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Matt Clark

UNCW Head Coach Matt Clark enters his ninth season with the Seahawks in 2016-17. He joined the program in 2008 following a stint at Georgia State.

During his time at UNCW, the Seahawks have competed in four NCAA regionals and captured three straight Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship titles.

From 2011 through 2013, the Seahawks won three straight CAA tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA regionals. In his second season he led the Seahawks to an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

In 2015-16, Thomas Eldridge and Patrick Cover earned individual invitations to the NCAA tournament where they competed in the Franklin Regional, hosted by Vanderbilt. Cover finished the regional tied for 14th while Eldridge checked in at 39th.

Former UNCW standouts Josh Brock and Payne McLeod flourished under the guidance of Clark, each winning a CAA Championship and ranked first and second, respectively in stroke average at UNCW.

Brock finished his career as the program’s all-time leader with 133 career rounds played and is tied for most events played. McLeod, meanwhile, finished tied for third in rounds played (127), tied for fourth in events played (46) and is second all-time with 18 top-10 finishes.

In 2010-11, UNCW posted perhaps its best season in recent history with four tournament wins, tying the record set by the 2003 edition of the Seahawks. UNCW opened the fall season with an impressive win at the Maryland Intercollegiate and followed that with three wins in the spring season, including the Seahawk Invitational, Pinehurst Intercollegiate and CAA Championship.

In 2009-10, Clark made his mark on the program by guiding the Seahawks to their first NCAA tournament appearance following a four-year absence from the championship tournament. In his second year, UNCW posted a pair of tournament wins taking medalist honors at the VCU Shootout and also at the River Landing Intercollegiate.

In 2008-09, UNCW fashioned eight top-10 finishes, including medalist honors for Josh Brock and Derek Wallace in the Cavalier Classic and Kauai Collegiate, respectively.

A native of Prattville, Ala., Clark began his collegiate playing career at South Florida before finishing up at Alabama. He played two and a half seasons for the Crimson Tide and former coach Dick Spybey before joining the school's coaching staff.

Clark worked six years in Tuscaloosa and assisted with every phase of the Crimson Tide's program, including recruiting, travel, instruction and fund raising. He served as tournament director of the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and the Joe Namath Celebrity Golf Classic.

The energetic Clark accepted his first head coaching post at Georgia State in 2003-04 and enjoyed instant success. The Panthers finished seventh at the NCAA East Regional and 11th at the NCAA Championship, claiming a final ranking of 14th in the Golfstat poll.

In 2004-05, Clark was named Atlantic Sun Conference Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Panthers to a fourth place finish in the NCAA East Regional and a tie for 13th at the NCAA Championship.

Clark's impressive run at GSU continued in 2005-06 as the Panthers made their debut in the CAA. He was selected CAA Coach-of-the-Year after State captured their first CAA golf title and advanced to the NCAA East Regionals.

The Panthers advanced to the NCAA East Regionals once again in 2006-07 behind Third-Team All-American Joel Sjoholm. GSU wound up ninth in the regionals and 17th overall at the NCAA Championship.

In his final season at GSU, the Panthers won their second CAA crown in three seasons behind Clark and Sjoholm. The Panthers finished 18th in the NCAA East Regionals in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Sjoholm, two-time Player-of-the-Year in the CAA, qualified for the NCAA finals with a fourth place finish individually.

"The Wilmington area is a beautiful place. When you think of the surroundings, you think of golf. I accept the challenge of also making it known for a great collegiate golf team that the university and community will be proud to call its own." 


Clark, an avid golfer with seven hole-in-ones to his credit, earned his Bachelor's Degree from Alabama in 1997. He married Raleigh native Erica Wein in the fall of 2008. The couple has a daughter, Ansley Grace (2). The Clarks recently welcomed Graelyn Anne Clark (3/6/2015) to the family.