First Coast Varsity Weekly: Charlsea Clark makes history at Atlantic Coast boys basketball
Maybe it wasn't the way that Charlsea Clark drew up the plans for the next step in her coaching career.
But the timing seemed right. The location seemed right. And then, pretty soon, she started to wonder.
Clark, who led the Bishop Kenny girls to three consecutive final four appearances in 2019, 2020 and 2021, is making hoops history at Atlantic Coast by returning to the high school basketball ranks to lead the Stingrays' boys team.
"I really enjoy getting back into the high school scene, getting a chance to work with that age group," she said.
Clark has spent the last two seasons in the University of North Florida athletic department, originally as an assistant under then-head coach Darrick Gibbs and more recently working in the Ospreys' athletic advisory and compliance department. She said that she intends to continue in her role at UNF while leading Atlantic Coast.
A St. Johns County native who played at Menendez High School and then served as a three-year captain at Flagler College, she coached Bishop Kenny for six years with a record of 112-52 while guiding the development of future Division I signees Jasmyne Roberts and Maddie Millar. Bishop Kenny reached back-to-back state finals in 2019 and 2020.
She replaces Russell Adell at Atlantic Coast, becoming the fourth head coach in as many seasons for a Stingrays program in flux. Since opening in 2010, Atlantic Coast has only qualified for three Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs, from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
Clark also makes history as the first female head coach of a boys program at Atlantic Coast, and one of only a small number on record in Northeast Florida.
Several women have won accolades while leading boys teams, including Florida Dairy Farmers coach of the year Laurel Valley at Bishop Kenny swimming and Erin Crabtree in command of several contenders at Paxon swimming. In team ball sports, it's much more rare, although there are success stories past and present: Caitlin Murphy has directed Westside boys soccer for the past five years, Debbie Loudy steered Ridgeview boys soccer to the state playoffs in 2000 and Lainey Kekic leads the state-ranked Bartram Trail boys volleyball team in addition to her duties as girls coach.
Although this will be Clark's first time leading a full boys team, she has experience training male players through the Clark Basketball Academy, which she said will ease the transition.
"The [boys] game is a little faster, and I think I've also grown a lot with six years of experience to reflect on… I've been learning from 15 Division I coaches [in different sports at UNF] every day," she said.
She cited Bishop Kenny's Jerry Buckley, Providence's Jim Martin and UNF men's coach Matthew Driscoll as key influences as she works toward her plan to implement a winning culture.
Clark is scheduled to meet with the team for the first time Thursday evening. She's already begun the task of assembling the 2023-24 schedule and drawing up workout plans for summer.
"It's about earning trust first," she said. "Getting in the gym with them and then seeing how we operate, it'll be like, 'This is going to be legit.'"
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FHSAA eyes playoff ticket hike
For high school sports families and fans across the Sunshine State, playoff time might be getting a little more expensive.
The FHSAA's board of directors is scheduled to vote Monday on a proposal that would apply an across-the-board $2 increase to ticket prices for state series events in all sports.
The price hike, the association said, would "cover growing costs for member schools to host events at district and regional tournaments, as well as, to cover costs for the association to offer exceptional state championship events."
The proposal already cleared the finance committee and has received the recommendation of FHSAA executive director Craig Damon. If approved, the increase would take effect July 1. The FHSAA last raised playoff ticket prices in 2011.
Ticket prices vary by sport. For most sports, $7 is the current standard cost for regional tickets, with football ($8) the chief exception. The FHSAA does not charge admission to golf or tennis championships.
For next month's baseball and softball tournaments, state final tickets cost $9 per day in advance but $12 when purchased on the day of the event. For other spring sports, this year's state final prices are $12 and $15 for track (May 17-20 at the University of North Florida), $10 and $13 for flag football (May 12-13 at Mandarin), $8 and $11 for lacrosse (May 4-6 at Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Naples) and $8 and $11 for beach volleyball (May 12-13 at Florida State University's courts in Tallahassee).
Final four could add shot clock
Is the clock ticking a little faster toward a more widespread shot clock in Florida basketball?
Former NBA guard and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward has introduced a measure that would require the shot clock in the state final four in 2023-24 and the entire basketball postseason in 2024-25. The FHSAA board directors is scheduled to vote on the plan Monday.
