E-mail Coach Clayton Carlin (cgc32@cornell.edu)
Recruiting Areas: Arizona, Southern California, Delaware, South Florida, Nevada, South and Central New Jersey, New Mexico, New York (local to Ithaca), Philadelphia
Clayton Carlin enters his fifth season as the John B. and Ann M. Rogers ‘45 Defensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach and will again serve as coach of the safeties in 2008. Since joining head coach Jim Knowles’ staff, he has helped turn around both the defensive and offensive units as coordinator. This will be his third season as defensive coordinator after rejoining that side of the ball in 2007.
A tremendous competitor and outstanding recruiter, Carlin has coached 14 All-Ivy selections in his four seasons at Cornell.
Taking over a defense that featured seven underclassmen, Carlin’s defense surrendered 14 points or less four times in 2007 and featured the Ivy League’s second leading tackler in Tim Bax, as well as fellow All-Ivy selections Graham Rihn, Doug Lempa and Ryan Blessing. The squad was fourth in the Ancient Eight and ranked among the top half nationally in total defense, while the ballhawking defense increased its tackle for loss total from 2006.
In his first go-around as defensive coordinator in 2004, Carlin instituted a gameplan that helped the Big Red engineer one of the greatest turnarounds in Ivy League history, going 4-6 a year after a 1-9 season. That squad became the first Ivy League squad to post a winning conference record (4-3) a year after going 0-7.
That season, Carlin’s defense regained dominance at the line of scrimmage. After ranking last in the Ivy League and 104th out of 121 teams nationally in the FCS against the run at 205.0 yards allowed per game in 2003, he helped cut that average to 101.1 yards per game to rank first in the Ivy League and seventh nationally. Three members of the defense earned All-Ivy honors for the first time in their careers, with Ryan Lempa ‘05 and Kevin Rex ‘06 leading the way with second-team nods.
His dynamic offense was one of the most effective and entertaining in the FCS in his two seasons. Despite having an offense that featured just four seniors on the two-deep in 2006, Cornell ranked second in the Ivy League and 24th nationally in rushing at 182.1 yards per game. First-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Luke Siwula ‘08 was a second-team All-Ivy pick, while three members of the offensive line also earned All-Ivy honors.
In his first year as offensive coordinator, the Big Red ranked 10th in the country in rushing offense (248.6 ypg.). The team had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season for the first time in school history and the second time ever in the Ivy League. Cornell scored 278 points that season (27.8 ppg.), the most in any season since the 1949 squad posted 284 points in going 8-1.
Six of his players earned All-Ivy honors, with offensive lineman Kevin Boothe ‘06 earning first-team All-America honors before being picked in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. Quarterback Ryan Kuhn ‘06 became the first quarterback in Ivy League history to both run and pass for 1,000 yards in a season, while backfield mate Siwula had the 10th-most yards in a season in school history (1,086).
Carlin joined the Cornell football staff after spending the 2003 season as the secondary and special teams coach at New Mexico State, where he also served as an assistant from 1997-99. He left NMSU after the 1999 season and was an assistant for one year at Villanova before heading to Buffalo, where he worked for two years.
Carlin was the secondary coach at Buffalo, and in 2001 the Bulls ranked 18th in the nation in pass defense, allowing just 180 yards per game. He was wide receivers coach all three seasons in his first stop at NMSU and also served as special teams coordinator in 1999. Prior to his arrival at NMSU, Carlin spent three seasons as a graduate assistant at Nebraska where he worked primarily with the defensive backs. He was part of the two Husker national championship teams in 1994 and 1995. A native of Philadelphia, Pa., Carlin joined the Nebraska staff after serving two seasons as the secondary coach at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa.
For five seasons, from 1987 to 1991, Carlin coached at his prep alma mater, St. Joseph’s Preparatory High School in Philadelphia. After one season as secondary coach in 1987, Carlin spent four years as St. Joseph’s head coach.
A 1987 graduate of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., Carlin was a three-year starter at defensive back for the nationally ranked Eagles. Carlin earned his master’s degree in 1998 from Nebraska in educational administration.
Carlin and his wife, Kathleen, reside in Lansing with their five children, Carsen, Julia, Clayton Jr., Brady and Cole.
