Joseph N. "Smokey Joe" Salem (born May 1, 1938) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the quarterbacks coach at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a position he held from 2006 to 2009.  Salem served as the head football coach at the University of South Dakota (1966–1974), Northern Arizona University (1975–1978), and the University of Minnesota (1979–1983), compiling a career college football record of 96–91–3.  Named to the USD Sports Hall of Fame. 

Joe “Smokey Joe” Salem inducted into the University of South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

Born May 1, 1938. Sioux Falls (1956 Cathedral H.S. grad). 1961 Minnesota grad.

At USD in 1966, he inherited a team that had won a total of nine games the

previous six seasons. Led USD to NCC football titles in 1972, '73 and '74. He

was 51-38-2 in nine years (1966-74) at USD. Later coached at Northern Arizona

(26-17 from '75-78) and Minnesota (19-35-1 from '79-83) before retiring from

coaching. As a player, Salem, a quarterback, earned three varsity letters and was

a valuable reserve on Minnesota's 1960 national championship team. After college,

he remained at Minnesota as Murray Warmath's assistant for five years. At

Cathedral, Salem played four years at quarterback for his dad, Nusier, and also

was on the basketball team that won the state Catholic championship in 1953.

Joseph “Smokey Joe” Salem inducted into the NAU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 1990.

Coach Joe Salem, better known as "Smokey Joe" had a winning percentage of .591 during his coaching career at Northern Arizona University.  Coaching honors included: 1977 NCAA District 7, Coach of the Year; 1977 Big Sky Conference, Coach of the Year; and 1978 Big Sky Conference, Coach of the Year.  Coach Salem's record at NAU was 1-9-0 in 1975; 8-3-0 in 1976; 9-3-0 in 1977; and 8-2-0 in 1978. His 1977 team participated in the 1st round of play-offs in Division II, and his 1978 team was the Big Sky Conference Champions with a record of 6-0.

Season   Record

1978         8-2

1977         9-3

1976         8-3

1975         1-9