posted December 18, 2007
Jeff Clark, returning to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to coach tennis, has been named the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at UTC, Athletics Director Rick Hart announced Tuesday.
Clark, a Chattanooga native, directed both the men’s and the women’s programs for the Mocs from 1998 to 2001. He has most recently been working as a private tennis coach after four years as the men’s assistant coach at the University of Mississippi.
“Jeff Clark has great experience as a teacher of tennis and a leader of young people,” Hart said. “His teams have demonstrated what we are looking for athletically and academically, and he has always held sportsmanship on the court in high esteem. While there was a strong pool of applicants, he is a good fit and has a lot of ties to the area. Not only in tennis but in the community."
Clark is a 1995 graduate of Vanderbilt where he earned a degree in English. While a member of the Commodores’ tennis team, Clark led Vanderbilt to its first NCAA Regional as the team captain his senior year in 1995. He played number four singles and number one doubles.
He was hired by UTC tennis coach Jim Thompson in 1997 to work as the assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs. He took over the head-coaching duties in 1998 after Thompson left for a head coaching job at Virginia Tech.
While coaching both UTC programs from 1998 to 2001, he compiled a record of 85-56, including 42-28 with the women’s team. He led the men to the 2000 Southern Conference Tournament title and the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. That same year, he guided the women’s squad to the SoCon Tournament finals.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to return to Chattanooga,” Clark said. “Chattanooga is a great place for a student-athlete to get an education and a great place to compete in intercollegiate athletics in the Southern Conference. The SoCon has many strong teams and we must work hard to be able to compete for championships on a yearly basis. We have a rich tennis tradition at Chattanooga, and I want us to maintain that great tradition.”
Among his other accomplishments at UTC, he coached four singles players and four doubles teams to All-SoCon honors. One, Jason Ontog, was a two-time All-SoCon selection and the 2001 SoCon Men’s Player of the Year.
His women’s team maintained the highest grade point average among UTC’s athletics teams from 1999 to 2001, and the 2001 squad was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team.
Clark, who earned his master’s degree in English Literature at UTC, left the school, in August, 2001 to become the Founder and Director of the tennis program at the Bethlehem Community Center in Chattanooga.
He returned to the collegiate scene one year later, working as an assistant to Ole Miss Head Men’s Coach Billy Chadwick. During his four-year stint with the Rebels, Ole Miss won back-to-back Southeastern Conference Championships in 2004 and 2005 and four straight SEC West Division crowns.
He helped four players earn seven All-America honors at Ole Miss, including Catalin Gard, who held the No. 1 NCAA singles ranking for most of the 2004-05 season. The Rebels reached the Final Four at the NCAA Tennis Championships in 2005, the Elite Eight in 2003 and the Sweet 16 in 2006.
Clark was named the ITA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2006 and was nominated for the National Assistant of the Year.
Upon leaving Ole Miss in August, 2006, he worked at the John Strang Tennis Center at The McCallie School, coaching top junior players in the area and at McCallie.
Clark is married to the former Laura Brown of Signal Mountain, Tenn. The couple has two sons and a daughter.
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