After 43 Years as Cal Rugby Coach, Jack Clark Still Making Memories

Jack Clark and Cal rugby are not separate entities. To a large degree, Jack Clark IS Cal rugby.

The long-term future of this symbiotic relationship between the sport and its head coach remains uncertain, but the present situation is clear: Clark and Cal rugby will begin pursuit of a second straight national rugby 15s championship in a first-round playoff match against San Diego on Saturday at Cal’s Witter Rugby Field.

But while the closing chapter of Clark’s time as the Bears head rugby coach has yet to be written, his resume as of April 9, 2026, can be wrapped up in a series of numbers:

30

The number of national championships Cal has won under Clark – 25 in rugby 15s and five in rugby 7s.

And the Bears are slight favorites to win a 31st national championship this year, although the challenges posed by Saint Mary’s in the West and by Navy, Life or Lindenwood in the East will be considerable.

1

The current national ranking of Cal’s unbeaten 2026 squad, signifying a re-emergence of the Golden Bears as the preeminent college rugby program in the country.

1984

The year George Orwell made famous, the year “Ghostbusters” hit the silver screen, the year the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and the year Clark became Cal’s head coach.

Not only did Clark become Cal’s head coach before any of his players were born, but it’s conceivable that he took over the Bears’ rugby program before some of his players’ parents were born.

70

Jack Clark’s age, though he does not look, talk or act like a senior citizen.

Nonetheless, at this point the question must be asked: How much longer will he be Cal’s head rugby coach.

Clark has not set a deadline and has not even addressed the issue, but he offers this:

“I’m on a three-year contract; this is the first year of three, so I wouldn’t imagine it would go past that, and I’m not sure we’ll make it the whole way," he said. "I’m open. I’m still enjoying this. We’re functioning well, we’re doing well, and the team is such a pleasure to be around and be a part of. I find it to be super-challenging to be at the top of the podium at the end of the year, especially now days. It’ll be hard to leave but obviously there is a time for everybody.”

43

The years Clark has been Cal’s head rugby coach, and it’s hard to find an active college head coach in any sport nationwide who has had a longer tenure at his current school.

Tony Tocco completed his 54th year as the head men’s soccer coach at Rockhurst University this past year and has not given any indication that he’s retiring.

But Clark might be the active head coach with the longest tenure at a school that plays at the highest level of the sport.

It's hard to imagine Cal rugby without Jack Clark. Will there be Cal rugby after Jack Clark?

“Oh, absolutely,” said Clark.

The impressive endowment Cal rugby has built ensures the existence of Cal rugby for years and years.

But will it be the same? Many elite college sports programs continue to perform at the same high level after a legendary coach calls it a day.

But some don’t

Clark would like to see long-time Cal associate head coach Tom Billups, a former coach of the U.S. National team, succeed him, but it won’t be Clark’s decision to make.

In any case, it’ll be an interesting transition for Cal rugby when it is no longer headed by Clark, who did not seem headed for rugby coaching stardom when he was a student at Cal.

His passion was basketball, his talent was football, but his legacy it turns out is rugby.

Clark’s coaching for Cal as well as his stint as head coach of the USA National team earned him a Glenn Seaborg Award in 2016 and put him in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame this year.

But it started by way of an injury 46 years ago.

Clark came to Cal as a football player and was only introduced to rugby while at Berkeley at a time when football players made up most of Cal’s rugby team.

After graduating in 1978, football seemed to be his means for athletic success. He signed a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL and later with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, but neither panned out.

He then transitioned to rugby and became a standout player on the U.S. National team.

But that came to a screeching halt as the result of a playing-career-ending injury sustained in 1980.

“Had a lot of opportunities ahead of me,” Clark said.

So is he haunted by the what-ifs?

“No, no, it was a blessing,” he said.

With his playing career over, Clark turned to coaching.

“Who would have thought the worst day of your life would be a blessing,” he said, “but going into coaching early has allowed me to have a real career.”

After two seasons as an assistant rugby coach at Cal, Clark was elevated to the top spot while still in his 20s – not that he was the coach he is today back then.

“I’m a little bit embarrassed to think about early coaching,” Clark said. “What was my plan; ‘Hurry up and try harder’? . . . When I think about my early coaching, I’m almost embarrassed by it.”

At that stage, Clark didn't know what he didn't know.

He once believed he and the culture he created as a coach was enough by itself to be a big winner anywhere with any players.

“I really believed, I think, for a while that ‘I’ll coach your team and beat you.’” he said. “The biggest lesson, I think, that hit me late in my career, in the last 20 years maybe, has been that talent matters a lot. You can build the most resilient culture you want, but you got to have some dudes, Man.”

His coaching ego settled down after a while, and he recognized the subtleties and realities of coaching success.

“I have more perspective, I think is how I would say it,” Clark said.

And, of course, his coaching acumen evolved over the years.

“I know what all the dials in the cockpit mean now,” he said.

He also developed a philosophical and structural appreciation of the "team" concept, and he makes it point to communicate to his players the lessons that "team" provides.

"I want them to have that acute understandings, because I don't think 'team' is taught anywhere," he said.

The trophies and awards won in a non-scholarship sport at Cal are sources of pride for Clark as are the post-Cal successes of his players.

But that is not what Clark remembers most. It’s the faces of players after a big victory, not the joy of winning as much as the expression of the effort involved.

“There are these moments where you win these big games and there’s a bit of jumping around right after you win, of course,” he said. “But when things settle out and I get really close to the players . . . when it’s really over and you get a chance to look at them, it’s ‘Wow.’ Their faces are a little sullen and there’s dark circles. They look like they’ve run a marathon.

“They’ve really given full measure and they’ve done it for each other. I know that look now. It’s not rah-rah; it’s like they’ve emptied the bloody tank, man, and they have no defenses left. They get chills on a warm night. They cry, and they never thought they were going to cry in that moment, it was never part of the dream, you know.

“Those moments where it all kind of comes together and it’s the end of one of the chapters of the story.”

Clark no doubt would like to see those agonized/pleased/teary-eyed faces on May 2, after the national championship game is played in Indianapolis to wrap up his 43rd – but not final – season at Cal.