Tom Clark is an

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 ...

coach. He is the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

for

Shepherd University Shepherd University is a public university in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, the university enrolled 3,159 students in Fall 2020. History Shepherd University began when the county seat of Jefferson ...

, a position he has held since 2023. Clark served for nine non-consecutive seasons as the head football coach at

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

, where he compiled a 58–32–1 record and a .643

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

. Clark was the

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 ...

at the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

(VMI) from 2015 to 2021.

Early life

Clark was born and raised in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

. He attended the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

, where he graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

. His first coaching position was as the assistant coach at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. from 1983 to 1984.

Coaching career

Clark's first college coaching experience was as the

secondary coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from 1985 to 1986. He then moved on to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, where he served in the same capacity for the 1987 and 1988 seasons. He returned to the Washington metropolitan area to serve as athletic director and head football coach at

Bishop McNamara High School Bishop McNamara High School (BMHS or McNamara) is a private, Catholic Church, Catholic Mixed-sex education, coed high school in Forestville, Maryland, Forestville CDP in unincorporated area, unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland.

Forestville, Maryland Forestville is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 12,831. The community is a mixture of garden apartments, single-family homes, and ...

from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, Clark returned to Catholic to take the head coaching position. He remained there for seven seasons and compiled a record of 56–14–1 and a 0.792 winning percentage. Each year from 1997 to 1999, Catholic advanced to the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

playoffs before being eliminated. In 1999, the team won the

Old Dominion Athletic Conference The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference. Of its 15 member schools, all but one are located in Virginia; the other full member is in North Carolina. The conference also has an associate member in Nort ...

(ODAC) championship with a 9–2 record. It was the first year that Catholic was eligible for the ODAC title as a new member.Past Standings and All-Conference Squads
''2007 ODAC Football Guide'', Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), 2007, retrieved February 13, 2009. From 2001 to 2003, Clark served as the defensive coordinator for William & Mary. The Tribe won a share of the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

championship in his first year. In 2004, Clark returned to Catholic again as head coach. He stayed for two seasons, but was less successful, compiling a 2–18 record. In 2006, Clark became the defensive coordinator for

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

. He installed a

3–4 defense In American football, the 3–4 defense is a common defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers. It is a called a "base defense" because it is the default defensive alignment used on "base downs" (1st and 2nd downs). ...

, which had previously never been used at Liberty. During that first season, the Liberty Flames ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 15.64 points per game, and 36th in total defense, allowing a total of 306.0 yards per game. He returned to Williamsburg in 2012 to serve as the Tribe's defensive backs coach. After three seasons with the Tribe, Clark was hired by

Scott Wachenheim Scott Allen Wachenheim (born August 13, 1962) is an American football coach and, most recently, the head coach of the VMI Keydets football team. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Wachenheim has been an assistant coach at various p ...

as the defensive coordinator of the

. In addition to being a defensive coordinator, Clark will also handle the defensive backs and secondary. After leading the Keydets' defense for eights seasons, including helping guide VMI to a

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

championship and FCS playoff berth in the spring season of 2021, Clark resigned in February 2022. In March 2022, Clark was hired as the assistant head football coach at

Hampden–Sydney College gr, Ye Shall Know the Truth , established = , type = Private liberal arts men's college , religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church (USA) , endowment = $258 million (2021) , president = Larry Stimpert , city = Hampden Sydney, Virginia , cou ...

Hampden Sydney, Virginia Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...

. The move reunited Clark with long-time friend Marty Favret, whom he coached with at Catholic University.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links