J.J. Clark, named Stanford’s Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and Cross Country on July 25, 2019, oversees Stanford’s track and field and cross country programs.
While at Stanford, Clark has won seven USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year honors and two Pac-12 Cross Country Coach of the Year awards. In his career, Clark is a two-time USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year, a 13-time regional Coach of the Year, and 10-time conference Coach of the Year.
Including Stanford, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Florida, Clark has been responsible, as track and field director or distance coach, for 109 different All-Americans who have totaled 377 All-America honors through the 2024 outdoor season.
Thirty-two different Stanford athletes in track and cross country have been named All-Americans under Clark. Eighteen different Cardinal have earned Academic All-America honors and school records have been broken or tied 63 times in Clark's tenure through 2024, in 29 different events (13 outdoors, 16 indoors).
In 2024, Clark coached Juliette Whittaker to NCAA indoor and outdoor 800-meter championships. She placed third in the Olympic Trials and seventh in the Paris Olympic final. Whittaker, coming off her sophomore season, was the only American in the final and the first active Stanford athlete to reach an Olympic track final in 92 years.
When Whittaker and Roisin Willis placed 1-2 in the 800 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, it marked the first time teammates had done so in that event at that meet in 31 years.
While at Stanford, Clark has won seven USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year honors and two Pac-12 Cross Country Coach of the Year awards. In his career, Clark is a two-time USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year, a 13-time regional Coach of the Year, and 10-time conference Coach of the Year.
Including Stanford, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Florida, Clark has been responsible, as track and field director or distance coach, for 109 different All-Americans who have totaled 377 All-America honors through the 2024 outdoor season.
Thirty-two different Stanford athletes in track and cross country have been named All-Americans under Clark. Eighteen different Cardinal have earned Academic All-America honors and school records have been broken or tied 63 times in Clark's tenure through 2024, in 29 different events (13 outdoors, 16 indoors).
In 2024, Clark coached Juliette Whittaker to NCAA indoor and outdoor 800-meter championships. She placed third in the Olympic Trials and seventh in the Paris Olympic final. Whittaker, coming off her sophomore season, was the only American in the final and the first active Stanford athlete to reach an Olympic track final in 92 years.
When Whittaker and Roisin Willis placed 1-2 in the 800 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, it marked the first time teammates had done so in that event at that meet in 31 years.
For the first time in the history of a program that has been in existence for 130 years, both Stanford men's and women's teams earned top-four team finishes at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in the same year, in 2023 under Clark. Also, in 2022-23, Stanford had NCAA individual champions in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field in the same academic year for the first time.
In 2022-23, Stanford athletes won six NCAA titles, the men were third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for their best placing in 23 years, and the women were fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships for their best placing in 17 years.
NCAA outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 champ Ky Robinson was named National Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and Men's Outdoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA in 2023. Charles Hicks gave Stanford its first NCAA individual cross country title and was named National Men's Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the fall. In addition, NCAA indoor 800 champ Willis earned West Region Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, conference 100 and 200 champ Udodi Onwuzurike was the Pac-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Year, and conference 800 champ Whittaker was named Pac-12 Women's Freshman of the Year.
In 2023, Onwuzurike gave Stanford its first NCAA men's sprint title since 1963 by winning the 200. Among Onwuzurike, Robinson, and Hicks, the Stanford men scored 44 points to place third and far outscored every other Pac-12 team. For the women, freshman long jumper Alyssa Jones was the NCAA runner-up, breaking the U.S. under-20 outdoor record. She would go on to place fourth at the U.S. Championships and win the national U20 title. Indoors, Willis and Whittaker finished 1-2 in the 800, running the second- and fourth-fastest times in collegiate indoor history, and joined Melissa Tanaka and Maya Valmon to win the distance medley relay title.
Through five cross country seasons under Clark, Stanford has won five of 10 possible men's and women's conference team titles and is a perfect eight out of eight possible NCAA West Regional titles. His men's and women's teams have placed among the top six at the NCAA Championships in seven of a possible 10 opportunities.
