Jerry David Claiborne (August 26, 1928 – September 24, 2000) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player and coach. He was the head football coach at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

(1961–1970), the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

(1972–1981), and his alma mater, the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

(1982–1989), compiling a career head coaching record of . Claiborne was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999.

Early years

Claiborne attended the Hopkinsville High School and the

and was named the College of Education's Outstanding Senior. Claiborne played halfback under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Kentucky. In 1950, he became the head football and basketball coach at Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance,

Augusta County, Virginia Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and ...

. His teams won the Virginia State basketball championship in 1950 and the football championship in 1951. The following year, he left to become Bryant's assistant coach at Kentucky, following Bryant in the same capacity to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

and

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

before he moved up to become a head coach.

Head coach

Virginia Tech

Claiborne was head coach at Virginia Polytechnic Institute from 1961 through

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, with an overall record of . Claiborne's legacy was carried on by Frank Beamer, who played for Claiborne at Virginia Tech. Beamer built the program into a powerhouse in the mid-1990s. Claiborne's contributions to Tech's football program earned him a place in the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. For one season in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, Claiborne was the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

(and assistant head coach) at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

under Eddie Crowder. The third-ranked Buffaloes went 10–2, behind the teams they lost to (both on the road): undefeated national champion

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and #2

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, an unprecedented sweep of the top three slots by the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

Maryland

When Claiborne was hired at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in December 1971, the Terrapins had only won nine games in the previous five seasons. Claiborne led the Terps to a winning season after only his second year with the team. He posted a record in his decade at Maryland, including an undefeated regular season in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, before losing to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in the Cotton Bowl. For six consecutive seasons beginning in

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, the Terrapins appeared in bowl games, and added another in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. During this run, Maryland won three straight ACC titles (1974, 1975, 1976).

Kentucky

In December 1981, Claiborne followed in the footsteps of Bear Bryant and went from College Park to

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

; the home of the

. In Claiborne's case, Kentucky was his alma mater. UK had incurred four straight losing seasons and offered Claiborne the position largely to help clean up a program racked by numerous recruiting violations during the tenure of previous head coach Fran Curci. After starting with a winless record of 0–10–1 in 1982, Claiborne reached bowl games in his next two seasons, posting records of 6–5–1 in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and 9–3 in 1984, after which the Wildcats were ranked nineteenth in the final AP poll. The Wildcats' win in the Hall of Fame Classic over

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

was UK's last bowl win for 22 years, until the

Music City Bowl The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998 in sports, 1998. Since 2020, it has been sponsored by ...

victory over Clemson in 2006. Claiborne did not get to another bowl, getting no closer than 5–5–1 in 1986 and 6–5 in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, and then retired. Due in part to his role in cleaning up the program's image, he remained in the good graces of Kentucky fans; his eight-season record was .

Europe

In 1992, Claiborne became the head coach of the Braunschweig Lions, and then German Division II Football team in Germany. During his one-year stay he laid the foundation for an organization, that became a European football powerhouse.

Significant achievements

* Claiborne coached four Academic All-Americans and eighty-seven all-conference academics. * Named the nation's Coach of the Year by the

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in 1974. * Named

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

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 1994, Claiborne received the Neyland Trophy, which is presented annually to a coach "''who has contributed greatly to intercollegiate athletic''s" * In 1999 the Lexington, Kentucky's chapter of the National Football Foundation was named after Claiborne. * Retired with a lifetime record of 179–122–8, ranking him fourth among active college coaches in victories when he retired.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claiborne, Jerry 1928 births 2000 deaths American football halfbacks Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football players Maryland Terrapins football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches High school basketball coaches in Virginia High school football coaches in Virginia College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Hopkinsville, Kentucky Coaches of American football from Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Presidents of the American Football Coaches Association