In the fall of 1988, Arizona senior agriculture major Clancy Pendergast changed his career arc. After growing up on a farm in the Phoenix suburb of Tolleson, he wanted to be a football coach.
So Pendergast started at the top. He introduced himself to Amphi High School state championship coach Vern Friedli and asked if he could help coach the Panthers. Pendergast's only coaching experience was coaching his UA intramural team, the Fiji Purple Haze.
Friedli gave Pendergast a spot on the JV staff. He was so impressive that in 1991, he was hired as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State. His career then took off: he coached at USC and Oklahoma before getting into the NFL. He has since coached for the 49ers, Browns and Cowboys, as well as at USC, UCLA and Cal.
USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast looks on during a training camp practice at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Aug. 8, 2016.
At 58, after being part of a failed UCLA staff last year, Pendergast has been hired by Colorado's Deion Sanders to be a senior defensive analyst for the Buffaloes. That's a long way from the Amphi JV four decades ago.
