By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          For the second straight time, the head women’s basketball coach at Mercer brings some SEC experience and head-coaching success to Macon.

          Michelle Clark-Heard was announced Saturday by the school as the program’s 11th head coach.

          The hiring came a day short of two weeks since Susie Gardner announced her resignation.

          The 55-year-old native of Louisville has a 252-147 record, 63.2 percent,  in 13 years as a head coach at Kentucky State, Western Kentucky, and Cincinnati.

          She has been an assistant at Nebraska, Cincinnati, and Louisville, and spent the 2023-24 season at Mississippi State as the assistant athletics director for women’s basketball as well as assistant coach.

          The Bulldogs, who have Jessika Carter from Harris County on the roster, are 22-11, having beaten Georgia Tech on Thursday in the Women’s Basketball Invitational, and host TCU on Sunday.

          Clark-Heard played at Western Kentucky from 1987-90, making the NCAA Tournament all four seasons, then spent eight years working in a recreational setting in Kentucky, and was part of a high school staff in Louisvillei n 1994-95, also playing in the old Women’s Basketball Association with Kentucky in 1994-95.

          From Mercer’s release (with some editing):

          Clark-Heard makes the move to Middle Georgia after spending the 2023-24 season on the staff at Mississippi State. She has amassed a 252-147 record in 13 seasons as a head coach, including stops at Kentucky State, Western Kentucky and Cincinnati, and has led her teams to seven postseason appearances, including four NCAA Tournament berths. She also has two regular season conference championships and a quartet of conference tournament titles in her stable as well.

          Clark-Heard served a hybrid position on the Mississippi State coaching staff this past season as both an assistant coach and the assistant athletics director for women's basketball.

          MSU ranked among NCAA Division I's top scoring and rebounding teams, as well as one of the nation's top shot-blocking squads. The Bulldogs were ranked several times.

          Clark-Heard went 74-74 in five seasons (2018-23) as the head coach at Cincinnati, including 20+-win campaigns in her first two seasons. She mentored a pair of all-America selections and seven all-conference picks as well as American Athletic Conference All-Freshman selections and the top freshman.

          Cincinnati reached the quarterfinals of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in her first season, and followed it up with a 22-9 clip in year two.

          “This is a great day for Mercer women's basketball as we welcome Michelle Clark-Heard to the Bears family," said Mercer’s chief operating officer and senior woman administrator Sybil Blalock. "It was very important for us throughout the search process that we found the right leader and person that would bring both excellence and integrity to the women's basketball program, and I believe Coach Clark-Heard exemplifies both of those qualities.”

          After serving seven seasons as an assistant coach at Nebraska (1998-2002) and Cincinnati (2002-05), Clark-Heard was named head coach at Kentucky State prior to the 2005-06 campaign, and led the Thoroughbreds on an 18-game turnaround across two seasons, inheriting a squad that posted just one win during the 2004-05 season, and closing out her 2-year stint in Frankfort, Ky., by leading KSU to a 19-9 clip and a fourth-place finish in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).

          She spent the next five seasons (2007-12) as an assistant at Louisville, where she was part of 119 wins and four NCAA Tournament berths, including an appearance in the 2008-09 national championship game.

The Cardinals also made Sweet 16 appearances in 2007-08 and 2010-11. She showed her prowess as a recruiter as well, bringing in the No. 12 recruiting class to in 2008, followed by three consecutive Top 10 classes in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2010 recruiting class was the highest-ranked class in school history and was listed No. 5 crop nationally.

          Two notable players Clark-Heard coached at Louisville: 2009 No. 1 WNBA pick Angel McCoughtry, and 2013 No. 8 pick Shoni Shimmel. Three more Cardinals were drafted while she was at Louisville.

          Clark-Heard returned to her alma mater, going 154-47 clip in six seasons (2014-18), with six postseason appearances (4 NCAAs). WKU won four conference tournament and two regular-season championships, and became the second-fastest Lady Topper coach to reach 100 victories.

She inherited a 9-21 team and led the Hilltoppers to a 22-11 mark in her first season (2012-13). The 13-win improvement still ranks as the largest in Sun Belt Conference history.

          Clark-Heard was named the CUSA Coach of the Year after a 30-5 season in 2014-15, and was also named the U.S. Marine Corps/WBCA NCAA Division I Regional Coach of the Year.

She served as an assistant for the U.S. U-23 National Team in the inaugural Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo, Japan. During her second stint with the Red, White and Blue, Clark-Heard helped push the Americans to an undefeated record and the championship of the event.

          “I look forward to continuing the winning tradition that has been established for many years in the program already,” Clark-Heard said. “The passion and pride built around Mercer makes this such an exciting time, and I can't wait to meet our amazing young ladies and get to work.”

          She played in 118 games at WKU, scoring 790 points with 615 rebounds, helping the Hilltoppers to a pair of Sun Belt Conference Tournament (1987-88, 1988-89) and regular-season (1988-89, 1989-90) championships.

          She was named the Kentucky High School State Player of the Year (1986) while playing at Atherton High School and was inducted into the Atherton Hall of Fame in 2003.

          Clark-Heard earned her bachelor's degree in recreation at Western Kentucky, as well as a master's degree in educational administration at Nebraska. She and her husband, Luther, recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.