Hope Clark
Hope Clark

Bio

Clark, who has 139 career wins on her college coaching record, joined Daytona State in 2021 from Young Harris College in Georgia where she spent two years as Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance/Senior Woman Administrator. In that role she was responsible for department control and oversight of athletic compliance, provided sport oversight for seven sports, served as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator and was the campus moderator and conference liaison for the Mountain Lions’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

During her three years at Daytona State College, Clark has coached 16 Region 8 First-Team, 2 USC All-South Region, 3 All-American student-athletes and a USC Scholar All-American. In addition, Clark has developed the Region 8 Player of the Year (2023) two Region 8 Goalkeeper of the Year (2021, 2022) and Region 8 Freshmen of the Year (2021, 2022, 2023). Clark earned Region 8 Coach of the Year in 2022 and Co-Coach of the Year in 2023.

The 2023 season for Clark was the best in program history for the Falcons.  Daytona State was ranked in the NJCAA Top 10 the entire season, with a record high ranking of 4th for four straight weeks.  The Falcons ended the season at #7 in the NJCAA National Poll. Daytona State finished the 2023 season with an overall record of 14-2, earning 11 shutouts and seeing a 12-0 win streak to create program history.  The Falcons have now advanced to the Region 8 finals the past three seasons under Clark. 

Clark is the winningest coach in Georgia College soccer history. Clark, who owns a 139-108-22 overall coaching record (78-73-16 at Georgia College), was responsible for five 10-win seasons for the Bobcats, the most for any coach in program history. In her nine seasons in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Bobcats put 14 members on the All-Peach Belt Conference teams, including eight all-region honorees and the program's second All-American and first PBC Player of the Year in Amanda Bartholomew. Clark has also coached 47 Peach Belt All-Academic Team selections and have two players earn the PBC Elite 15 Award.
 
Clark’s 2013 and 2018 squads reached the Peach Belt Conference Championship game. Those remain the only appearances the Bobcats have made in the conference title game.
 
Clark was a member of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee, NCAA Division II Coaches Connection Committee and is a graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy and the NCAA Leadership Academy. Clark served as chair of the Peach Belt Women's Soccer Coaches for two seasons and served on the NCAA Regional Ranking Advisory Committee for the Southeast region for three season. She was a member of the United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) Southeast Region Ranking Committee three times.
 
Clark’s first head coaching job came at Auburn University-Montgomery where she led the Senators to a 35-22-4 mark from 2007-09. In her final season at AUM, Clark guided the Senators to a 15-5-2 record and the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. She coached seven All-Americans at AUM, led by 3-time winner Amber Elam, six Academic All-Americans, and had 13 all-conference selections.
 
A native of Louisiana, the former Hope Handley played collegiate soccer as a goalkeeper at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was a member of VT's first-ever recruiting class as a freshman in 1994 and lettered all four years at Tech. As a sophomore, Clark was selected as the Hokies' most valuable player and named NSCAA third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region following a season in which she set the Atlantic-10 Conference single-season record for saves with 179. Clark was the first Tech women's soccer player ever named All-Mid-Atlantic Region.

After graduating from Virginia Tech, Clark began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at American University before spending two years as an assistant coach at the University of Tampa.
 
Clark played semi-professional soccer in 2005 and 2006 with the Atlanta Silverbacks in the women's division of the United Soccer Leagues. She has been the assistant director of The Last Defense Goalkeeping Academy and worked with Region 3 Olympic Development Program on staff. Clark earned her bachelor's degree in human nutrition foods and exercise from Virginia Tech and her master's degree in health and fitness management from American University.

Clark holds a United States Soccer Federation “B” license and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Diploma.

Clark also currently serves as a Talent ID scout for U.S. Soccer, helping identify the best soccer talent in the United States with the potential to play for the country’s Youth National Teams. She has served in the capacity since 2019, and assists at YNT identification centers.


She is married to Richonne Clark, brother of former US National Team Player Ricardo Clark. Hope and Richonne have a daughter, Zion.