Claiborne attended the Hopkinsville High School and the University of Kentucky and was named the College of Education's Outstanding Senior.

[1][2] The third-ranked Buffaloes went 10–2, behind the teams they lost to (both on the road): undefeated national champion Nebraska and #2 Oklahoma, an unprecedented sweep of the top three slots by the Big Eight Conference.

He posted a 77–37–3 (.671) record in his decade at Maryland, including an undefeated regular season in 1976, before losing to Houston in the Cotton Bowl.

UK had incurred four straight losing seasons and offered Claiborne the position largely to help clean up a program racked by numerous recruiting violations during the tenure of previous head coach Fran Curci.

Due in part to his role in cleaning up the program's image, he remained in the good graces of Kentucky fans; his eight-season record was 41–46–3 (.472).