Clarence James likes to think he’s a pretty good X’s and O’s coach and developer of young talent.
But he also knows his ties to the region and to Texas in particular were what landed him an assistant coaching job at Kansas University.
“I think it’s my years of experience in the Big Eight and the Big 12,” James, KU’s new wide receivers coach, said. “I have a great network of coaches throughout the country, a great network of coaches that are in high school football.”
James replaced Darrell Wyatt, who opened a Texas pipeline before resigning just before Christmas to join the staff at Oklahoma State.
James coached defensive ends and wide receivers at Texas Tech from 1982-86, wideouts at Texas from 1987-91 and wide receivers at OU from 1992-98.
He also was an aide at North Texas, Lamar (Texas) High and Okmulgee (Okla.) High. A former all-state running back at Okmulgee Dunbar High, James was assistant coach at Allen (Texas) High last season.
James, 50, was thrown into the fire at KU early. He was officially hired on Friday, Jan. 12. He helped during a big recruiting weekend, then hit the road the following Monday.
“I enjoy it,” James said of recruiting. “I get a chance to go around, talk to coaches, evaluate players and evaluate film. The thing I don’t like about recruiting is being away from my family. It’d be a perfect job for me, with my country-boy background, if I didn’t have to be away from my family. The toughest part is at night. No matter how nice the hotel room, you’re still away from your family.”
Family got James back into high school coaching. When OU fired John Blake after the 1998 season, Bob Stoops swept in with a staff overhaul, and James found himself looking for work.
“At that time, my son was a senior in high school, and I didn’t want to move him,” James said. “He had waited his turn and was in line to have some success. He’s now a red-shirt freshman at Texas-El Paso. My wife had been in Texas because she needed five years to complete retirement in Texas as an elementary school teacher. So she moved there and I stayed with the kids until my son graduated. He graduated, and my daughter and myself moved to Texas.
“A friend of mine, Todd Graham, convinced me to work with him as an assistant coach for a season. We went to the regional finals in the playoffs, and once the season was over he started pursuing the college ranks again. Here about a week ago, he called me and said he was hired to West Virginia.”
James enjoyed his short stint back in the high school ranks, but he also wanted to return to college coaching.
“Coaching was coaching, but I didn’t like that classroom,” James said with a laugh. “I had some kids who didn’t want to do anything. But I had some real good players to coach, and it was fun to get in there and see those guys improve. But it’s a different high. We won some big games, but it wasn’t the same as winning a big game in college football.”
James coached under Jerry Moore at North Texas and Texas Tech; David McWilliams at Texas Tech and Texas; and Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and Blake at Oklahoma.
“You pick up something from every one of them,” James said. “Some of your relationships with some of those guys are more personal than others, but you pick up something from every one of them. It was a learning experience.”
James, who coached with new KU offensive line coach Sam Pittman at Oklahoma, doesn’t know much about his new co-workers or, for that matter, his new charges.
“I’m looking forward to getting off the road and getting to know them better,” James said. “I have met the young men, but just to say hello. I haven’t had a chance to study film. And the coaches they’re all good guys, real cordial to me. They really helped me out.”
Now James can’t wait to help the Jayhawks.
“I see this as an opportunity to make a difference,” he said. “I think that things are in place. It’s a great opportunity to be at a great place and have a chance to make a difference.”
