Vinnie Clark brings experience to the table, NFL style
Tom Ando
Wednesday July 18, 2001
During last off-season, Destroyers offensive specialist Bobby Olive, who was a teammate of Clark’s at Ohio State, talked Bentley into bringing Clark in to help out the defensive backs. Clark not only teaches his players the fundamentals needed to shut down each opponent every week, but he also gives the players a common goal for their career.
“These guys can listen to me because I’ve been there and I’ve played on the highest level and they know that I’ve played against top notch players and that brings a lot and I get a lot of respect for that,” says Clark. “I don’t really have to say much because you can go and read and find a lot of different things about me and my career, but I do think I bring a whole lot, because I think I give a lot of guys something to really strive for.”
Clark believes that his NFL experience helps his tutelage, as do his players.
“It brings a lot (to the table) because he’s covered the best, so he can teach you the best,” said Destroyers DS Prentice Taylor. “It’s good having him in your corner to help you out, and he’s brought a lot to the table for me.”
At first, Clark admits it was difficult to get his feet wet in the indoor game, but like all the greats do, he quickly caught on.
“I think the speed of the game is the most difficult thing,” says Clark. “But as far as learning the schemes and to lock up people because I’m used to 11 and this is eight, but it wasn’t too bad.”
One thing Clark does not have difficulty doing is having fun, as he can often be seen sharing a laugh with his players.
“I love the camaraderie of team. I love being around the players, and I just love the team aspect,” says Clark. “I’ve always been a fun-loving guy and I take things serious. But if you’re having fun, you’re having fun no matter what. That’s just Vinnie Clark, having fun.”
 Vinnie Clark watches over his players Image courtesy of Tom Ando |
“It was a great career. It was shortened by injury because I hurt my neck,” says Clark. “It was something that I enjoyed. I played with a lot of great teams; I played a lot of great people, played with a lot of great coaches and a lot of great players. It’s an experience that I’ll always remember, and one day I can tell my kids about.”
Clark also lost a lot of money after his career-ending injury, which inspired him to start Unified Sports Management, in which he and partner Ozie Davis help athletes from making similar mistakes with their money.
“Right now we’re working with Akili Smith and I have a partner back home (Davis) who runs the program. And also I have group homes too that deal with disadvantaged youth. But the sports management company was an experience that I don’t want the guys (to go through) what I went through as far as with your agents and stuff like that. So we were basically the in-between between parents and agents. We’re helping the players adapt to the new environment, new cities. Kind of help them to get adapted to the media and handling people around them.”
While Davis runs the company, Clark will help the Destroyers’ in their quest for the post season, which at one point looked to be a certainty and now could be a failure if the team drops this week’s home finale to Grand Rapids (10-3).
“It’s been disappointing so far,” says Clark. “The only thing good that can come out of it is if we win the next game, and go on to the playoffs would be the most gratifying thing for me. But it’s disappointing because we were 6-3, then we lost four straight and we didn’t play well as a team, and that’s been disappointing.”
Whether or not the Destroyers make the playoffs, Clark seems to have launched a good coaching career in 2001, which could lead to future jobs.
“If I don’t continue to be here, I would like to continue either go to the NFL and be a coach on that level,” says Clark. “But if not I would like to stay in the arenaball because I think it’s interesting, and I think I can bring a lot to this game. Either I can stay here or go somewhere else and get a coordinator job or maybe a head coach.”
A good coach should have players that respect him, and Clark has just that.
“To me, he’s a great coach. He’s a great coach and he’s a good person. He’s taught me a lot; he’s brought a lot to the table for me, in order for me to get better and keep trying to continue to get better each and every week,” said Taylor. “He’s a motivator and he gets me over that edge, he gets everybody over that edge, so it’s a great thing that he’s here and I think that was a good this by the team bringing him here. He’s a great guy.”
"Touchdown" Tom Ando is a free lance writer from South Buffalo, NY and has been covering the Arena Football League in one capacity or another since the 2000 season, when he was 17 years old. Tom Currently writes for Sports & Leisure Magazine in Buffalo covering the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and NCAA Division I football. In 2001, Tom was the only writer in the country to cover the Houston "Travelin' " Thunderbears, where he befriended his mentor John F. "Hondo" Hahn.
