As a high school player in Union, South Carolina, Mike Clowney had never heard of Ken Sparks or Carson-Newman College (now University).
He will never forget his first conversation with legendary coach Ken Sparks who ended his career in 2016 with an overall college coaching record of 338–99–2, making him one of the college coaches with the most wins all-time.
“He sat down and talked to me and my mom and I realized there was something different about him. Though the conversation included football, we really talked about everything,” Clowney recalled. “We talked about life, and he asked about my relationship with Christ.”
Playing days
Clowney took a recruiting visit to Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where he discovered that Christ was as important to the coaching staff as football. He received his first Bible while on that trip.
Clowney accepted the scholarship offer from Coach Sparks and would become an All American football player who would eventually be enshrined into both the Carson-Newman Hall of Fame and the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame. Though his playing career ended in 1996, he still holds several school records.
The relationship he established with Jesus Christ during those early years at Carson-Newman is what drives Clowney in his third season as head football coach at Carson-Newman.
He laughs that he used to get frustrated as a freshman because “we talked more about Christ than football.” Clowney acknowledges that it was not until later in life did he understand that “all the things it takes to be successful in football are the exact same things it takes to be successful in life.”
“I’m just grateful for [Sparks] as a coach from a player standpoint. [He was] willing to coach in a fashion that helps players connect the dots,” he said. “You don’t always connect them while you are playing, but when life starts to hit, we normally fall back on the things that we’ve experienced.”
Coaching journey
“It is our job as coaches, especially here (at Carson-Newman) to provide guys with that experience so that when they get put in a tough spot, they have something to fall back on — Jesus Christ.”
Clowney felt called to coach while still a student at Carson-Newman. He majored in education. After earning his degree, he began his coaching career at Carson-Newman as a graduate assistant and earned his master’s degree in education.
He then worked as an assistant high school coach in South Carolina before returning to Carson-Newman to coach in 2004–05.
Next he was named head coach and athletic director of Emerald High School in Greenwood, South Carolina, and he served there for three years before returning to Carson-Newman in 2009.
Upon returning to Carson-Newman, he was again an assistant until he was named head coach in 2020.
Clowney admitted he took a leap of faith when he returned to Carson-Newman in 2009. He took a large cut in pay to come back, but ultimately he says he felt there was so much more he could still learn from Coach Sparks.
About four years after Clowney’s final return to Carson-Newman, Sparks was diagnosed with prostate cancer, so Clowney assumed more responsibility. Still, he really had no desire to be a head coach again, he said.
When Sparks stepped down in 2016, he was replaced by Mike Turner, another longtime assistant who spent four decades at the school. Turner coached three years before stepping down at the close of the 2019 season.
Clowney remained with Turner over that stretch, coaching running backs in order to get more familiar with the offensive side of the ball and serving as associate head coach.
Legacy
After being named head coach, Clowney knew he would have to put his own stamp on the program even though a lot of what he does is based on what he learned from Sparks.
“I’m not a carbon copy, but a lot of what he taught is etched into me,” Clowney said.
The COVID-19 pandemic made his job more difficult. He lost 19 seniors from the 2019 team and had just completed his recruiting class when the pandemic hit. Carson-Newman had to cancel spring practice and only played one game (a win) in 2020.
Clowney basically had a new, young team in 2021 and only recorded one win.
The 2022 version of the team has won three games thus far and is showing signs of improvement, the coach said.
And, while he may not always do everything the way Sparks did it, Clowney is resolute in “keeping Christ as the foundation” and reaching “kids where they are.”
Clowney also affirmed that “coaching has to be about Christ. I coach because I want to, and because I am called to coach. If we are going to coach them, then we need to love them. We need to care about them, and we need to coach them in a fashion that’s going to help them grow.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by Tennessee’s Baptist and Reflector.