The 2023 cross country season featured a Stanford sweep of Pac-12 individual titles, with Robinson and Amy Bunnage earning the honors. Bunnage was the first freshman to win a Pac-12 women's title in 24 years.
In the 2022 cross country season, Stanford swept the NCAA West Region team cross country titles for the second consecutive year. The women's regional title was their third straight, and the men won their fourth Pac-12 championship in four years. Stanford's men's total of 22 points was the third-lowest in Pac-12 history.
Hicks not only won the NCAA title in a course record, but repeated as Pac-12 champion, repeated as the European under-23 champion, and was named USTFCCCA National Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Two active Stanford athletes, Udodi Onwuzurike and Ky Robinson, competed in world competitions in 2022 -- the World Championships in Eugene and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Onwuzurike won Commonwealth bronze for Nigeria's 4x100 relay team and each placed sixth in individual events at that meet -- Onwuzurike in the 200 and Robinson (Australia) in the 10,000.
While at Stanford, Clark has received five cross country West Region Coach of the Year honors (women: 2019, 2020-21, 2021, 2022; men: 2020-21) and two Pac-12 women's Coach of the Year honors (2019, 2020-21).
In the 2021-22 academic year, Stanford's men were second and the women sixth in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, which combines NCAA team placings in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track. Stanford was one of only two schools with men and women each in the top seven.
Nine different individuals earned first-team outdoor All-America honors in 2022 and there were 49 additions or improvements to Stanford's indoor and outdoor top-10 lists, including school records in seven events -- four outdoors and three indoors.
In 2020-21, Stanford swept the men's and women's Pac-12 team cross country championships for the first time since 2010 and their combined point total of 58 was the program's lowest at that meet since 2003. At the NCAA Championships, Stanford was the only school to place both both teams among the top five, with the women third and the men -- with four freshmen -- in fifth.
In 2019-20, Stanford earned its first conference-region cross country double in 12 years. By finishing third at the NCAA Championships, the Stanford women earned their best national cross country finish in seven years.
At the 2019 Pac-12 Championships, Fiona O'Keeffe, Donaghu, and Jessica Lawson gave Stanford its first women's cross country 1-2-3 conference finish in 13 years. Donaghu led three Cardinal among the top four at the NCAA West Regional, and was named regional runner of the year, matching the conference award for O'Keeffe.
Among both the men, who placed sixth at the NCAA Championships, and the women, Stanford totaled six All-Americans.
Clark arrived at Stanford after serving as the head coach of the women’s cross country and track and field programs at Connecticut for five seasons.
Clark also served as the head coach and Director of Track and Field/Cross Country at Tennessee from 2001-14, winning NCAA indoor women's championships in 2005 and 2009. Clark was also an assistant coach for the 2008 Olympic team and has coached two USA World Championship teams.
Before Clark became the 20th head coach/director of track and field in the history of a Stanford program that began in 1893, Clark worked primarily with the distance runners while guiding Connecticut to back-to-back American Athletic Conference women’s indoor track and field titles (2015-16) and the school’s first AAC women’s cross country crown, in 2017. In 2019, 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 coached the Volunteers to two NCAA indoor track and field championships, in 2005 and 2009. He 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 produced nine combined NCAA indoor/outdoor top-10 team finishes during his career.
Under Clark’s leadership, Tennessee captured three SEC indoor championships and five SEC cross country titles. The Volunteers' women's team 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 USTFCCCA National Indoor Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2009, earned three indoor South Region Women's Coach of the Year awards and three Southeastern Conference women's Coach of the Year honors. Fifty of his athletes combined to earn 215 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. He earned SEC women's cross country Coach of the Year awards in 1996 and 1997 for the Gators.
On the international scene, Clark was the U.S. women's middle distance assistant coach at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic games. He also was the U.S. head coach for the 2001 World Championship team 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 Tennessee women 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.
In 1988, Clark ran 3:41.5 in the 1,500 meters at the Essex City Twilight Meet. When converted to a mile, the time equates to 3:59.38. Clark competed in the 1988 U.S Olympic Trials in New Orleans.
