Chris Claiborne

Background

Claiborne was born in San Diego, California, on July 26, 1978. He attended John W. North High School in Riverside, California, where he lettered in football and basketball and won All-State honors at running back and linebacker as a senior under head coach Mark Paredes. He graduated high school in 1996. Claiborne accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California, playing for the Trojans from 1996 to 1998.

As a senior in 1998, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and became USC's first and only Butkus Award winner. The Detroit Lions selected him in the first round (ninth pick overall) of the 1999 NFL draft. He played for the Lions, then the Minnesota Vikings, the St. Louis Rams, and the New York Giants. He signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in August 2007 but was released before the regular season.

After his playing career, Claiborne began coaching at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, California, in February 2013. He moved to Calabasas High School in 2014 as defensive coordinator and took over as head coach in 2018, resigning in December 2019 with a 17–6 record over two years.

He returned to USC in 2020 as a quality control analyst after earning his bachelor's degree from the university in 2019. On January 25, 2021, he was named linebackers coach at Arizona State. Most recently, he was the linebackers coach for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League.