Jim Clark has been named the first-ever women's volleyball coach for the start-up program scheduled to begin in the 2006-07 school year.

Clark brings a wealth of experience to PNC, including 21 years at Westville High School coaching both the boys and girls varsity teams. During that span, Clark led Westville to 15 Porter County Conference championships, 13 Porter County Conference Tournament championships and six Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association men's state championships.

Clark is also a veteran of local club volleyball and beach volleyball activity. He served as a Dunes Junior Volleyball club coach from 1993 to 1995 and spent over 25 years organizing and directing Michigan City Beach Volleyball tournaments. Clark directed the Indiana State Beach Volleyball Championships for 25 years and guided eight IHSVCA state tournaments.

Clark has also had the opportunity to coach and influence numerous talented individuals, including Jackie Nunez, who was All-Big Ten at Northwestern and went on to coach at Iowa State, LaSalle and Temple. The mentor coached Nick Cheronis, currently the associate head coach at the University of Florida and Troy Campbell, who has coached Marquette High School to three state championships. Clark has also coached the all-time kill leaders at both the Division I and II levels (Sara McFarland at Loyola Marymount and Ronda Price N. Alabama) among others. McFarland is a member of the USA National Team and the Grand Rapids professional team.

"We're excited to bring Jim on board as the first volleyball coach at PNC," said Director of Athletics, John Weber. "With his experience and knowledge we expect Jim to accept this unique challenge of literally starting from scratch and building a highly successful program."

Along with his coaching duties, Clark spent over 30 years (1971-2003) as a teacher at Westville High School, primarily teaching psychology and government, in addition to history, sociology and physical education courses. He also runs a part-time business that sells athletic apparel.

The veteran coach graduated from Ball State in 1971 and earned a Masters Degree in Education in 1977 from Indiana . He attended PNC from 1966-1968.