Matt Clark

Matt Clark is in his fifth season as assistant coach at the University of North Carolina. Clark formerly served nine seasons as the head coach at UNC Wilmington.

Matt Clark is in his fifth season as assistant coach at the University of North Carolina. Clark has helped recruit and coach a number of Tar Heels who have already re-authored the Carolina record book:

• Junior Ryan Gerard shot the lowest round in Carolina history;
• Sophomore Ryan Burnett had the highest finish ever by a Tar Heel freshman in his college debut in 2018, a mark that Austin Greaser bested when he finished second at the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate in September 2019;
• Gerard and senior Austin Hitt entered the 2019-20 season with the second- and fifth-best scoring averages in school history;
• and former Tar Heel Ben Griffin, Gerard and Burnett have each shot under 200 in 54-hole tournament, something only one other Tar Heel has ever accomplished.

In the 2019-20 season, Carolina tied for second at the NCAA Stanford Regional, which also equaled the best finish ever for Carolina in regional play, and 19^th at the NCAA Championship, won the Tar Heel Intercollegiate for the second year in a row, had a honorable mention All-America and an All-ACC performer, two all-region honorees, a Srixon/Cleveland Golf Academic All-America scholar, two Academic All-ACC selections and five members of the ACC Academic Honor Roll.

"Coach Clark tells his players the right thing at the right time,” says Hitt, whose stroke average of 71.29 last year was the fourth-lowest in UNC history. “He is always there to give you a good laugh, but also can knock you down a little when the time is right. I really enjoy his straight-shooter kind of personality and he has inspired me to work on the areas of my game and my life where I needed to improve. His wealth of knowledge in the college game is extensive and he’s great to have on the coaching staff.

“Coach Clark challenged me to be more resilient on the course,” says sophomore Dougie Ergood. “He knew me well enough to use my martial arts background to channel my mental game. After I played a shot I wasn’t happy with, he’d say, ‘no weakness.’ He said if I showed weakness in the dojo I’d get knocked out, and the same thing applies on the course in a tournament. This phrase has been a cue for me to re-engage after a bad shot and it’s been very helpful to my game.”

In 2018, 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. Six players made the ACC Honor Roll, four were Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars and one was recipient of an ACC post-graduate scholarship.

Clark was a Division I head coach for 14 years – from 2008-17 at UNCW and 2003-08 at Georgia State. He built both programs into two of the top mid-majors in the country, winning a combined five conference championships. He played at South Florida from 1993-94 and at Alabama from 1995-97, Clark began his coaching career as an assistant for six seasons at his alma mater, where he worked for a pair of national coaches of the year and Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Famers in 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 as a sophomore.

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 Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s golf in 2017. The men’s golf team won UNCW’s Team Leadership Award in 2011 and 2012 for outstanding academics, athletics and community service.

Clark began his head coaching career in 2003 at Georgia State in Atlanta. Clark 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. Two of the Panthers competed in the Open Championship.

Georgia State participated in the NCAA Regionals all five years he served as head coach 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.

A native of Prattville, Ala., Clark and his wife, Erica have two daughters, Ansley (6) and Graelyn (4).