{"id":161315,"date":"2025-09-22T15:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/161315\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:38:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:38:16","slug":"ucf-football-mourns-the-loss-of-offensive-line-coach-shawn-clark-ucf-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/161315\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Football Mourns the Loss of Offensive Line Coach Shawn Clark – UCF Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO \u2013 The UCF Athletics community is deeply saddened to announce the passing of offensive line coach Shawn Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coach Clark, 50, passed away Sunday evening at a local hospital unexpectedly, with his wife, Jonelle, by his side. He was admitted on Tuesday, Sept. 9, after experiencing a medical emergency and remained in stable condition before passing away last night.<\/p>\n

\u201cShawn was so much more than a coach. He was a remarkable man, husband, and father who cared deeply about his players and staff,\u201d said UCF head coach Scott Frost<\/a>. \u201cThe reaction of our players and coaches to the news this morning is a testament to Shawn\u2019s character and the impact he had on every life that he touched. He was loved. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jonelle, and children, Giana and Braxton. We are here to support them and will continue to keep them in our hearts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A veteran coach with more than two decades of experience, Coach Clark joined UCF in December 2024 following a successful tenure as head coach at Appalachian State, where he compiled a 40-24 record across five seasons. His App State tenure was highlighted by a 10-win season in 2021 and three bowl wins. Coach Clark\u2019s teams earned multiple Sun Belt East Division titles and developed some of the nation\u2019s top offensive line units, with his 2018 and 2019 groups ranked among the best in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heartbroken by Shawn\u2019s passing,\u201d said UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir. \u201cHe brought passion, integrity, and a genuine love for people to everything he did. Shawn will be remembered not only for his impact on the game of football, but also for the relationships he built and the example he set as a husband and father. Our deepest condolences go out to his wife and children during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a player, Clark was a two-time All-American and three-time all-conference selection on the offensive line at App State, where the Mountaineers posted a 45-16 record during his career. He later built his coaching r\u00e9sum\u00e9 with roles at Eastern Kentucky, Purdue, Kent State, and App State, where he guided multiple All-Americans and NFL draft picks.<\/p>\n

Clark graduated from App State with a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice in 1998 and earned a master\u2019s in education from Louisville in 2003.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife, Jonelle, and their two children, Giana and Braxton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO \u2013 The UCF Athletics community is deeply saddened to announce the passing of offensive line coach Shawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-161315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}