Bobby Clark: Notre Dame says goodbye to longtime soccer coach

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Men's soccer coach Bobby Clark announced his retirement after 17 years at Notre Dame.

He made the announcement on Wednesday.

Clark, 72, leaves the helm at South Bend with 369 wins as a college head coach in 31 seasons. He won 216 games and the 2013 NCAA title during his tenure leading the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame finished the 2017 season with a 1-0 loss to Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Irish finished with a 11-7-2 record this season. In 2013, Notre Dame posted a 17-1-6 mark. Clark's crew also won 17 games in 2012.

"I just finished telling our team that this, my 17th season at Notre Dame, will be my last," Clark said in a news release from Notre Dame. "This has been possibly the hardest decision I have had to make in my time at Notre Dame. I have loved my time at this University and, although I have kept postponing retirement, with my 73rd birthday coming up next year I felt it was time to be in a position to spend quality time with Bette, my wife of almost 50 years, my children and importantly my seven grandchildren. I have always looked at my team as extended family, so the players will be greatly missed. If I stretch my collegiate coaching career back to when I began at Dartmouth back in 1985 then I really do have a lot of extended family." 

"Giving up a dream job teaching the sport that I am addicted to has not been easy. Never a week goes by without one of my former players dropping me an email or making a call. The biggest part of being a teacher/coach is that you, and the sport you teach, help them grow up in a positive yet competitive environment. That has been very fulfilling, but doing it in the special environment that has been created around Notre Dame is very rewarding. I must thank the Notre Dame athletic department, which is superbly run, all my assistant coaches, trainers, administrators, fellow coaches in other sports, the support staff and everyone who has helped make this a very special 17 years of my life."

Clark arrived in South Bend in 2001. He posted a 216-92-55 record, winning nearly 67 percent of the games he coached.

He was born in Glasgow, Scottland. As a player, Clark made more than 800 first-team appearances from 1962-1982 in the Scottish League. He also served as head coach of the New Zealand National team and coached in Africa and Scotland. Scott coached at Dartmouth and Stanford before assuming the role at Notre Dame.