By Creg Jantz <\/p>\n
CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 6. TODD Clark, the head men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming and diving coach at Case Western Reserve University, has resigned effective August 31. The highly decorated coach has decided to put family
\nfirst.<\/p>\n
Clark, 38, said he decided to step down for personal reasons, primarily to spend more time with his family in the Pittsburgh area, and he plans to start one of his own.<\/p>\n
"Prioritizing personal needs with my coaching responsibilities has never been easy for me," said Clark. It\u2019s time to take better care of those closest to me."<\/p>\n
During Clark\u2019s 14-year tenure the men's team finished as high as 13th in the country, and the women as high as a seventh. He has guided 46 All Americans in 75 events, including two national champions.<\/p>\n
On the academic side, both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams achieved the highest grade point average of any swimming team in the nation during various semesters in the 1990s. One of his women was also awarded the Division III Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1998.<\/p>\n
Clark also has won four conference Coach of the Year awards while at CWRU.<\/p>\n
"Todd has provided great leadership to our men's and women's swimmers," said interim Athletic Director Kristin Hughes. "The program has grown and
\nexperienced much success under his direction. Everyone at the University will miss him."<\/p>\n
"My goals here were always two-fold," said Clark. "I wanted to develop the program far beyond what it was when I arrived here. But more importantly, I wanted to help each one of my swimmers become not only a better athlete, but also a better student and a better person. That is the legacy of which I am most proud. I\u2019ll always be indebted to the University for giving me that opportunity."<\/p>\n
Clark\u2019s coaching career began with stints as an assistant at the University of Pittsburgh and as the head age group coach with the Pittsburgh Aquatic Club. Next, as the assistant coach for his alma mater,
\nKenyon College, Clark played an integral role in the school capturing its 10th consecutive national title. Clark then moved to his first head coaching job here at CWRU.<\/p>\n
As a swimmer, Clark earned seven All-American awards in distance freestyle and the individual medley. A 1987 graduate of Kenyon, he served as team captain while earning four letters on four national championship teams. <\/p>\n
Clark also is an active United States Masters swimmer and has won numerous national titles in postal, pool and open water events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Creg Jantz CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 6. TODD Clark, the head men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming and diving coach at Case Western Reserve University, has resigned effective August 31. The highly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n