STANFORD, Calif. -- J.J. Clark has been named Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, as announced Thursday by Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir.
Clark, who will oversee Stanford's track and field and cross country programs, arrives on The Farm after serving as the head coach of the women's cross country and track and field programs at Connecticut for the past five seasons.
Clark also served as the head coach and Director of Track and Field/Cross Country at Tennessee from 2001-14, leading the Lady Vols to NCAA indoor championships in 2005 and 2009. Clark was also an assistant coach for the 2008 Olympic team and has coached two USA World Championship teams.
"We are thrilled to welcome J.J. to the Stanford family," Muir said. "J.J. is well-respected among his coaching peers and throughout the track and field community, and has an established history of bringing out the very best in all those associated with his program. He has an undeniable passion for the student-athlete experience in the classroom as well as on the field, and is a perfect fit to lead the Stanford track and field program."
Clark becomes the 20th head coach/director of track and field in the history of a program that began in 1893 and approaches its 126th season.
"It is with great pride and excitement that I am embarking on my next chapter as Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and field," Clark said. "My commitment will be continuing the program's rich tradition and legacy while reinforcing life lessons to the student-athletes that transcend sports."
During his tenure at Connecticut, Clark worked primarily with the distance runners and guided the Huskies to back-to-back American Athletic Conference women's indoor track and field titles (2015-16), in addition to the school's first AAC women's cross country crown in 2017. Most recently this spring, Kat Surin and Susan Aneno earned second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
In his first season, Clark led the Huskies to the program's third indoor conference title overall, in 2014-15, and first since 2009. Connecticut also produced a runner-up finish at the 2015 AAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
At Tennessee, Clark served as the women's track and field head coach until 2011, before he was promoted to Director of Track and Field/Cross Country and oversaw both the men's and women's programs. Clark led the Lady Vols to NCAA indoor crowns in 2005 and 2009, with Tennessee producing nine combined NCAA indoor/outdoor top-10 finishes during his career.
Under Clark's leadership, Tennessee captured three SEC indoor championships and five SEC cross country titles. The Lady Vols claimed 61 individual SEC titles while establishing six American records and two world records. Clark was a three-time SEC Indoor Coach of the Year and a three-time SEC Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Clark was named National Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in 2009 and the United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) in 2005. Forty-six of his Tennessee student-athletes combined to earn 192 All-America honors.
Tennessee's academic success under Clark was equally impressive, with Academic All-Americans in 2010 and 2012 while both the men's and women's teams earned their highest GPA in program history under his direction. In 2010, Phoebe Wright was named the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, SEC Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and USTFCCCA Indoor Track Scholar Athlete of the Year. In 2008 and 2009, Sarah Bowman was named both the USTFCCCA Indoor Women's Track Scholar Athlete of the Year and the SEC Women's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Clark came to Tennessee after serving as an assistant women's track and field coach and head women's cross country coach at Florida from 1992-2001.
During his combined tenures at Tennessee and Florida, Clark earned 21 coach of the year accolades (11 track and field with 10 cross country).
On the international scene, Clark was the United States women's middle distance assistant coach at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic games. He was also the United States head coach for the World Championship Team in 2001 and an assistant coach in 1997, specializing in middle distance.
At the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials, Clark was part of a historic moment as he coached his wife (Jearl Miles-Clark) and two sisters (Hazel Clark, Joetta Clark Diggs) to a sweep in the 800 meters and the trio advanced to the Sydney Games. Clark also coached his wife to the 800 American record (1:56.40), which lasted 20 years.
Clark had 11 Lady Vols represent the U.S., in global competition. Others represented Trinidad and Tobago, Ireland, Canada and Jamaica. Dee Trotter won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the 4x400 meter relay and was fifth in the 400 meters. Clark advanced two athletes (his wife, Jearl, and his sister, Hazel) to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Clark is a 1986 graduate of Villanova with a degree in communications. With the Wildcats, he ran a sub-4 mile and competed in the 1988 U.S Olympic Trials.
A native of Maplewood, N.J., Clark graduated from Columbia High School and won the New Jersey high school state title in the mile and two-mile as a senior in 1982.
Clark returned to Columbia High in 1986 to serve as assistant track coach for three seasons, working with the girls' and boys' middle distance and sprints corps. In 1991, Clark made his transition into collegiate coaching, serving as a graduate assistant at Florida for one year before being hired in a full-time capacity.
Clark studied anatomy and physiology in graduate school at Florida. Bridging the gap between his high school coaching and college experience, Clark also took courses in nutrition and exercise physiology in 1990 at Kean College in Union, N.J., and became certified as a licensed sports massage therapist in 1991 from the Florida School of Massage in Gainesville.
Clark and his wife, Jearl, have a son, Jorell. Clark is the son of Jetta Clark and Joe Lewis Clark, the bat-wielding principal of Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High School, depicted by actor Morgan Freeman in the 1989 movie "Lean on Me."