Men's Golf
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- coachclark@unc.edu
- Phone:
- 910-540-2015
2022-23 Bio
Matt Clark is in his sixth season at Carolina, his first as associate head coach.
Clark won the 2022 Jan Strickland Award, presented to the GCAA’s National Assistant Coach of the Year.
Clark has helped recruit and coach players that have again established Carolinas as a nationally-competitive program and re-written the Tar Heel record book. Carolina has posted four top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships (and was ranked No. 13 by Golfweek when the pandemic curtailed the 2019-20 season), won 10 tournaments and excelled in the classroom.
The Tar Heels have earned 10 All-America and eight All-ACC honors, won nine individual titles, including an ACC championship, and established nine of the 11-best single-season and eight of the 10-lowest career stroke averages in UNC history.
Carolina, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt are the only teams to finish in the top 20 in each of the four NCAA Championships held during his tenure in Chapel Hill.
In 2021-22, UNC tied for first place in stroke play and tied for fifth after match play in the NCAA Championship. It was the second straight year UNC advanced to match play and tied for fifth at the national championship. Carolina won three tournaments last season, finished first in stroke play for the second year in a row in the ACC Championship, was ranked No. 1 in the country for one week in the fall, finished second in an NCAA regional for the third straight year, had four All-Americas for just the second time in program history and three All-ACC players for the second consecutive year, won ACC Freshman-of-the-Year honors for the second straight year and had four different players win medalist honors in five events.
Not only did Carolina post back-to-back top-five finishes in the NCAA Championship for the first time, two Tar Heels placed in the top five in the same NCAA Championship for the first time in program history. Senior Ryan Burnett shared the individual lead after 72 holes and competed in a four-man playoff, where he tied for second, and freshman David Ford tied for fifth.
The ACC honored Andrew DiBitetto as the ACC Coach of the Year, an award DiBitetto shares with Clark.
‘‘Coach Clark brings passion, competitiveness and joy to our program every day,’’ says DiBitetto. ‘‘He’s incredible at building relationships, understanding people, holding everyone to an exceptionally high standard and inspiring them to be their very best. Clarkie is one of the best coaches in the entire country and we are grateful he’s a Tar Heel.’’
In addition to success at the collegiate level, the Tar Heels have made an impact on amateur golf. Austin Greaser finished second at the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont. It was the best finish by a Tar Heel at the U.S. Amateur in 29 years. In 2022m, David Ford followed his ACC Freshman-of-the-Year season and won the Southern Amateur in Sea Island, Ga.
Five Tar Heels qualified to play in the 2022 U.S. Amateur.
In 2020-21, UNC tied for fifth in the 2021 NCAA Championship, won the 54-hole stroke play portion of the ACC Championship in record fashion, had a first-team All-America for the first time in nearly 20 seasons and had three players selected All-ACC.
During Clark’s tenure in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels have broken numerous team and individual school records for single-season and career scoring as well as 18- and 54-hole standards. The Tar Heels have earned 10 Academic All-ACC and six Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar awards.
Peter Fountain set the single-season scoring record as just a freshman in 2021 en route to first-team All-America and All-Nicklaus team honors. Fountain is also Carolina’s all-time leader in stroke average.
Ryan Gerard shot the lowest round in Carolina history, a 61 at Notre Dame in 2018; three players have shot under 200 in 54-hole tournaments, something only one other Tar Heel previously accomplished.
In 2020, the 2020 Tar Heels won twice as Burnett and Gerard earned All-America honors and compiled two of the lowest stroke averages in Carolina history.
In 2019, the Tar Heels tied for second at the NCAA Stanford Regional, which equaled the best finish ever for Carolina in regional play (which it did again in 2201), and 19th at the NCAA Championship, won the Tar Heel Intercollegiate for the second year in a row, had a honorable mention All-America, an All-ACC performer and two all-region honorees.
In Clark’s first season at UNC in 2017-18, the Tar Heels finished 15th at the NCAA Championship, the program’s highest showing in 15 years, won two team tournament titles and posted six other top-five performances. Three Tar Heels earned all-region honors and a fourth was an honorable mention All-America.
After a playing career at South Florida (1993-94) and Alabama (1995-97), Clark began his coaching career as an assistant for six seasons in Tuscaloosa, where he worked for GCAA Hall of Famers Dick Spybey and Jay Seawell.
A four-time conference coach of the year (twice at UNCW and twice at Georgia State), Clark led the Seahawks to 10 team titles, including the 2016 Tar Heel Intercollegiate at UNC Finley, and a dozen individual event titles, including the 2017 Auburn Tiger and Clemson Invitationals. His student-athletes received five PING all-region honors, 20 all-conference selections, three Colonial Athletic Association Player-of-the-Year awards, two CAA Rookie-of-the-Year honors and one UNCW Male Student-Athlete of the Year award. Josh Brock competed in the U.S. Open..
The Seahawks won the CAA in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and played in four NCAA Regionals as a team and had individuals qualify for regional play an additional five times. In 2016-17, the Seahawks posted the lowest team stroke average and had the lowest individual stroke average in school history.
Clark’s UNCW teams also excelled in the classroom. The NCAA awarded UNCW the public recognition award in his last two seasons for having Academic Progress Rates in the top 10 percent in the country. Twelve Seahawks earned Academic All-America honors, the team received All-Academic honors from the GCAA from 2011-2017 and Thomas Eldridge was the CAA’s Men’s Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2017.
The Prattville, Ala., native began his head coaching career in 2003 at Georgia State. He led the Panthers to two conference championships, six team and 10 individual event titles, and coached six All-Americas, seven all-region players and 12 all-conference selections. He had three players compete in the Palmer Cup, two were named GSU Male Student-Athletes of the Year, and he had a finalist for both the Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus Awards.
Georgia State participated in the NCAA Regionals all five years and advanced to the NCAA Championship three times, finishing in the top 20 in 2004, 2005 and 2007. The Panthers were ranked No. 4 in the nation in 2005.
Clark and his wife, Erica, have two daughters, Ansley (9) and Graelyn (7).
