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hen alumnus jerry Clai- Charlie Branshaw, jon Ray and Fran       A A  ,A  
borne first arrived on Curci — has been dismissed. Only Collier     A
campus in mid-December had a winning record in all those years.   la·A   I
as head football coach, he "Coach Bryant ran a disciplined       I
litterally didn‘t know the players with- program," says Claiborne who played for `‘`‘`` *°f,`_j_" i·'‘‘r **5 `iaii   , ,
out a program. Bryant at UK, "and he tried to be fair   A A   AA    '  _A I
"I went in the office one day shaking with the players. I`m not Paul Bryant.   ‘’`‘ `    I   ,    A . I ,
hands with this good looking athlete and I've got to be myself, but he isn’t a bad  ,*4  . { ·   J  I
found out we already had the guy," relates model. He works his players hard and his “        I A
Claiborne about his early days on the job. coaching staff hard. The biggest thing is   ` E A
In the six short months since his he always sets the example by being the A f I
arrival, though, Claiborne has established first in the office in the morning and the A _,—,~ ` I
his staff, come from behind in the re- last to leave in the evenings,"     `
cruiting wars with a "fair" class of There`s no doubt, though, that I '; A  
recruits, familiarized himself with the Claiborne has been influenced by his · I
current athletes and held his first previous mentor. He played for him, he `
spring practice, done some public service learned from him, he coached with him \ . _ A
announcements and spentalot of time on and now UK alumni and fans hope he A , Q ,
the banquet circuit. will win like him at Kentucky. AI   2 * R ~_ ·
Claiborne describes himself as a hard Despite fh€ f€¤lifi€S of the past, - \`t~~ i   if I
worker, an adept communicator and a Claiborne has confidence in the future. ` `   *
flexible disciplinarian. He long ago "I’m excited as a college freshman. We're \ __,  
answered such questions as "who am I?", embarking on a new experience. I can’t
"what are my priorities ?", "what do I tell you about number of wins, but I can Heod caath Jerry cnaabama
stand for ?", "what do I expect of others ?" promise you we’ll work hard. I`m going to and the appellation of outstanding senior
He blends a forthrightness, almost to the need a lot of help from a lot ofpeople. It's in the College of Education. He also was I
point of bluntness, with self-assurance in time to bind the wounds. My goal is to put designated the outstanding senior on the  
his reasoning. the football program on the same level as '49 team and still holds the UK record for I
Frank Broyles, athlectic director at the academic programs and other athletic pass interceptions in a season, nine in
Arkansas says, "I think UKgot one ofthe programs like the basketball program." 1949.
giants in the coaching profession. He has And, Claiborne believes that the total "We want not only good athletes but
been one of the leaders in the profession academic and total athletics programs are people who are a credit tO the Univer-
He has maintained the high quality that compatible. More than that, he believes sity," said Claiborne. "The football
intercollegiate football should stand for, they are integrally related. program is just one part of the total uni- A
There is not a shred of pretense about While a student at UK in the late versity. The number one thingwe’re here II
him." l94(b, "Little Bear" as Claiborne was for is academics. When theuniversity has
Claiborne realizes that others have nicknamed by his teammates, was a good a Rhodes scholar, that helps the football
faltered since Paul "Bear" Bryant left student and a good athlete. He graduated program. The better the alumni "sell" the
Kentucky chasing after dreams of in 1950 with a 2.7grade point average on university in their areas, the better off the
what might have been had Bryant a Bpoint scale with adegree in mathema- university is in all phases. In academics,
` never moved on. Every coach tics, membership in Omicron Delta in athletics, in every respect we want to
since Bryant - Blanton Collier, Kappa and Lamp and Cross honoraries, be the BEST," he added.
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