chattanooga MOCS

Jeff Clark spent 12 seasons as head coach of the Mocs' women's tennis program and three as the men's head coach.  He coached UTC's men's and women's programs for three years from 1999-01. He returned to UTC to take over the women's team in 2008 and coached that squad until 2016. 

Clark and the Mocs have showed a tremendous amount of growth over the last years of his second tenure.  UTC bettered or equaled its win total from the previous year in seven of his last eight seasons. 

Chattanooga posted 15 wins in five straight campaigns and has had six-consecutive records of .500 or better.  UTC was ranked No. 6 in the Ohio Valley Region in the Final ITA rankings in 2012, No. 8 following the 2013 campaign, No. 9 in 2014 and No. 8 in 2015. 

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.

Among his other accomplishments at UTC, he has coached five singles players and five 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, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 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 he 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, 44, is married to the former Laura Brown of Signal Mountain, Tenn. The couple has three children: Peter, Caroline and Henry. They reside in Chattanooga.

Updated May 2016.