1933-2012: Jim Carlen guided trophy run
Jim Carlen – who presided over five years of South Carolina football, including George Rogers’ Heisman Trophy season – died Sunday.
Carlen, 79, died “very peacefully after a long illness,” a family friend said Sunday. He has wife Meredith have lived in South Carolina since his tenure with the school ended in 1981, and Carlen was in Columbia when he died.
“I heard this morning,” Rogers said. “He was like a father to me. He was like my dad. If we didn’t have him, there probably wouldn’t have been a Heisman Trophy.”
Carlen coached the Gamecocks from 1975 to 1981 and had a career record of 45-36-1. Only Rex Enright (64 wins) and Steve Spurrier (55 wins) won more games as South Carolina’s head coach.
Carlen, the team’s 26th head coach, took over for Paul Dietzel. His best seasons came in 1979 and 1980 as the team went 8-4 as Rogers rushed for a combined 3,575 yards in those seasons.
Carlen, who also served as the school’s athletics director during his tenure, was given the Order of the Palmetto by former South Carolina governor James B. Edwards.
In 2008, Carlen was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Honor. Carlen coached the Red Raiders from 1970-74 and led Tech to four bowl games. He was named the Southwest Conference coach of the year two times. He coached at West Virginia before taking over at Texas Tech.
He also was honored by West Virginia for numerous contributions to the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization.
Carlen was born in Cookeville, Tenn., where he was an Eagle Scout before playing football at Georgia Tech under coach Bobby Dodd. He spent four years in the Air Force after college before returning to coach at Georgia Tech under Dodd.
Three of the Carlen’s four children still reside in Columbia. A memorial service will be held Friday at 4 p.m. at Trenholm Road United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to the FCA (fca.org) or to Trenholm Methodist.
This story was originally published July 22, 2012 at 12:00 AM.