer Award in 2013.
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