Former Triton and NCSU star Clayton White on the South Carolina sideline.

Editor’s note: This story, by Richard Breen, was in the September 2024 issue of Columbbia Metropolitan magazine, as “From Small Town to Big Stage.” Clayton White, defensive coordinator at South Carolina, guided his unit in a 44-20 win over No. 10 Texas A&M in Columbia on Saturday night.

He’s already a multiple-time survivor, but cancer is having another go at Kent Briggs. “It’s in my bones now,” the former Western Carolina University football coach reveals over the phone from his Asheville home.

The purpose of the call is on the brighter side, however. The conversation turns to one of his former players and colleagues, Clayton White. For Kent, it’s a welcome topic.

“I appreciate being able to talk about him because it makes me feel good,” he says. From before he even realized it, it seems Clayton has been making folks feel good — from the streets of Dunn, North Carolina, to college locker rooms around the country.

“He can relate to anybody and everybody,” says Ben Penny, the football coach at Triton High School, where Clayton was a star two-way player. “He’s a great guy. We’re just very fortunate to have him.”

Debo Williams, a linebacker for the University of South Carolina, where Clayton is defensive coordinator, says his coach “definitely stays locked in” on the football field but can also elicit smiles and have a good time. “The biggest thing he’s taught me,” Debo says, “is to always stay humble. Don’t get too high or too low.”

Humble Beginnings

Humble beginnings are where Clayton’s story starts. It’s a background he brings up without prompting but also one on which he doesn’t want to dwell or sensationalize. Still, it’s a bit jarring when the topic is broached.

“I grew up in a social house, a party house. My grandmother was a bootlegger,” Clayton says. For the uninitiated, the South has a long tradition of unlicensed homes and hangouts where people congregate for beverages. They still exist and go by many names, including drink houses and liquor houses. “It was just an interesting party house. When I look back on it, my grandmother took numbers, she played numbers, she played cards.”

Clayton and his mom, Shirley White, lived with her mother, Herlene White. “My mom had me young,” Clayton says. “And then we worked our way up. My mom got her own house. I didn’t realize until I got older what that environment really was,” Clayton says.

Clayton doesn’t want to overemphasize his humble beginning, however, because in the same breath, when asked to describe what it was like growing up in Dunn, he says, “I don’t think it could have gotten any better, not knowing. I didn’t know there was a black side and a white side until I got older. It didn’t feel that way. It was all love. A lot of people looked out for me.”

A football savant, he remembers a neighborhood tradition of Saturday morning sandlot tackle football games between kids from different apartment complexes. With Shirley back in school to become a social worker, Clayton would borrow some of his mom’s note cards and draw up plays.

“I was always writing plays, drawing plays, scheming,” he says, “which is crazy because now, 35 years later, I’m still coaching and drawing plays. I’ve always been able to lead and draw plays and get people to do things on the football field. Football came easy — I didn’t know that until I became older.”

A Rising Star

The U.S. Highway 421 exit off Interstate 95 leads smack to the middle of the small town of Dunn, population 8,446. From there, rural eastern North Carolina unpacks like a matryoshka nesting doll. Erwin, with 4,542 people, is just up 421. Coats, population 2,155, is just north of Erwin. In 1985, Harnett County Schools opened Triton High School, consolidating schools in the three towns.

In an old, black-and-white newspaper photo of Clayton, he’s carrying the football, surrounded by opposing defenders. One has a firm grip on his jersey, so much so that the number is unreadable. Through Clayton’s face mask, one can see effort etched on his face.

He was quarterback in addition to star defensive back. He also ran track and played basketball. Ben, whose older brothers played with Clayton, uses the term “legend” in describing his exploits. He says Clayton served as a rallying point to bring the community together. “Just coming to the games as a kid,” Ben says, “No. 4 was everywhere. I think everybody in Harnett County in the ’90s knew Clayton White.”

