Bio

Hope Clark finished the 2025 season as back-to-back NJCAA D1 National Champions.  The Falcons earned an impressive 20-0 record on the season, capturing the NJCAA Region 8 regular season and tournament championship, the NJCAA Southeast District Championship and again the NJCAA D1 National Championship. Daytona State saw record breaking numbers this season scoring 91 goals, leading the team to 14 shutouts and only allowing 6 goals all season. The Falcons began the 2025 season as theh #1 team in the Nation and never lost that spot as they held that position in every single poll for the both the NJCAA and the United Soccer Coaches rankings. The Falcons currently hold a 35 game winning streak.

Under Clark in 2025, four players were named the FCSAA All-Region team. Daytona State earned Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and Coach of the Year awards for the FCSAA. Four players were named to the USC All-East team and All-American. Three players earned NJCAA All-American in Clarks short five years at the helm. Clark again was named NJCAA Southeast District Coach of the Year and NJCAA D1 National Coach of the Tournament. 

The 2024 season for Clark was one of the best in program history for the Falcons.  Daytona State won its first ever NJCAA D1 National Championship after winning the Southeast District Championship, the Region 8 Championship and earned the regular season Regaion 8 Champion titles.  The Falcons ended the season at #1 in the NJCAA National Poll. Daytona State finished the 2024 season with an overall record of 18-3-1, earning 11 shutouts and seeing a 15-0 win streak to create program history. 

During her five years at Daytona State College, Clark has coached 25 Region 8 First-Team, 2 USC All-South Region, 7 USC All-East Region, 10 All-American student-athletes and a USC Scholar All-American. In addition, Clark has developed the Region 8 Player of the Year (2023 & 2025) four Region 8 Goalkeeper of the Year (2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) and Region 8 Freshmen of the Year (2021, 2022, 2023). Clark earned NJCAA National Tournament Coach of the Tournament twice, Southeast District Coach of the Year twice, Region 8 Tournament Coach of the Year twice, Region 8 Coach of the Year in 2022, 2024,2025 and Co-Coach of the Year in 2023. Clark and her staff eaned the United Soccer Coaches National Staff of the Year and Southeast District Staff of the Year in 2024. She owns a 64-16-3 coaching record at Daytona State.

During the 2023 season Daytona State was ranked in the NJCAA Top 10 the entire season, with a record high ranking of 4th for four straight weeks.  The Falcons ended the season at #7 in the NJCAA National Poll. Daytona State finished the 2023 season with an overall record of 14-2, earning 11 shutouts and seeing a 12-0 win streak to create program history.  The Falcons have now advanced to the Region 8 finals the past three seasons under Clark. 

Clark, who has 183 career wins on her college coaching record, joined Daytona State in 2021 from Young Harris College in Georgia where she spent two years as Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance/Senior Woman Administrator. In that role she was responsible for department control and oversight of athletic compliance, provided sport oversight for seven sports, served as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator and was the campus moderator and conference liaison for the Mountain Lions’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Before Young Harris College, Clark was the Head Coach at Georgia College and State University from 2010-2019. Clark is the winningest coach in Georgia College soccer history. Clark, who owns a 183-124-25 overall coaching record (78-73-16 at Georgia College), was responsible for five 10-win seasons for the Bobcats, the most for any coach in program history. In her nine seasons in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Bobcats put 14 members on the All-Peach Belt Conference teams, including eight all-region honorees and the program's second All-American and first PBC Player of the Year in Amanda Bartholomew. Clark has also coached 47 Peach Belt All-Academic Team selections and have two players earn the PBC Elite 15 Award.
 
Clark’s 2013 and 2018 squads reached the Peach Belt Conference Championship game. Those remain the only appearances the Bobcats have made in the conference title game.
 
Clark was a member of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee, NCAA Division II Coaches Connection Committee and is a graduate of the NCAA Women Coaches Academy and the NCAA Leadership Academy. Clark served as chair of the Peach Belt Women's Soccer Coaches for two seasons and served on the NCAA Regional Ranking Advisory Committee for the Southeast region for three season. She was a member of the United Soccer Coaches (formerly NSCAA) Southeast Region Ranking Committee three times.
 
Clark’s first head coaching job came at Auburn University-Montgomery where she led the Senators to a 35-22-4 mark from 2007-09. In her final season at AUM, Clark guided the Senators to a 15-5-2 record and the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. She coached seven All-Americans at AUM, led by 3-time winner Amber Elam, six Academic All-Americans, and had 13 all-conference selections.
 
A native of Louisiana, the former Hope Handley played collegiate soccer as a goalkeeper at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was a member of VT's first-ever recruiting class as a freshman in 1994 and lettered all four years at Tech. As a sophomore, Clark was selected as the Hokies' most valuable player and named NSCAA third-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region following a season in which she set the Atlantic-10 Conference single-season record for saves with 179. Clark was the first Tech women's soccer player ever named All-Mid-Atlantic Region.

After graduating from Virginia Tech, Clark began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at American University before spending two years as an assistant coach at the University of Tampa.
 
Clark played semi-professional soccer in 2005 and 2006 with the Atlanta Silverbacks in the women's division of the United Soccer Leagues. She has been the assistant director of The Last Defense Goalkeeping Academy and worked with Region 3 Olympic Development Program on staff. Clark earned her bachelor's degree in human nutrition foods and exercise from Virginia Tech and her master's degree in health and fitness management from American University.

Clark holds a United States Soccer Federation “B” license, a United States Soccer Talent Scout License and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Diploma.

Clark also currently serves as a US Soccer Staff coach for USYNT programs, most recently with the U15 WYNT program. Clark also serves as a Talent ID scout for U.S. Soccer, helping identify the best soccer talent in the United States with the potential to play for the country’s Youth National Teams. She has served in the capacity since 2019, and assists at YNT identification centers.

She is married to Richonne Clark, a professional soccer official and brother of former US National Team Player Ricardo Clark. Hope and Richonne have a daughter, Zion.