James Edward Carmody Jr. (August 24, 1933–January 5, 2023) was a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

from 1982 to 1987, compiling a career record of 37–29. Carmody's 1982 Golden Eagles team went into

Bryant–Denny Stadium Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Opene ...

defeated

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

team that had won 56 consecutive home games entering the contest. Carmody also served as an assistant coach at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

, the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

and the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Early life

Carmody was born on August 24, 1933 in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. In high school, he received three letters in football and baseball from Holy Cross High School in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

from 1948 to 1952. He attended college at Copiah-Lincoln Junior College from 1952 to 1954 and

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

from 1954 to 1955. While at Tulane, Carmody was a two-year football letterman who played in the first night game at

Tulane Stadium Tulane Stadium was an outdoor football stadium that stood in New Orleans from 1926 to 1980. It was officially the Third Tulane Stadium and replaced the "Second Tulane Stadium", which was located where the Telephone Exchange Building is now. Th ...

in 1954.

Assistant coach

Carmody served as an assistant coach at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

from 1964 to 1966 under head coaches

Paul E. Davis Paul E. Davis (February 3, 1922 – March 31, 2009) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1962 to 1966, compiling a record of 20–28–2. Playing career Davis ...

and

Charles Shira Charles N. Shira (September 23, 1926 – January 2, 1976) was an American college football coach and athletic director. He served as head coach of Mississippi State University from 1967 to 1972 and compiled a combined record of 16–45–2. Shira r ...

. After leaving MSU, Carmody joined

Bill Dooley William Gerald Dooley (May 19, 1934 – August 9, 2016) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1967–1977), Virginia Polytechni ...

's staff at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and served as an assistant coach for seven seasons (1967–1973). He then served on Ken Cooper's staff at Ole Miss from 1974 to 1977, Bobby Collins' staff at

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

from 1978 to 1980 (where he earned the nickname "The Big Nasty" as coordinator of the "Nasty Bunch") and made a stop in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

with the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

as an assistant coach in 1981.

Southern Miss

Carmody was hired to replace Bobby Collins as the Golden Eagles head football coach in 1982 after Collins took the head coaching position at SMU. Under Carmody's tutelage, the Golden Eagles compiled a record of 37–29 with no bowl appearances. During Carmody's tenure, the Golden Eagles defeated

, 38–29, in

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

in 1982, snapping the Crimson Tide's 56-game home winning streak at

. It was the first time since 1962 that Alabama had lost there, and 1982 proved to be the final season of coach

's career. Carmody recruited a

Kiln, Mississippi Kiln (pronounced "Kill") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States. The town is located about northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi Metropolit ...

high school quarterback named

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

to Southern Miss in 1987. In 1984, Southern Miss, already under NCAA sanctions for prior infractions, admitted to improper recruiting practices pertaining to freshman linebacker Don Palmer. As part of the fallout, Carmody's salary was frozen. Palmer alleged he was given clothing, basketball game tickets, cash, and transportation to the campus by an USM assistant coach.

Later coaching career

After leaving Southern Miss, Carmody returned to Mississippi State to serve as defensive coordinator under head coach

Rockey Felker Rockey Felker (born February 1, 1953) is a former quarterback, head football coach, and retired as director of player personnel for Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi after the 2017 season. After serving three different stin ...

, a position he held during the 1989 and 1990 seasons. Under his watch, the Bulldogs defense improved from 89th nationally before he arrived to 15th. He then returned to Ole Miss to serve as associate head coach and defensive line coach under head coaches

Billy Brewer Homer Ervin "Billy" Brewer (October 8, 1934 – May 12, 2018) was an American football player and head coach. He served as the head football coach at Southeastern Louisiana University from 1974 to 1979, Louisiana Tech University from 1980 to 1 ...

and

Joe Lee Dunn Joseph Levi "Joe Lee" Dunn, Sr (July 14, 1946 – October 26, 2021) was an American college football coach and player. As a defensive coordinator, he was known for coaching from the sidelines, seldom using a headset or carrying playsheets, and hi ...

, where the Rebels defenses ranked #6 nationally in 1992, #1 nationally in 1993 and #17 nationally in 1994. New head coach

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

did not retain Carmody on his staff in 1995.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmody, Jim 1933 births Living people Buffalo Bills coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Tulane Green Wave football players Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana Copiah-Lincoln Wolfpack football players Players of American football from New Orleans