Barry Honeycutt, who coached Clayton in high school, says Clayton is probably the most accomplished football player ever to come out of Triton. “He was one of the best we had on both sides of the ball,” Barry says. “The big thing you noticed is that he was a student of the game. He wanted to be as good as he could be.”

The No. 4 wadded up in an opponent’s fist in that newspaper photo now hangs on a wall, retired by Triton. This past spring, he was part of the inaugural class for the school’s hall of fame.

“It still hasn’t hit,” Clayton says. “I was more excited about seeing the inductees than I was about getting the award. I’ve gotten my flowers from Triton. I’m always back because I’m recruiting. I’m still in the news because of my job. I was glad to see the other guys finally get recognized for what they did.”

His senior year, Clayton was named first team all-state and was the school’s first-ever selection for the Shrine Bowl, an annual all-star game between North and South Carolina grid standouts. He admits he didn’t have his best game that day. Later, he was also selected for the East-West All-Star Game, an intrastate contest.

“For the East-West Game, I told my best friend, Jerry Adams, ‘I’m going to go get the MVP for this game,’” Clayton says. “I played as hard as I ever played in a football game.” Clayton had two interceptions and nine tackles. He picked up a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. He held on placekicks. Clayton’s East stars won 15-12, and he was indeed named MVP. Then it was off to N.C. State, where in 1999 his career intersected with the Gamecocks.

College Ball

The Lou Holtz era at The University of South Carolina began at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Lou had been N.C. State’s head coach from 1972 to 1975. Remnants of Hurricane Dennis brought torrential rain on game day.

“It was the first game of the year,” Clayton says. He remembers worried Wolfpack offensive players calling a Gamecocks defensive end “the best guy we’ve ever seen.” It was future NFL star John Abraham. “They had talent. We were kind of on a rebuild year. The game was wet. I remember shaking Lou Holtz’s hand.”

At N.C. State, Clayton grew to become a 238-pound linebacker and rank among the school’s all-time leaders in several tackling categories. Kent, who was the defensive backs coach for the Wolfpack at the time, had recruited him to Raleigh. “He was a jewel,” Kent says. “He had such a great personality, you knew he was going to be a great teammate and leader. You could trust him, and he was very coachable.”

Clayton parlayed his development at N.C. State into the NFL. He appeared in all 16 games with the New York Giants in 2001, making nine tackles. He says the biggest adjustment was off the field, living with Gotham at his backdoor.

“The main thing I remember about New York City is the people, the amount of people,” Clayton says. “The Giants was an unbelievable organization, as were the guys I played with. It was more about the experiences and the people. Just living in northern New Jersey was a big adjustment, and I ended up liking it.”

An offseason knee injury following his rookie year spelled the beginning of the end of Clayton’s pro career. After having two surgeries and spending 2002 on the injured list for the Giants, he tried to make the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. During training camp in Orlando, Clayton’s knee flared up again. He talked to some Bucs coaches and retired before receiving the dreaded call to come to the office to return his playbook. “I left Orlando and already had my mind set — I was ready to coach,” Clayton says. “That day, I called every high school in Raleigh, North Carolina. I had two interviews the next day.”

Coach White

Clayton took a position at Sanderson High School as a teaching assistant and assistant football coach for N.C. State alumnus Tim Gillespie. “I probably wouldn’t have left the NFL if I had known how hard it was to get into coaching,” Clayton says. “I got lucky.” After a semester at Sanderson, Kent was recruiting him again, this time to Western Carolina University.

“I smile when I think about him making the decision to come to college from high school,” Kent says. “I told him, ‘You’re made for college football. You’ll move up fast.’”

Kent was right. After two seasons at WCU, Clayton was off to Western Michigan, beginning a California-to-Connecticut ascent through five schools, from position coach to special teams coordinator to defensive coordinator, until Shane Beamer hired him when building his first USC staff for the 2021 season. Over the years, Clayton has been nominated four times for the Frank Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant coach.

