Clifton Ealy joined Houston Nutt on his first Ole Miss staff as Assistant Athletics Director for Community Relations. Ealy was Arkansas' director of high school relations for the previous two seasons, serving as the program's liaison with high school and junior college coaches around the state and country. He also organized the annual high school coaches' clinic and the Houston Nutt Football Camp. Ealy spent 18 years on the sidelines, including six years in three different stints on the Razorbacks' coaching staff. He was a graduate assistant with the Hogs in 1987-88 when he served under then-UA Coach Ken Hatfield. Ealy came back to Arkansas in 1998 with Nutt to coach bandits and rovers for two seasons. In 2003 he returned to the Razorback staff once again to coach tight ends. Ealy served as the outside linebackers and free safeties coach at Fayetteville (Ark.) High School from 2000-02. After his first stint with the Razorbacks in 1987, Ealy coached two seasons at Delta State as the secondary coach (1988-89) and then as the defensive coordinator (1989). A native of Conway, Ark., Ealy returned to the University of Central Arkansas in a full-time coaching capacity in 1990. He spent seven seasons at UCA with stints as the secondary coach (1990-94), linebackers coach (1995-96) and defensive coordinator (1990-96). In his first three years at UCA, the Bears won three conference titles and the 1991 NAIA national championship. Ealy joined Nutt's coaching staff at Boise State for the 1997 season. He worked with the Broncos defensive backs before accompanying Nutt to Arkansas in 1998. Ealy was a two-time honorable mention All-American and all-conference wide receiver at Central Arkansas before injuries prevented him from finishing his collegiate career. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from UCA in 1982 and a master's in secondary administration of supervision and leadership at UCA in 1987. One day after the Rebels' Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech on January 3, 2009, Ealy married the former Gloria Smith of North Little Rock. |
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