Former CHS coaches in UIL top 100

Clarendon High School basketball made headlines this year with the Broncos’ first ever state championship last month, but two former CHS coaches have also received notable recognition.

In celebration of 100 years of UIL Texas high school basketball, the University Interscholastic League with the help of some of the state’s foremost experts and historians, the UIL earlier this spring honored 100 of the top coaches to walk the sidelines in UIL History in both boys’ and girls’ competition.

Only two names from CHS made those lists – Coach Carl Irlbeck for boys’ basketball and Coach Jimmy Avery for girls’ basketball.

Irlbeck played for Clarendon College in 1959 when the Bulldogs won the Western Junior College Conference championship. He then coached basketball at Nazareth, Clarendon, Abernathy, Plainview, Plainview Christian, Monterey, and Hart. He’s known for his crew-cut hair and cowboy boots, which he used to stomp the floor and get players’ attention.

Irlbeck took the Bronchos to the state tournament in 1971 and overall has had 25 teams advance to regionals and coached nine state champions in four sports – three in basketball, three in tennis, two in cross country, and one in volleyball. He has taught for more than 59 years and coached for 55. He’s been inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame and the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame and has a career record of 1,065 wins and 501 losses.

Avery coached for 32 years. He began his career at Petersburg followed by Levelland, Spur, Shallowater, Lubbock-Roosevelt, Clarendon, Big Spring, Tuscola, Grady, Trophy Club Byron Nelson, and Ponder.

Coaching boys basketball at CHS, Avery led the Broncos to bi-district championships in 1995 and 1997. He won a state championship Tuscola Jim Ned in 2008, made two other appearances in the state tournament, and coached a state championship in cross-country in 2003. Avery has a career record of 813-315.

Coach Avery has been honored with the Chuck Moser Coach of the Year award, was named the Big Country Coach of the Year twice, and was the 2A South Plains Coach of the Year in 1993.