Jim Skipper life and biography

Jim Skipper is an American football coach. He is currently the Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs coach for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League.

Coaching
Resourcefulness and ingenuity are only two of the characteristics that led John Fox to promote Jim Skipper to assistant head coach, but they may be the qualities that have served him best as the team's running backs coach since 2002. In 2009, Skipper avoided the mix-and-match approach that characterized his early tenure with the Panthers, and the result was the first set of teammates in NFL history to each rush for more than 1,100 yards in the same season.

Running back Jonathan Stewart led Carolina with 1,133 yards and 10 touchdowns, the third-highest totals in team history. Running back DeAngelo Williams became the first player in team history to record back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons and earned his first Pro Bowl selection after rushing for 1,117 yards and seven touchdowns. The two players helped the Panthers set a team record with 2,498 rushing yards, bettering the previous mark of 2,437 yards in 2008.

A year earlier, the duo began their assault on the Panthers' record book as Williams set team records with 1,515 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, while Stewart established team rookie marks with 836 yards and 10 touchdowns. Along the way, they became the first players in team history to both rush for 100 yards in the same game, accomplishing the feat versus Detroit and versus Tampa Bay en route to a team single-game record 299-yard effort.

Since joining Carolina, Skipper has used nine different starting halfbacks, and seven of those have produced 100-yard performances. Whether Stephen Davis, DeShaun Foster, Brad Hoover, Nick Goings, Stewart or Williams, Skipper has consistently coaxed the best out of the Panthers running backs.

In 2007, despite the effectiveness of the passing game being hampered by Carolina using four different starting quarterbacks, the Panthers' 1,824 rushing yards rank as the fourth most in team history. Versus St. Louis in 2006, Carolina amassed a then team-record 242 rushing yards, surpassing the previous mark of 229 at Atlanta in the 2005 regular-season finale.

Skipper's best effort may have come in 2004 when the Panthers started four different players at halfback because of injuries. Foster and Goings each recorded 100-yard rushing efforts, and Hoover rushed for 99 yards in his only start at halfback. During the last eight games of the campaign, Goings, a former undrafted rookie free agent, recorded five 100-yard rushing games.

With a healthy backfield contingent in 2003, Skipper coached the Panthers to 2,091 rushing yards - the third most in team history - while helping Davis earn Pro Bowl honors with 1,444 yards, the second-highest total in team history. During his first year in Carolina, Skipper nurtured the Panthers running game to a 214-yard improvement over the 2001 campaign despite losing starter Lamar Smith after 11 games and Foster for the season in training camp.

A coaching veteran with more than 30 years of experience, including 23 in the NFL, Skipper came to Carolina after spending four years with the New York Giants and 2001 as head coach of the XFL's San Francisco Demons. He began his NFL coaching career as running backs coach with the New Orleans Saints in 1986 and served in that capacity through 1995. During his 10-year tenure with New Orleans, Skipper coached two Pro Bowlers, Rueben Mayes in 1986 and 1987 and Dalton Hilliard in 1989. Mayes' 1,353 yards in 1986 and Hilliard's 1,262 in 1989 still stand among the 10 highest single-season rushing totals in Saints history.

Skipper moved to Arizona in 1996 and coached one season with the Cardinals. Under his direction, fullback Larry Centers rushed for 425 yards and led all NFL running backs with 99 receptions for 766 yards to earn Pro Bowl honors.

Following his stint with the Cardinals, Skipper assumed the same role with the New York Giants from 1997-2000. In his first season with New York, the team finished seventh in the NFL in rushing with an average of 124.3 yards per game. As head coach with San Francisco of the XFL, Skipper led the Demons to a 5-5 record and a playoff berth, advancing to the league championship game.

Skipper entered coaching as the defensive backs coach at Cal Poly-Pomona in 1974 before joining San Jose State in 1977. He switched to offense as running backs coach at Pacific in 1979 and then coached running backs at Oregon from 1980-82. Skipper made his foray into the professional coaching ranks with the USFL's Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars from 1983-85.

Playing and Personal
A graduate of Whittier College, Skipper played defensive back and also served as a kick and punt returner for the Poets. Born in Breaux Bridge, La., he grew up in Brawley, Calif.

History
Defensive back Whittier College 1971-72. College coach: Cal Poly-Pomona 1974-76, San Jose State 1977-78, Pacific 1979, Oregon 1980-82. Pro coach: Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (USFL) 1983-85, New Orleans Saints 1986-95, Arizona Cardinals 1996, New York Giants 1997-2000, San Francisco Demons (XFL) 2001 (head coach), joined Panthers in 2002.

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