Jerry Claiborne

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Jerry Claiborne (August 2, 1928 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky – September 24, 2000 in Nashville, Tennessee) was a college football coach, most notable as the head coach at Virginia Tech, Maryland, and his alma mater of Kentucky. Claiborne was famous for being a winner, taking over historically under achieving teams and turning them into winners, as well as teaching his players to become excellent students. He retired with an overall record of 179-122-8.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Head Coach 3 Significant Achievements 4 See also 5 External link

[edit] Early years

Claiborne attended the University of Kentucky and was named the College of Education’s Outstanding Senior. Claiborne played halfback under legendary coach Paul Bryant at the University of Kentucky. Claiborne became Bryant’s assistant coach at Texas A&M and Alabama before he moved up to become a head coach.

[edit] Head Coach

Claiborne was head coach for Virginia Tech from 1961 to 1970 with and overall record of 69-32-2. The Hokies would not be as successful in football again until current coach Frank Beamer, who played for Claiborne at Virginia Tech, built the program into a powerhouse in the mid-1990s.

When Claiborne began coaching Maryland, the Terrapins had only won nine games in the previous five years. Claiborne led Maryland to a winning season after only his second year with the team. He coached Maryland for ten years and ended with a 77-37-3 record, including an undefeated regular season in 1976, before losing to Houston in the Cotton Bowl. Beginning in 1973 his teams made it to six consecutive bowl games. After Claiborne's alma mater the University of Kentucky came off of four straight losing seasons they offered Claiborne the head coaching position, largely to help clean up a program that had been racked by numerous recruiting violations during the tenure of previous coach Fran Curci. He took over as head coach in 1982 and after starting with a losing season record of 0-10-1, he reached bowl games in his second and third seasons, posting records of 6-5-1 in 1983 and 9-3-0 in 1984 after which the Wildcats finished the season ranked #19 in the final AP poll. The Wildcats win the 1984 Hall of Fame bowl over University of Wisconsin would be the Wildcats last until winning the Music City Bowl in 2006 over Clemson. Claiborne led the Kentucky program for eight years, ending with an overall record of 41-46-3. He retired after posting a 6-5 record in the 1989 season.

[edit] Significant Achievements

• Claiborne coached four Academic All-Americans and eighty-seven all-conference academics.
• Named the nation's Coach of the Year by the Sporting News in 1974.
• Named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1983.
• Claiborne's Kentucky team won the College Football Association Academic Achievement Award for the highest graduation rate of 90% in 1989.
• The University of Kentucky named Claiborne into its Alumni Hall of Fame in 1992.
• In 1999 the Lexington, Kentucky's chapter of the National Football Foundation was named after Claiborne.
• Claiborne was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
• Retired with a lifetime record of 179-122-8, ranking him fourth among active college coaches in victories when he retired.

[edit] See also

• List of presidents of the American Football Coaches Association

Preceded by Frank Moseley	Virginia Tech Head Football Coach 1961-1970	Succeeded by Charlie Coffey
Preceded by Roy Lester	University of Maryland Head Football Coaches 1971-1981	Succeeded by Bobby Ross
Preceded by Fran Curci	University of Kentucky Head Football Coaches 1982-1989	Succeeded by Bill Curry

[edit] External link

• Virginia Tech Hall of Fame