Clarke resigns at Washington College
J.B. Clarke has stepped down as head coach of the Washington College men’s lacrosse program, the school announced Wednesday morning. The move was first reported by Inside Lacrosse.
In a two-paragraph release, the college said a national search will begin immediately. Assistant coaches Paul Richards and Ryan Browning will run the team.
There is no mention of Clarke’s responsibilities as the school’s assistant athletic director. Clarke’s name in that role was removed from the college’s website.
In 12 years, Clarke had guided the Shoremen to a combined 138-63 record and seven NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. In 2004, the school reached its first Final Four since 1998.
But Washington went 4-10 this season and had to deal with a hazing incident prior to the beginning of the season.
Clarke did not return several requests for comment.
Update: Just spoke to athletic director Bryan Matthews, who declined to comment on the reasons behind Clarke's resignation. But Matthews did say that the school would like to begin interviewing candidates this month and have a new coach in place by next month. "We don't want our student-athletes and recruits to go any longer than necessary without knowing who the new coach is going to be," he said. "But by the same token, we're not going to rush. We want to do a thorough job."
Comments
Bring in Note, Sowell or Beville. Get back to "Old School" lax and let's kick the crap out of Salisbury again!
You column should read, "In 12 years Clarke has run a prideful program into the ground."
Lets go WAC!!!
Posted by: Rob | May 12, 2010 1:41 PM
Rob
You don't have any idea what you are talking about. Please get the facts straight before you make such a distasteful post next time.
Posted by: Julee | May 24, 2010 6:31 PM
While Rob is a little harsh in his delivery, I support his message. Julee, you suggest that he "get the facts straight". Well, the facts are as follows: in the past 12 seasons (2010-1999) Clarke took the team to the NCAA semifinals once (8%); the prior 12 seasons (1998-1987) six semifinal games (50%) and four national championship games (33%) (winning one championship); the 12 seasons before that (1986-1975) ten semifinals (83%) and five national championships (41%). Clarke's tenure has not been kind to the program, as hard as he may have tried. We need a brand name coach who knows how to recruit and can get our program back to national powerhouse status ASAP. A few more years like this and WAC lax could go off the grid forever.
Posted by: Greg | May 25, 2010 3:55 PM
Sorry Julee. Please put your cup of tea down and take the last bite of your crumpet. As an alumni, and a person who knows a little about the program, the word is that J.B, is a nice guy but a horrible recruiter. We have, based on performance, let our program slide. Look at our record over the last couple years and how we have done when we made the post season. I'm not sure how long you have been following the team; but we are nothing close to what we were back in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s when we played a tougher schedule. I wish JB well, but he was not much of a coach in my opinion. Now the next person that needs to go is the AD Matthews. Sports used to mean something at WC, and it was lead by the men's lacrosse team. If you follow the game Julee, you will know that Nostant, Beville and Sowell, all WC players during the 80s, are now top college coaches. J.B. could not hold a candle to these guys as a coach and a recruiter.
Posted by: Rob | May 25, 2010 5:55 PM