November 30, 2001

Transforming challenges into successes

Joe Clarke capitalizes on his rich soccer experience to guide the University's men's team

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Men's head soccer coach Joe Clarke encourages his team during a game at Francis Field. Clarke says of his players, "They will give you everything they have to become the best player possible because they're playing simply because they love the game."

By Keith Jenkins

Challenges.

Everyone faces them at one time or another. And while some shy away, there are those who meet them head on.

Head men's soccer coach Joe Clarke has always welcomed a challenge, and it's dogged determination that has made him such a success, both personally and professionally.

In five years of prowling the sidelines for the Bears, Clarke has guided the University to a 61-28-6 record, a .673 winning percentage, three NCAA Tournament appearances and a University Athletic Association (UAA) title.

In the season just completed, Clarke and company went 11-4-2 and came within one win of a second UAA title and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. All this after rolling up 200-plus wins, 12 postseason appearances and a Final Four berth in 14 years as the head coach at Division I power Saint Louis University.

It may sound easy, but it hasn't been.

As a Division III school, Washington University doesn't offer athletic scholarships. As one of the most academically rigorous institutions in the United States, students at this University find it hard enough to keep up with their schoolwork, let alone devoting time to practice, games and travel.

The combination of high academic standards and athletic rigor has made attracting and keeping talented student-athletes a challenge, but it's a challenge Clarke enjoys.

"I'm constantly learning how to recruit and coach, but I enjoy it," Clarke says. "Washington U. is a much different environment than most places, and although I've only been at a few schools, I think I've been around enough to know that there are only a handful of schools that are as academically demanding and prepare kids for the real world as well as Washington U."

Coaching at Washington University may not have the "big-time" atmosphere of a Division I school, but for Clarke, that's not what it's all about.

The Clarke family: (from left) Kelley, Joey, Dayna, Cindy, Joe and Eric.

"Coaching here is just as rewarding as it is anywhere else," Clarke says. "It is a bit different here, though, because rarely do I run into a difficult personality. If the kids think you know what you're doing, they are going to run through a wall for you. They will give you everything they have to become the best player possible because they're playing simply because they love the game."

One thing that may have come easily for Clarke was figuring out, from a very early age, what he was going to do with his life.

"I played soccer right from the beginning --everyone in my family did," Clarke says. "Everybody played soccer, plus I went to Catholic school in St. Louis. If you went to Catholic school in St. Louis and you were a guy, you played soccer."

Clarke started early as a grade-schooler at St. Thomas Moore, then went on to play for three years at McBride High School. When McBride closed down after his junior year, he played his final season at Normandy High School.

OK, maybe he didn't always want to play soccer, but it didn't take him long.

"Actually at first, I wanted to be a professional baseball player, because there weren't any pro soccer leagues," Clarke says. "But once there was a pro soccer league, sure, I wanted to be a professional player. For a while, I wanted to be a pro golfer. I wanted to be a professional anything, really."

Clarke's gift, though, was for soccer. After graduating from high school, Clarke went on to play for legendary soccer coach Harry Keough at Saint Louis University. Numerous schools recruited Clarke, but it was the same story.

"At that time, SLU was in the championship game every year, and if you were a good soccer player and you grew up in St. Louis, that's where you went to school," Clarke says.

Good thing for the Billikens. Clarke guided the team to national championships in 1972 and 1973 and to a championship game appearance as a senior All-American in 1974.

From there it was on to the pros. Sort of.

Clarke was drafted by the St. Louis Stars of the now-defunct North American Soccer League immediately after the first semester of his senior season. He was still a student, though, so he still continued to live in the dorm, taking his final few classes in his final semester.

"I was taking my six hours, living in the dorm, flying all around with a pro team," Clarke says. "I was also working as a bartender at nights. Can you imagine? I was really living it up É It was awesome!"

After finishing his bachelor's degree and his first season with the Stars, Clarke took on yet another challenge: He enrolled in law school at SLU.

"I said to myself, 'You can't make much money doing this, and it isn't going to last forever, so you'd better start doing something with some value to it,'" Clarke says.

He started his first year while still playing for the Stars until the next challenge presented itself. The team was sold and moved to Los Angeles. No problem, though, because Clarke transferred to Pepperdine University, at the time located in Anaheim.

That worked great, until Pepperdine built a new campus in Malibu --more than two hours away.

So Clarke took classes, mostly in the offseason and a few hours during the season, and played for the Stars for four years until the league was dissolved. Clarke was sold back to the St. Louis Steamers, an indoor professional team.

He finished his degree but was released from the Steamers after a little more than a year. With injuries mounting and Clarke wanting to remain in St. Louis, he decided it was time for something else.

But while interviewing with several law firms in town, the head coaching position at SLU opened up and the decision was easy.

When Washington University went looking for a new head coach before the start of the 1997 season, Director of Athletics John Schael had to look no further than down the street. Clarke took the position and has kept the Bears among the top teams in the nation.

"Joe Clarke's ability to teach, coach, motivate and lead has benefited the University's student-athletes and has helped perpetuate the Bears' rich soccer tradition," Schael said. "Joe's presence adds tremendous value to the quality of experience enjoyed by the young men participating on the soccer team."

Success runs in the Clarke family, which consists of his wife, Cindy, and four children, Kelley, Joey, Eric and Dayna. Kelley is a varsity cheerleader at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she and her squad have finished near the top of several national competitions.

Joey takes after his father as an aspiring soccer player at Parkway South High School, while Eric is a talented lacrosse player. Perhaps because he's looking for one more challenge, Clarke is going to help out with the lacrosse team this spring.

"I don't know the first thing about lacrosse, but it allows me to connect a little more with Eric and his world, so I'm looking forward to it," Clarke says.

Clarke also is looking forward to next year's soccer season, when the Bears will again be a favorite for the UAA title and a strong contender on the national scene. It's a lot of work, but with 25 years of experience, Clarke is ready.

"Coaching soccer adds up to this --you push the players to do what they don't really want to do, position them where they have the best chance to succeed, give them a framework from which to attack and defend, keep a finger on their motivation and know when to get out of their way," Clarke says. "I've found this style of coaching produces a lot of success."