2012 TENNIS MEDIA GUIDE - UTC Athletics

2013 Mocs tennis
coaching staff
jeff clark
women’s tennis head coach
The Clark File
Born............................... March 1, 1973
Family
Wife...................................Laura Brown
Childern..............Peter, Caroline, Henry
Collegiate Coaching Credentials
2008-present
Chattanooga, Women’s Head Caoch
2002-2006
Ole Miss, Men’s Assistant Coach
1999-2001
Chattanooga, Women’s Head Caoch
Chattanooga, Men’s Head Caoch
1997-1998
Chattanooga, Asst. Men’s & Women’s Coach
Education
Vanderbilt, 1995
• Bachelor of Arts: English
Chattanooga, 2000
• Master of Arts: English Literature
Women’s Head Coaching Record
Overall SoCon SoCon
Record Record Finish
1998-99 17-6 7-2 3rd
1999-00 14-10 7-2 3rd
2000-01 12-11 6-3 4th
2007-08 8-12 2-7 8th
2008-09 8-15 2-8 9th
2009-10 9-13 3-7 8th
2010-11 11-11 6-4 5th
2011-12 16-6 6-4 T4th
Totals 95-84 39-37
Jeff Clark is in the sixth year of his second
stint as head coach of the Lady Mocs
tennis program. He coach UTC’s men’s
and women’s programs for three year from
1999-01, and returned to UTC to take over
the women’s team in 2008.
Clark has shown a tremendous amount of
continuous improvement in his five years
back in the Scenic City. Last season, the
Lady Mocs were an impressive 16-6 overall,
the most wins for the program since 1999.
UTC was also listed No. 6 in the Ohio Valley
Region in the Final ITA rankings.
During Clark’s first tenure at UTC, his
men’s team captured the 2000 Southern
Conference tournament title, earning the
university’s only NCAA Division I tennis
tournament bid. That same year he guided
his women’s squad to the SoCon Tournament
finals. In the spring of 1999, his first season
as head coach, the men’s squad reached
the conference tournament final. Clark has
over 100 combined wins as head coach of
the men’s and women’s teams at UTC.
Among his other accomplishments at UTC,
he has coached four singles players and
four doubles teams to All-SoCon honors.
One of those players, Jason Ontog, was
a two-time All-SoCon selection and the
2001 conference Player of the Year. Clark’s
women’s team maintained the highest grade
point average among all UTC athletics teams
from 1999 to 2001, and the 2001 and 2012
squads were honored as ITA All-Academic
Teams.
Prior to his head coaching stint at UTC,
Clark was a Mocs assistant under former
head coach Jim Thompson. Clark joined
Thompson’s staff in 1997 and their coaching
partnership proved to be an immediate
success, leading the UTC men to the
Southern Conference tournament title and
the women to the tournament finals.
Clark has enjoyed success throughout his
collegiate coaching career. From 2002 to
2006 Clark served as the men’s assistant
coach at the University of Mississippi,
one of the top programs in all of college
tennis. Working with legendary coach Billy
Chadwick, he helped coach the Rebels
to four consecutive top-ten national team
rankings, back-to-back SEC team titles, four
SEC West titles, one Final Four appearance,
and numerous All-American singles and
doubles honors. One of his Ole Miss players,
Catalin Gard, achieved the number one
singles ranking in college tennis during the
2004-05 season. In 2006 Clark was named
ITA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of
the Year and thus nominated for ITA National
Assistant Coach of the Year.
In addition to his college coaching, Clark has
mentored and developed many junior tennis
players. He has worked with the tennis
programs at The McCallie School from
1995-1997 and, more recently, from 2006-
2007, coaching alongside Eric Voges, one of
the top junior coaches in the Southeast. In
2001, Clark created a unique tennis program
at the Bethlehem Community Center, a
school and sports facility for inner-city youth
in Chattanooga.
Clark is a 1995 graduate of Vanderbilt
University, where he earned a Bachelor of
Arts degree in English. While a member
of the Commodore tennis team, Clark led
Vanderbilt to its first-ever NCAA Regional
as the team captain his senior year. He
played number four singles and number
one doubles that season. After college Clark
competed professionally, participating in ITF
satellites and money tournaments in Europe
and competing for his club team in Germany,
TC Philippsburg, where he played in 1997
and 1998.
During his first stint coaching at UTC from
1997 to 2001, he earned his master’s degree
in English Literature from the university.
Clark, 40, is married to the former Laura
Brown of Signal Mountain, Tenn. The couple
has three children: Peter, Caroline and
Henry. They reside in Chattanooga.
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