J.R. Clark enters his third season an assistant football coach at Gettysburg in 2013.
Clark has served as the team's defensive backs coach in each of the last two seasons. In 2012, he coached a secondary that finished second in the Centennial Conference in pass defense, as the Bullets held their opponents to 182.5 passing yards per game. Gettysburg also finished the season ranked third in the conference in both scoring defense (19.9 ppg) and total defense (316.5 ypg), held four opponents to seven points or less, and posted its first shutout in eight years.
Two Bullets have earned All-Centennial Conference honors under Clark - safeties Peter Hak '12 in 2011 (honorable mention) and Drew Olsen '13 in 2012 (second team).
Clark comes to the Battlefield from Wittenberg University, where he served as the Tigers defensive backs coach in 2010. He helped guide the Tigers to the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship, an undefeated regular season, and a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, as Wittenberg finished 10-1 and 6-0 in the NCAC.
Prior to Wittenberg, Clark was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Wilmington College, from 2007-09. After earning three letters as a Quaker, including one at linebacker and two at defensive back, Clark coached his linebackers to four All-Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) awards as well as one All-OAC free safety while serving as video coordinator, assisting in recruiting, and conducting breakdowns of opposing offenses. In his final year as a graduate assistant, he took over the passing game plan.
Clark graduated from Wilmington in 2008 with a bachelor of science degree in health and physical education. He added a master’s degree in education, concentrating in special education, in the spring of 2010.
