In 1950, he became the head football and basketball coach at Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, Augusta County, Virginia. 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 and Alabama 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, with an overall record of 61–39–2 (.608).[3] 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.
When Claiborne was hired at the University of Maryland in December 1971,[5] 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 77–37–3 (.671) record in his decade at Maryland, including an undefeated regular season in 1976, before losing to Houston in the Cotton Bowl. For six consecutive seasons beginning in 1973, the Terrapins appeared in bowl games, and added another in 1980. 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; the home of the University of Kentucky.[6] 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 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 was UK's last bowl win for 22 years, until the Music City Bowl 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, 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 41–46–3 (.472).
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 Sporting News in 1974.