Jan. 17, 2007
University of Houston safeties coach Clay Jennings, a graduate of nearby La Vega High School, has been hired as Baylor's cornerbacks coach, Bears' head coach Guy Morriss announced tonight.
"We are excited to have Clay joining our staff and I know he's thrilled to be returning to Central Texas," Morriss said. "He's a top-notch recruiter and I like the fact that he's a native Texan who has recruited both Dallas and Houston. We plan on turning him loose in those areas."
Jennings has spent the past two seasons (2005 and 2006) as Houston's safeties coach, helping coach Art Briles' program to back-to-back bowl appearances (2005 Fort Worth Bowl and 2006 Liberty Bowl) and the 2006 Conference USA championship. In 2006, Cougars' free safety Will Gulley earned Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year honors and freshman safety Brandon Brinkley was named to the league's all-freshman honor squad. In his first season at Houston, Jennings saw one of his pupils, Rocky Schwartz, earn Conference USA third-team all-league honors and freshman Kenneth Fontennette was an honorable mention Sporting News Freshman All-America pick.
Prior to his two-year stint at Houston, Jennings spent two seasons (2003 and 2004) as the defensive backs coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he helped the Ragin' Cajuns to a No. 11 national ranking in pass defense.
Before going to ULL, he worked two years (2001 and 2002) as secondary coach and recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State. He helped the Bearkats to a share of the 2001 Southland Conference championship and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs. At SHSU, Jennings coached All-American and Buck Buchanan Award finalist Keith Davis, who just completed his fourth season with the Dallas Cowboys.
Jennings also coached the secondary at Southern Arkansas University (Feb. 2000-March 2001), Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa (March 1999-Feb. 2000) and Morehouse College in Atlanta (Jan. 1998-Feb. 1999). At SAU, Jennings mentored the Seattle Seahawks starting left cornerback Jordan Babineaux, while at Morningside he coached Matt Walker, a first-team All-America safety.
A four-year letterwinner as a defensive lineman and special teams standout at the University of North Texas from 1992 through 1995, Jennings was a member of the Mean Green's 1994 Southland Conference championship team and the school's first NCAA Division I-A entry in 1995. He began his coaching career first as a student assistant (1996) and then as a graduate assistant (1997) at North Texas before moving on to Morehouse.
The 1996 North Texas graduate (bachelor's of science in Kinesiology) and his wife Belinda, have two children, son Kirby and daughter Kenzie. He graduated from La Vega High School in 1992.
