Mike Clark embarks on his 18th NFL season after joining the Lions as the team's director of sports performance in 2021. His career accolades include being a three-time NFL Strength Coach of the Year (2006, 2010, 2024), being inducted into the 2003 USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame as a coach, winning the 1998 Big 12 Conference Strength Coach of the Year, being inducted into the University of Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996 and being named the College National Strength Coach of the Year in 1993.
From 2019-20, Clark served as the director of performance programming with the U.S. Air Force Special Warfare at the Lackland Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Clark's most recent coaching position before joining the Lions was as the director of football strength and performance at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas while also coaching the defensive line during his time there (2017-19).
He leads Detroit's strength and conditioning efforts along with the team's nutrition program. Under the direction of Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell, Clark and the performance staff create comprehensive, individualized training programs so players can achieve high success. Clark was part of a 2023 coaching staff that was the club's third coaching staff in team history to win multiple playoff games, and the first coaching staff to do so since 1957. Clark's work was also key to helping Detroit clinch their first Division Championship since 1993 and advance to their first NFC Championship since 1991.
Before joining Trinity in 2017, Clark served as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Football Team (2015-16), strength and conditioning coordinator for the Chicago Bears (2013-14), and the head strength and conditioning coach for the Kansas City Chiefs (2010-12) and Seattle Seahawks (2004-09).
In his NFL experience, he helped his teams capture six division championships, helped the Seattle Seahawks reach Super Bowl XL, and helped guide RB Shaun Alexander to NFL MVP honors in 2005.
Before joining the NFL ranks in 2004, Clark spent the 1990-2003 seasons with Texas A&M. He served as the Aggies' head strength and conditioning coordinator from 1990-1999 before becoming the team's assistant athletic director of athletic performance from 2000-03. Clark worked with Campbell as a student-athlete at the school from 1995-98.
Before joining the Texas A&M staff, Clark was the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Southern California (1988-1990), the University of Oregon (1983-1988), the University of Kansas (1982-1983), and the University of Wyoming (1981-1982). His first coaching positions were as an assistant football coach and the head swimming coach at Topeka (Kan.) High School from 1979-1981.
Additionally, Clark taught training techniques and strategies for sustained high performance of elite soldiers of the U.S. Army's 275th 2nd Ranger Division in 2011. He also served as the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association's (CSCCA) president in 2001 and is a certified USA Weightlifting Level 1 coach.
He played center on the Ottawa (Kan.) football team and graduated with a degree in physical education in 1977.
Clark has been married to his wife, Kris, for 42 years. They have three adult children, Matthew, Joseph, and Alicia.
