Charles McClendon

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**Charles McClendon**
School as a player
Date of birth	October 17, 1923
Place of birth	Lewisville, Arkansas
Sport	Football
College	LSU
Title	Head coach
Record with Team	137-59-7
Overall Record	137-59-7
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
???? - ????	University of Kentucky
College Football Hall of Fame, 1986

Charles Youmans McClendon (1923–2001), also known as "Charlie" McClendon or "Cholly Mac," was born on October 17, 1923 in Lewisville, Arkansas.

McClendon is best known as the LSU head football coach whose tenure spanned the 1960s and the 1970s. As a result of his head coaching career, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

McClendon played college football under Bear Bryant at Kentucky.

McClendon's first coaching job was as an assistant at Vanderbilt University in 1952.

In 1953, he came to LSU as an assistant under head coach Gus Tinsley. He was retained as an assistant when Paul Dietzel took over the team in 1955. In 1958, McClendon helped Dietzel coach LSU to its first recognized national championship. At the end of the 1961 season, Dietzel left LSU and hand-picked McClendon to be his successor.

McClendon would serve as the LSU head coach for the next 18 years (1962-1979), the longest tenure of any football coach in LSU history.

During his first 12 years (1962-1973), McClendon coached the Tigers to 9 appearances in the final AP Poll, with an average rank of 9.22. During this time, LSU's record was 97-32-5 (.724 winning percentage) and LSU went to two Sugar Bowls (1965 and 1968), two Cotton Bowls (1963 and 1966) and two Orange Bowls (1971 and 1974). However, despite all LSU's success during this period, the Tigers only had a 4-7-1 record against Ole Miss and a 2-8 record against Bear Bryant's Alabama. 1970 was the only year that McClendon beat both Ole Miss and Alabama in the same season. LSU went on to win the SEC championship, and McClendon was awarded National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

During McClendon's last 6 seasons as LSU's head coach (1974-1979), LSU had no appearances in the final AP Poll. During this time, LSU's record was 38-29-2 (.551 winning percentage).

In addition to the LSU football coaching record for longest tenure (18 years), McClendon holds the LSU record for most wins (137), most losses (59), most bowl appearances (13), most bowl wins (7), and most bowl losses (6).

After his retirement from LSU, McClendon became the executive director of the Tangerine Bowl (which would later be renamed the Capital One Bowl) from 1980 to 1981. He was also the president of the American Football Coaches Association in 1979 and executive director from 1982 to 1994. The practice facility at LSU was named in his memory on September 9, 2002, nine months after his death on December 6, 2001.