Shawn Clark, UCF’s offensive line coach and the former head coach at Appalachian State, has died. He was just 50 years old.
UCF made the announcement Sunday morning in a release:
Clark was admitted to the hospital on September 9th, three days after UCF’s victory over North Carolina A&T, after what was termed a “medical emergency.” No immediate cause of Clark’s death has been announced.
A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Clark played at Appalachian State as an offensive lineman from 1994 to 1998.
He entered coaching at Louisville in 2003, where he earned his master’s degree, and went on to coach offensive lines at Eastern Kentucky, Purdue, and Kent State. He returned to his alma mater in 2016 as co-offensive coordinator and OL coach under Scott Satterfield (now at Cincinnati) and was promoted to associate head coach under Eliah Drinkwitz in 2019.
Clark was named head coach at App State in 2020 after Drinkwitz left for Missouri. In five seasons in Boone, Clark went 40-24 with two bowl wins (including his first game as head coach in 2019 as an interim after Drinkwitz’s departure), two Sun Belt Championship Game appearances, and three 9+ win campaigns.
He was fired at the end of 2024 after a 5-6 season, but Scott Frost brought him and his family down to Orlando as the offensive line coach, replacing Herb Hand after Hand went to Tallahassee alongside Gus Malzahn.
Coach Frost and UCF Athletic Director Terry Mohajir gave their tributes to Clark in this post:
Coaches and players alike mentioned Clark after the Knights’ win over North Carolina this past Saturday.
Tributes have poured in from around the college football world upon the news of Clark’s passing. Marty Smith of ESPN had one of the most poignant:
His alma mater, Appalachian State, also paid tribute to him, referencing the number he wore there in the hashtag #61Forever:
Carter Miller, UCF’s starting center:
Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield, who coached at App State with Clark:
Our most recent interview with Coach Clark was at Coaches’ Media Day in July. He discussed his approach to offensive line play with Kyle Nash below:
Clark leaves behind his wife, Jonelle, and two children, Giana and Braxton.
We here at Black & Gold Banneret want to extend our warmest sympathies to Jonelle, Giana, Braxton, and all of Coach Clark’s family, friends, current and former players, fellow coaches, and all those whose lives he touched in his all-too-brief time on this planet.
Rest in peace, Coach.
