COACH ALEXANDER ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
by envisionfilmvideo.com on Dec.08, 2009, under Football
A Clark Original
Athletic Director and Head Coach Lloyd Alexander announced to his team today that he would be retiring at the end of the school year. The following is a brief bio of the man known as “Coach A.”
He says his favorite moment at Clark is not a single game or event, but a patchwork of many small moments when former players come back to visit and tell him how much the lessons learned in the Clark athletic program have meant to them in their work and family lives.
For Coach Lloyd Alexander that’s real success in Clark, Texas.
When Clark High School opened its doors to students 31 years ago, it also welcomed young Lloyd Alexander to the athletic staff. Aside from a two-year stint at Southwest High School, Coach Alexander has been on the Clark, Texas sidelines since the beginning, filling numerous coaching roles from his initial duties as Clark’s first freshman football, basketball and Junior Varsity baseball coach through his years as defensive coordinator and finally to his selection in 2002 as Clark’s Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach.
Coach Alexander’s love affair with high school football began as a young boy new to America. His family had just moved to San Antonio from his native London, England and soccer was the only football he knew. His outlook monumentally changed when his father took him to witness perhaps one of the greatest high school games ever played: In 1963, Brackenridge High School and Lee High School squared off in front of 25,000 at Alamo Stadium. As the young Alexander watched, the nation’s best running backs exchanged yardage and touchdowns and a defensive coach was born!
After playing football at Marshall High School, Coach Alexander attended Texas Lutheran College in Seguin where he played defensive end under legendary coach Jim Wacker. Alexander’s T.L.C. team went on to win the 1974 National Championship in NAIA Division II.
After college, he was a teacher and coach at Hobby Middle School when he married Evelyn Patek of Seguin. He joined the Clark staff in 1978, the year the school opened and the Alexander’s daughter Michelle was born. Today the Alexanders have been married for 33 years and Michelle, a former Clark and Austin College volleyball player, is married and has her own daughter, three-year-old Kathryn. Michelle is a teacher and a coach’s wife; her husband, John Stein, is head tennis coach at McKinney North High School.
Coach Alexander, who received his Masters in Educational Administration from Our Lady of the Lake University, stresses the importance of the classroom for each player. He says the program is more about building character than wins and losses. Former players agree, but also attest to his great desire to compete, win and see their best effort on the field. He has done all of those. Since 2002, Coach Alexander has compiled a record of 66 – 30 as a head coach and taken Clark to the playoffs six out of the last eight seasons. His 2008 squad made school history with 13 wins and a trip to the 5A Division 1 State Semi-Finals, followed by this year’s success with a return trip to the state quarter finals and a record 13 wins in a row.
8 Comments for this entry
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IT'S A GOOD DAY TO BE A CLARK COUGAR! - Dave
December 8th, 2009 on 7:49 pm
Thank you Coach “A”!You are truly a man among men. Enjoy retirement, however, you will be missed!
December 8th, 2009 on 10:07 pm
Coach, we never met, but I wish you a great retirement. From stories I hear about some of the boys you coached, you must’ve been a wonderful mentor.
December 9th, 2009 on 12:09 am
Coach A, congratulations on your retirement. You will be missed but will retire knowing you have led and left behind a great coaching staff with the same morals and integrity as you had and helped instill in our kids. We and our children have been blessed to know you.
December 9th, 2009 on 6:32 am
Thank you, Coach A. Our kids have benefitted for life through participating in Clark Athletics. You lead with integrity and honor, and we thank you for that example.
December 9th, 2009 on 5:29 pm
Coach “A’..You gave a short, undersized Linebacker a shot and I’ll never forget that, thank you. The impact you’ve made in my life, and I’m sure others, was truely life changing. Many things your preached at the time didn’t make sense, but watching how the lessons learned in high school have translated into adulthood have been very helpful. Thanks for everything you do. You’ve been a positive role model for so many. Not to mention you are one of the brightest defensive minds I’ve ever encountered.
God Bless and may you have continued success in life.
#36 Benji
December 9th, 2009 on 5:58 pm
Coach A, it’s sad to know you are going to retire, but I will never forget you and niether will the players you have coached. You are a inspration to me and always will be, if it wasn’t for you and your staff I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. I want to thank you for being a role model in my life and helping me changeing it to a more postive one. Everyday I ask myself, “Were would I be if I wouldn’t have met the Clark Football Coach’s”.
I hope to oneday to be in your footsteps, and still make Clark Football what it is today, and makeing the players better people on and off the field and in the classroom.
Thank you for all the hard work you have done, Congratulations on your retirement, I will never forget you and I wish you the best.
Eric Gonzales-“BIG TIME”
December 9th, 2009 on 8:32 pm
best of luck to you coach a you are not only a fine coach but a class act
December 14th, 2009 on 10:12 pm
Coach Alexander, As I just reviewed our Cougar website and read of your retirement announcement, I was immediately overcome by the great memories of our visit this past March. A proud, former Cougar, my memories of our days together on the baseball and football fields of South Texas are very special ones! As one of a handful of kids who started high school at John Marshall in 1976 and then transfered to Clark in 1978, I can claim great memories of learning about life from men who dedicated their lives to a group of very lucky students and ballplayers.
During the last 31 years, I realized many times that I was Blessed by the lessons I learned from you and the other men that provided me guidance and counsel of life; names I’ll never forget like Dub Farris, Terry Hall, Mike Honeycutt, Mike Robbins and Danny Padron.
Lloyd, as I now recall the day of my own retirement from the US Navy, I remember it as an exciting one full of promise of the new chapter in my life. I know from the lessons you taught us that you have a great plan for the next chapter in your life!
Coach! I want to finally congratulate you on an exemplary career and a great season! Know that you are of a very special breed of men who are able to inspire others to achieve great accomplishments beyond their own expectations! On behalf of all the students, players and parents who have had the great pleasure of learning from and working with you, I wish you what you greatly deserve:
The very best that life has in store for you!
With the Greatest Respect and Admiration,
David “Dirt” Leal
Class of 1980 #60
Firecontrolman Chief(SW/MTS) USN(Ret)2002