Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark Interested In Jacksonville State Opening
Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach Bill Clark works with the linebacker corps during pregame warmups prior to the Jags 9-3 win over Nicholls State.
South Alabama assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bill Clark has expressed interest in the head coach opening at Jacksonville State University.
Coach Clark is an Anniston native and an 1990 graduate of Jacksonville State has not interviewed for the job. Yet.
But he has informed head coach Joey Jones about his interest in the position and well as informed the JSU officials of his interest in the position.
“I was called about the job on Friday when it first was announced that coach Crowe had been let go and I had an interest in looking at it,” Clark said Monday night to AL.com. “Obviously I’m very happy here and I have a great job. I talked to Joey about after the game on Saturday and he knows I’m going to look into it and see what it entails.”
Jacksonville State ended the season with a 6-5 record with losses to Arkansas to start the season and to Florida to end the season. Crowe posted an 87-57 record in his 13 seasons as the Gamecocks head coach. JSU athletics director Warren Koegel dismissed Crowe, the second-winningest coach in school hisotry, with two years on his contract.
Crowe led the Gamecocks to the Ohio Valley Conference titles in 2003, 2004 and 2011. He also led them to three NCAA FCS playoff appearances but failed to win a playoff game.
Coach Clark received his bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville State in 1990 in physical education. His first coaching job was an assistant at nearby Piedmont High School. He later served as an assistant at Tuscaloosa County High, Coffee County GA. High and Dothan High schools before being named head coach at Prattville.
He was the head coach at Prattville from 1999 – 2007 where he won two Class 6A state championships and his final two teams won 30 consecutive games. His 2007 Prattville team was ranked #2 in the country by USA Today.
Clark racked up a 107-11 record at Prattville with a 90.7% winning percentage. The last regular-season loss by one of his Prattville teams was in 2002. He was named the Alabama High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year following his final season with the Lions.
He left Prattville to join Coach Jones’ staff at South Alabama. He was one of the first hires by Coach Jones.
South Alabama’s defense have done a great job over the last four seasons. This year the defense still dug in even though they lost a number of players to season ending injuries. Quadarius Ford injured his knee in preseason camp. They then lost senior defensive linemen Anthony Taylor to a broken leg at Mississippi State before losing Randon Carnathan to a torn ACL at Louisiana-Monroe.
There were many times this season the defense was beat by big plays, particularly in the secondary. However the Jaguar defense would dig in their heels and all but shut down their opponents in the second half of many games.