The FHSAA last spring voted to institute a 35-second shot clock in high school basketball on an "optional but recommended" basis, stopping short of an initial plan to require the clock's implementation beginning in 2024-25.
With no firm deadline for introduction, and a total price tag that could stretch into the thousands of dollars, many schools have balked at installing the clocks. Region 1-3A champion Providence is among the schools that used a shot clock during the 2022-23 season.
Volleyball final four to return?
After eight years as a finals-only schedule for state girls volleyball, the FHSAA could be on its way toward resuming a final-four format similar to that used for basketball.
Although listed on the agenda as only a discussion item rather than a topic up for a final vote, the neutral site proposal received unanimous approval from both the volleyball advisory committee and the athletic directors advisory committee, which typically carries substantial weight in shaping FHSAA policy.
A proposal, still only in the preliminary state for now, cites "feasibility, financial impact and overall positive experience" as reasons to return to a final four.
Since 2015, the FHSAA has scheduled volleyball semifinals for school campuses, playing only the finals at a neutral site. The last neutral-site final four was in 2014 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
Other items on the agenda:
The board is also set to discuss Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) agreements, although the FHSAA is not yet scheduled to take action on policy changes. At present, the association does not permit high school athletes to participate in NIL deals.
Currently, 27 associations across the 50 states and the District of Columbia permit NIL agreements in some form. Several others are weighing potential policy changes, including the Virginia High School League, which is scheduled to vote on NIL in May.
A proposal on the agenda for soccer would limit water breaks to games in which the ambient temperature is 60 degrees or higher, citing concerns that the breaks in effect make the sport a game of four quarters rather than two halves. Currently, water breaks are in place in all games.
In wrestling, the FHSAA will weigh a proposal that would institute a play-in round on the first day of the state tournament between the fourth-place and fifth-place finishers in each region. Under current policy, the top four placers at regionals qualify for the state event.
The bill is designed to discourage wrestlers from losing a match intentionally in regionals in order to receive a more favorable path through the brackets toward the state tournament. While the sport's committee backed the plan unanimously, the athletic directors advisory committee recommended 11-2 against it.
The FHSAA is also planning to vote on a policy change for football that would increase roster sizes from 60 to 75 for playoff games.
Around the area
Creekside quarterback Wilson Edwards signed with Anderson football. … Suwannee kicker Braxtyn Green committed to North Carolina Wesleyan football. … Mandarin's Bryan Johnson and Marcial Holmes signed with Concord football, and Jetsel Cajigas signed with Arcadia baseball. ... Episcopal guard Beza Miller committed to Washington-St. Louis men's basketball. … Former Ridgeview forward Nia Brown committed to Daytona State College women's basketball. … Bartram Trail senior Bryan Eberly signed with Trinity Baptist men's basketball. … Junior outside hitter Ashlyn Anderson committed to Kennesaw State volleyball. Anderson led Northeast Florida in kills last season at St. Johns Country Day, but has announced plans to transfer to Bolles for 2023-24. … Former Columbia receiver Marcus Peterson announced his plans to transfer from Cincinnati football. ... Cornerback Jahquez Robinson, who played at Sandalwood, is transferring from Alabama after three seasons with the Crimson Tide. ... Camille Hobby, winner of the Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball award in 2019, is transferring to Illinois. The senior center played four seasons at North Carolina State. ... Former Ribault forward Nigeria Harkless is also on the move, committing to Long Island ... Fleming Island's Kaitlyn Scherer broke the school's girls 800-meter run record at 2:21.85. … Bartram Trail goalie Maddie Stevens reached 300 career saves during the girls lacrosse district tournament against Creekside. … Former First Coast quarterback De'Andre Johnson (New Jersey Generals) and former Mandarin kicker Nick Vogel (Houston Gamblers) played in the opening week of USFL football. … Bishop Kenny's Cody Morgan and Palatka's Syler Prince received honorable mention on the Bassmaster High School All-State fishing team. … Former Bolles defensive end Stephen English, a starter on the 2002 state champion team and later a Florida football walk-on, was named to the annual 40 Gators under 40 list.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast Varsity Weekly: Atlantic Coast hoops hires Charlsea Clark