“I always try to send him a good luck message before the season starts,” Barry says. “We’re all so proud of how hard he’s worked to be where he is — and he deserves it.”

As for football recruiting, it hits the sweet spot of Clayton’s people centered personality, as well as his inquisitiveness. He says if he wasn’t coaching football, he might have become a detective or gone to Los Angeles to work for TMZ.

“I don’t mind getting to know people, talking in front of new people,” Clayton says. “I investigate offenses. Try to be steps ahead of them. That’s where it all comes out. I love identifying kids. I love breaking down their tape and scouting them. The recruiting is the third piece. Recruiting is the hardest part because it has to be mutual. I can recruit them, but they have to like you and your school too.”

Kent agrees recruiting comes naturally for Clayton. “He’s not like a car salesman,” Kent says. “You’ve got to connect with the athletes, their families, and their significant supporters. It’s a decision that can change your life — where you go to school.” He says Clayton is good at finding diamonds in the rough, perhaps because that was what he was. “I just have a lot of respect and admiration for him. I could see him becoming a head coach someday.”

Does Clayton? “Yes. I definitely want to be a head coach,” he says. He goes to development forums to improve his skills in that regard. “But I also want to be one of the best defensive coordinators, the Brent Venables route.”

Brent was a longtime Clemson defensive coordinator before becoming head coach at Oklahoma. “He ran it for 10 years at Clemson,” Clayton says. “Then he got the right job at the right time. Coordinator in the SEC is the top. I’m in no hurry. I’ve seen coaches leave and take a job that’s halfway right. I’m not going to chase anything.”

Varying levels of optimism exist among Gamecock faithful and college football pundits about the 2024 season. Last season, the USC defense went through highs — like leading Georgia 14-3 at halftime and holding Clemson without an offensive touchdown — and lows — a blown lead against Florida helped prevent the Gamecocks from going to a bowl. Clayton knows SEC coordinators are lightning rods. “When you win, they love you. When you lose, they feel like it’s your fault,” he says. “If you don’t want that, go sell Italian ice at the beach. That’s part of the job description. You’ve got to be able to take criticism.”

Message board geniuses aside, he says when he meets Gamecocks fans around Columbia, “It’s all love. They love their football. On game day, it’s the craziest atmosphere I’ve ever seen.”

Full Circle

Maybe all the love goes back to Dunn, riding his bicycle through a town where he never met a stranger. Maybe Clayton brings it out in people. He remembers all the support he received growing up.

“They probably knew more about my family than I did, but I didn’t know that then,” he says. “Everybody was making sure I didn’t get in trouble, that I did my school work, that I didn’t run around with the wrong people, and that I had food. That helped me to be more personable, to be more comfortable around other people.”

It is no stretch to assume that his community got a boost in seeing young Clayton blossom. “They wanted to see how far I could go,” he says. “I think it goes back to my dad, who was supposedly a really, really good athlete. These are the same people that played with my dad that wanted to help me.”

Clayton’s dad, Clayton McDougald, never played college ball. He maintained a role in Clayton’s life growing up, connecting on weekends. They’re still in touch. Clayton also has two sisters, 8 and 10 years younger than he. Clayton’s mom forged a career helping people with substance abuse issues. Together, they created the White Family Learning Center in Dunn.

“Any kid that has a home environment where they can’t do their homework, they can come to our place,” Clayton says. “We have tutoring and computers. That goes back to thinking about what kind of environment I did my homework in. That’s kind of our giveback. My mom heads it.”

Clayton says he’s grateful for everything he has now, which includes a wonderful family of his own. Clayton married his wife, Kelly, in 2006, and they have two children — Chase is in eighth grade and is a budding golfer, and Macy is in sixth grade and is a state-championship-caliber gymnast.

The reason he mentions those unusual early days is because, he says, “Sometimes people think everybody comes from a house on a hill.” He’s mindful that no one’s life is perfect.