Career
He was the first head coach of the UCF Knights men"s basketball team that represents the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. Then named Florida Technological University, Clark served as the university"s head basketball coach from 1969 to 1983. During his 14-year tenure at UCF, Clark never had a losing season, and built the Knights into a national power, leading the team to five Sunshine State Conference regular season championships, one conference tournament championship and six National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament appearances in eight years.
In 1978, Clark led the Knights, which at the time were riding a 24–game winning streak, to the Final Four.
During his tenure, the Knights were ranked in the top 10 nationally for seven consecutive years. Clark served as UCF"s, then FTU"s, first head basketball coach.
In their first year, as a club level team, the Knights went 11–3, including a 99–38 victory in their first game over Massey Technology The first season would serve as an omen for UCF basketball, with Clark bringing the university unprecedented success as a Division II team
Bo is the Knight"s all-time leading scorer with Mike second on the list, and as a freshman in 1976 Bo was the nation"s leading scorer.
The father-son duo were featured in a 1979 Sports Illustrated issue. Clark coached his last game as a Knight on February 26, 1983, with UCF falling to Florida Southern. During his tenure, Clark"s squads went 274–89, winning 20 or more games in a season seven times.
In the decade after Clark retired, the Knights had only one winning season, the year after he left.
Before coaching men"s college basketball, Clark was the basketball coach at Xavier High School in Appleton, Wisconsin. Among the players he coached there was Bob "Rocky" Bleier, who later overcame debilitating war wounds suffered in the Viet Nam War to become running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and earn three Super Bowl rings.
