Ryan Clark, the head coach of the Alma College men’s basketball team, will be leaving the program, director of athletics Sarah Dehring announced on Friday, April 22.
“I would like to thank Coach Clark for his dedication to Alma College and Alma College Athletics. He has been a key member of our staff for the past 10 years and he will be missed,” Dehring said.
Clark was named the head men’s basketball coach in 2019 after serving as the head women’s basketball coach in the 2018-2019 season and the men’s basketball assistant coach at Alma from 2012 to 2018.
“I want to thank everyone that had a hand in me being able to be here at Alma for the past 10 years. The people I’ve met and memories made will always hold a special place in my heart. This is a special group of young men that I will miss dearly and anyone that gets the privilege to know and coach them, should consider themselves blessed,” Clark said.
During his time as head men’s basketball coach, he led two players to receive All-MIAA first and second-team honors. During his final season, two of Clark’s athletes found themselves on the MIAA leaderboard in points per game with 18.5 from Cole Kleiver and field goal percentage with 61.7% from Brandon Rake.
For the 2018-2019 season, Clark was the head coach of the Alma College women’s basketball program. That year the Scots had their best season in 16 years, posting a 15-12 overall record — the most wins in a season since 2002-03 — and a 9-7 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association record. The Scots earned the fourth seed in the MIAA tournament and reached the conference semifinals for the first time since 2006.
While holding the men’s assistant coaching position, Clark contributed to drastic improvements in the program, culminating in a 24-7 season in 2015-16 in which the Scots made it to the NCAA Sectional Championship and was ranked the nation’s sixth-best team in Division III by d3hoops.com by the season’s end. Alma broke program records that had been in place for over 15 years such as most wins in a season and appearances in the MIAA postseason tournament in Clark’s first four years of coaching.
Collegiately, Clark played four years of varsity basketball for Kalamazoo College, contributing mostly as a shooting guard and small forward. A 2011 graduate, Clark ranks second for the most three-point field goals made in a season and is third all-time for three-pointers made in a career. He was a two-time All-MIAA Second Team selection, amassing over 1,000 points during his career.
A nation-wide search for Alma’s head men’s basketball coach will begin immediately.
