Shawn Clark (born August 16, 1975) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach currently serving as the

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

coach at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

. Previously, he served as the head football coach at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

from 2019 to 2024.

Playing career

An offensive lineman in college, Clark was a two-time All-American (1996 and 1998) and three-time all-conference selection (1995, 1996, 1998) for teams that went a combined 45–16 during his first five years in Boone. In fact, as a player during the 12–0 start in 1995 and a coach for the 2019 team that has set a single-season record for wins by an FBS program in the state of North Carolina, Clark has been part of the two App State teams to post 11 regular-season victories. Clark graduated from App State with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1998 and earned a master's degree in education from Louisville in 2003.

Coaching career

Shawn Clark has developed over a dozen NFL offensive lineman in his career (including six O-line draft picks):

Cooper Hodges Cooper Hodges (born July 13, 2000) is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Appalachian State Mountaineers and was selected in t ...

, Larry Turner, Derek Hardman,

Dennis Kelly Dennis Kelly is a British writer and producer. He has worked for theatre, television, and film. His play ''DNA'', published in 2007 and first performed in 2008, became a core set-text for GCSE in 2010 and has been studied by approximately 4 ...

, Nick Mondek, Jordan Roos, Rick Schmeig, Kevin Pamphile, Colby Gossett, Josh Kline, Armani Taylor-Prioleau,

Ryan Neuzil Ryan Scott Neuzil (born July 31, 1997) is an American professional football center for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Appalachian State Mountaineers and was signed by the Falcons as ...

, and Beau Nunn.

Appalachian State

Clark joined the Appalachian staff as offensive line coach in 2016 under head coach

Scott Satterfield Fredric Scott Satterfield (born December 21, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Satterfield served as the hea ...

, then becoming an assistant

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

in 2019. In 2017, they lead the Sun Belt in both rushing yards and fewest sacks, allowing only eight sacks (ranked second nationally) and averaging 223.6 rushing yards per game, ranking 22nd nationally. Appalachian State became the first

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

program to have three offensive linemen named to the all-conference first team ( Colby Gossett, Beau Nunn, Victor Johnson). The 2018 team was 14th nationally in rushing yards per game (240.3) and 20th nationally with only 18 sacks allowed. Quarterback Justice Hansen was awarded the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year. The following season Quarterback Zac Thomas was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year. Upon the departure of

Eliah Drinkwitz Eliah "Eli" Drinkwitz (born April 12, 1983) is an American college football coach who is the head football coach for Missouri Tigers football, Missouri, a position he has held since the 2020 Missouri Tigers football team, 2020 season. He previous ...

for Missouri, Clark became the 22nd head coach in program history on December 13, 2019. Clark led the Mountaineers in their bowl game that year to a 31–17 victory over

UAB Blazers The UAB Blazers are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The school is one of the fourteen member institutions of the American Athletic Conference and participates in Divisi ...

in the

New Orleans Bowl The New Orleans Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2001. It is normally held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans; when the Superdome and the rest of the city suffered damage due t ...

. Running back Darrynton Evans was also named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, with Appalachian State receiving the title for the third straight year. Clark's first full season as head coach of the Mountaineers was met with complications from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, which caused many changes to schedules and football operations around the country. The team persevered and Clark finished 9–3 and lead the team in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Bowl and defeated the

North Texas Mean Green North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Tex ...

with a dominating 56–28 performance. In the 2021 season, Linebacker D'Marco Jackson was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and Quarterback Chase Brice was named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year In 2023, Quarterback

Joey Aguilar Joey Aguilar is an American football quarterback who plays for the Tennessee Volunteers. He previously played for the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Diablo Valley College Vikings. Early life Aguilar attended Freedom High School, wher ...

would also receive the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year Award. On December 2, 2024, Clark was fired following a 5–6 season in 2024.

UCF

After his exit from Appalachian State, Clark was hired by

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is an American football coach and player who currently serves as the head football coach for UCF Knights football, UCF. He was the head football coach at the Nebraska Cornhuskers football, University o ...

to be the offensive line coach at the

. The move was first reported by

Pete Thamel Victor Pete Thamel (born 1977) is an American sports reporter for ESPN. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ''Sports Illustrated'', and ''The New York Times''. Early life Thamel was born in Ware, Massachusetts to Peter V. Thamel. He was t ...

and later confirmed by the

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

. Clark was one of Frost's first hires after being hired to replace

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustav Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator at Florida State. He was the head coach at the University of Central Florida ( UCF) from 2021 to 2024, Auburn University fr ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Appalachian State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Shawn 1975 births Living people American football offensive linemen Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football players Coaches of American football from West Virginia Eastern Kentucky Colonels football coaches George Washington High School (Charleston, West Virginia) alumni UCF Knights football coaches Louisville Cardinals football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Players of American football from Charleston, West Virginia