James became a head coach in 1971 at Kent State in his native Ohio, where he had a record in four years. There he coached future NFL great Jack Lambert, current college head coach Nick Saban of Alabama, and former head coach Gary Pinkel of Missouri. During his four seasons at Kent, the Golden Flashes won their only Mid-American Conference title in 1972, and played in their first bowl game, the Tangerine Bowl. The 1973 team posted the best record in program history at 9–2.
Washington
In December 1974, James was hired by University of Washington athletic directorJoseph Kearney to succeed as head coach of the His original contract was for four years, starting at $28,000 per year. Like Owens, James served as Husky head coach for 18 seasons, from 1975 until August 1993. He led the Huskies to a national championship in 1991. While at Washington, James' teams won four Rose Bowls, the Orange Bowl in January 1985, and had a record in all bowl games. Overall, James tallied a record at Washington, including a then-record 98 wins in Pacific-10 Conference play. (Against the five current North division opponents of the Pac-12, his record was Washington won 22 consecutive games from November 1990 to November 1992. James won national college coach of the year honors in 1977, 1984, and 1991. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. During the 1992 season, it was revealed that several Huskies players had received improper benefits. Among them, starting quarterback Billy Joe Hobert had received a series of loans totaling $50,000 made by a friend's father-in-law. While it was later determined the loan was neither an NCAA violation nor an institutional violation, this was the first in a series of reports by the Seattle Times and Los Angeles Times that initiated Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA investigations. These led to charges that Washington exhibited "lack of institutional control" over its handling of recruiting funds for on-campus visits and a Los Angeles booster summer jobs program. The Huskies received sanctions from both the NCAA and Pacific-10 Conference. Though notably James and the coaching staff were not specifically cited as having broken any rules, James resigned from his head coaching position on August 22, 1993, in protest of what were considered unfair sanctions against his team for minor, unsubstantiated, or fabricated infractions. James later clarified he was protesting what was a betrayal by then University PresidentWilliam Gerberding. Though he and then Athletic Director Barbara Hedges had presented James the final list of penalties that all Pac-10 parties had agreed best for the football program and athletics, Gerberding argued in favor of altering the penalties against the program from a two-year TV revenue ban and one-year bowl ban, to a one-year TV revenue ban and two-year In a 2006 interview with columnist Blaine Newnham of The Seattle Times, James said his resignation from head coaching "probably saved
Family and later years
James married his high school sweetheart, Carol Hoobler, a Massillon native who followed James to Miami where she became a cheerleader. They were married in August 1952 and had three children: Jeff, Jill, and Jeni. James died of pancreatic cancer at his Kirkland residence in 2013 at age 80. In October 2017, the University of Washington unveiled a bronze statue of James in the northwest plaza of
Head coaching record
Wins by MSU and UCLA in and ASU in were later vacated, yielding James' overall record in Washington and conference record in. Overall James' record yielding. However those wins are recognized by Washington they aren't recognized by NCAA.
Pac-10 opponents
James' record at Washington against conference opponents