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 Louis Clark, the bat-wielding principal of Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High School, who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the 1989 movie "Lean on Me."
In the 2022 cross country season, Stanford swept the NCAA West Region team cross country titles for the second consecutive year. The women's regional title was their third straight, and the men won their fourth Pac-12 championship in four years. Stanford's men's total of 22 points was the third-lowest in Pac-12 history.
Hicks not only won the NCAA title in a course record, but repeated as Pac-12 champion, repeated as the European under-23 champion, and was named USTFCCCA National Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Two active Stanford athletes, Udodi Onwuzurike and Ky Robinson, competed in world competitions in 2022 -- the World Championships in Eugene and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Onwuzurike won Commonwealth bronze for Nigeria's 4x100 relay team and each placed sixth in individual events at that meet -- Onwuzurike in the 200 and Robinson (Australia) in the 10,000.
While at Stanford, Clark has received five cross country West Region Coach of the Year honors (women: 2019, 2020-21, 2021, 2022; men: 2020-21) and two Pac-12 women's Coach of the Year honors (2019, 2020-21).
In the 2021-22 academic year, Stanford's men were second and the women sixth in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings, which combines NCAA team placings in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track. Stanford was one of only two schools with men and women each in the top seven.
Nine different individuals earned first-team outdoor All-America honors in 2022 and there were 49 additions or improvements to Stanford's indoor and outdoor top-10 lists, including school records in seven events -- four outdoors and three indoors.
In 2020-21, Stanford swept the men's and women's Pac-12 team cross country championships for the first time since 2010 and their combined point total of 58 was the program's lowest at that meet since 2003. At the NCAA Championships, Stanford was the only school to place both both teams among the top five, with the women third and the men -- with four freshmen -- in fifth.
In 2019-20, Stanford earned its first conference-region cross country double in 12 years. By finishing third at the NCAA Championships, the Stanford women earned their best national cross country finish in seven years.
At the 2019 Pac-12 Championships, Fiona O'Keeffe, Donaghu, and Jessica Lawson gave Stanford its first women's cross country 1-2-3 conference finish in 13 years. Donaghu led three Cardinal among the top four at the NCAA West Regional, and was named regional runner of the year, matching the conference award for O'Keeffe.
Among both the men, who placed sixth at the NCAA Championships, and the women, Stanford totaled six All-Americans.
Clark arrived at Stanford after serving as the head coach of the women’s cross country and track and field programs at Connecticut for five seasons.
Clark also served as the head coach and Director of Track and Field/Cross Country at Tennessee from 2001-14, winning NCAA indoor women's championships in 2005 and 2009. Clark was also an assistant coach for the 2008 Olympic team and has coached two USA World Championship teams.
Before Clark became the 20th head coach/director of track and field in the history of a Stanford program that began in 1893, Clark worked primarily with the distance runners while guiding Connecticut to back-to-back American Athletic Conference women’s indoor track and field titles (2015-16) and the school’s first AAC women’s cross country crown, in 2017. In 2019, 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 coached the Volunteers to two NCAA indoor track and field championships, in 2005 and 2009. He 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 produced nine combined NCAA indoor/outdoor top-10 team finishes during his career.
Under Clark’s leadership, Tennessee captured three SEC indoor championships and five SEC cross country titles. The Volunteers' women's team 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 USTFCCCA National Indoor Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2009, earned three indoor South Region Women's Coach of the Year awards and three Southeastern Conference women's Coach of the Year honors. Fifty of his athletes combined to earn 215 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. He earned SEC women's cross country Coach of the Year awards in 1996 and 1997 for the Gators.
On the international scene, Clark was the U.S. women's middle distance assistant coach at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic games. He also was the U.S. head coach for the 2001 World Championship team 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 Tennessee women 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.
In 1988, Clark ran 3:41.5 in the 1,500 meters at the Essex City Twilight Meet. When converted to a mile, the time equates to 3:59.38. Clark competed in the 1988 U.S Olympic Trials in New Orleans.
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 Louis Clark, the bat-wielding principal of Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High School, who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the 1989 movie "Lean on Me."