Episode Details

After coming back to Boone to coach at his beloved alma mater, Shawn Clark not only became App State’s head coach, but he has begun his tenure with a record-breaking bowl victory, a nine-win debut season and a 10-win regular season in 2021. Hired as the 22nd head football coach in App State history on Dec. 13, 2019, Clark was the only first-year FBS head coach in 2020 to win at least nine games, and he followed that by directing the Mountaineers to a 2021 Sun Belt East Division title during a 10-4 season that pushed his record to 20-7. A 17-14 win at No. 6 Texas A&M in 2022 — the program's highest-profile victory since the 2007 upset of Michigan — led to ESPN's College GameDay airing from Boone the following week. With App State alum/country music star Luke Combs picking his alma mater as ESPN's guest picker and Lee Corso putting on the giant Yosef head, the Mountaineers delivered with a dramatic victory against Troy. Clark, whose contract runs through the 2026 season, has a 27-13 record now in his 4th full season in charge. In each of Clark’s four seasons coaching App State’s offensive line, with the Mountaineers earning four straight Sun Belt Conference titles while compiling a 43-10 record in that span, the line ranked in the top 25 nationally in both rushing yards per game and fewest sacks allowed. The unit was recognized by the Joe Moore Award as one of the nation’s top 15 offensive lines in 2018 and 2019, and all five starters on the 2019 line received All-Sun Belt Conference recognition. 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. His wife, Jonelle, was a standout softball student-athlete at Eastern Kentucky and was inducted into EKU's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. The Clarks have two children: a daughter, Giana, and a son, Braxton. September 7, 2023 | NCSN-DGS-00010 HOST: David Glenn EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mike Waddell MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE and LIKE OUR CONTENT CHECKOUT THE WEBSITE www.ncsportsnetwork.com