Clark Adds Defense to His Duties (D-NR)

The Daily News-Record - By Matthew Stoss

BRIDGEWATER – Bridgewater College football coach Michael Clark is returning to his roots.

After more than a dozen years of coaching his team’s quarterbacks, Clark said Tuesday he plans to focus on the defensive side of the ball this season, assuming the coordinator’s duties and also coaching linebackers.

"My on-the-field work will be with the defense, and I’ll keep control of the kicking game," Clark, who will begin his 13th season as BC’s head coach when the Eagles host McDaniel College on Sept. 1, said Tuesday.

The change was prompted by defensive coordinator Grant Higginson’s decision in May to leave Bridgewater and accept a graduate assistant position at Tulane.

Clark said he posted the job and interviewed candidates, but decided instead to hire the best coach available rather than one particularly suited to the coordinator’s post.

"I just thought that was the best fit for the staff," Clark said, referring to his decision to shift his own responsibilities. "That was really the main reason. You got to be flexible at the Division III level."

While Clark has helped develop quarterbacks like Jason Lutz and Brandon Wakefield at BC, he also has a strong background in defense. After playing defensive back at the University of Cincinnati, Clark started his coaching career in 1980 as a defensive assistant at Murray State. He was Frank Beamer’s defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech for five seasons beginning in 1988, and he held the same title at Virginia Military Institute in 1993 before switching to quarterbacks in 1994.

Even so, Clark is giving up his offensive duties with a tinge of regret.

"As a head coach, you’re always reluctant to stray away from the quarterback," Clark said, "because it’s a fun position to coach and it’s a crucial position to coach.

"But I’ve always been a coach that’s thought if you play good defense and get an advantage in the kicking game, we’ll always have a chance to win the fourth quarter."

Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Joey Soltis will be the new quarterbacks coach. Last year, in his first season as offensive coordinator since replacing the ultra-successful Bob Colbert, the Eagles had the highest-scoring offense in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, averaging 31.7 points a game. BC also led the ODAC in rushing at 205.6 yards an outing and ranked second in total offense (388.9 ypg) behind Guilford en route to an 8-2 record.

Soltis, who has been at Bridgewater since 1998, took over as coordinator when Colbert accepted the head-coaching job at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.

Stephon Healey will continue to coach the offensive line and manage the running game, but coaching the running backs will be the responsibility of newcomer Bill Shirley, a familiar name to local high school football fans.

Shirley was Buffalo Gap’s head coach before becoming R.E. Lee High School’s offensive coordinator two seasons ago.

"I’m excited to have Bill," Clark said. "Basically, in the Division III model, you have to get full-time work for part-time pay. And more importantly as a head coach, I don’t like to spend a lot of time coaching my coaches, and I’m not in that position on either side of the ball."

Ryan Lieb and Adam Martiny will also join Clark’s staff.

Lieb left his alma mater, D-III Bethany (W.Va.) College, after four years as an assistant and will work with the wide receivers at Bridgewater.

"Ryan has been in Division III for four years and has a reputation as a great recruiter," Clark said. "We try to get the best coaches we can get. One of the things we lost in Grant was a guy who did a great job in recruiting, and guys like that are hard to replace."

Martiny will coach tight ends and help with the offensive line. Martiny coached at Bridgewater in 2005 before leaving for D-III Utica (N.Y.) College.

Clark said he hired Martiny because of his familiarity with BC.

Rounding out the 2007 coaching staff will be Pete Raeford, who returns as the secondary coach, and Jack Johnson, who will remain the defensive line coach.

As for Clark, he’s confident he’ll be able to step into his new defensive duties with no major problems.

"Don’t think we’ll be building rockets over here," Clark said. "I don’t think you can work on the offensive side of the ball and not be aware of what’s going on on the defensive side. I think it helps people. I’m doing something different. I’m looking forward to that challenges."

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