Adam Hicks named Head Coach for Clarke Football
DUBUQUE, Iowa – Clarke University Athletics and Director of Athletics Curt Long would like to announce the elevation of Adam Hicks, officially naming him the second head coach in the history of the Pride football program.
Working as the top assistant and defensive coordinator for Clarke football since the inception of the program from its first season in 2019 through the first four seasons of NAIA competition, Hicks will now take over the head coaching role officially, effective immediately.
"Adam has been with us from the program's beginning and has proven his knowledge of the game," Long said. "His rapport with our student-athletes is exceptional and I look forward to seeing him take our young program forward."
"I'm excited," Hick said. "I've been preparing myself for an opportunity like this for the last couple of years and I'm fortunate enough that I'm able to stay at a place like Clarke under the leadership of Athletic Director Curt Long, Vice President of Student Life Kate Zanger, and Interim President Fletcher Lamkin. I'm extremely grateful for our administration believing in me to take over this program."
Hicks will be stepping into the head coaching position as Clarke's first head coach, Miguel Regalado accepted the head coach position at Baker University, where he was the offensive coordinator before being tasked to start the program at Clarke.
On the defensive side of the ball under Hicks' coordination, the 2022 season saw the Pride set new single season marks in total yards allowed (328.3), rush yards allowed (112.2), and point per game against (26.7) on their way to a 3-8 record while posting their first ever shutout in a 3-0 win over Central Methodist on Sept. 10 and three other occasions of holding their opponent under 20 points.
The Pride also set a new team mark for interceptions in a season with 14 on the season while also recovering 12 fumbles on defense for a total of 26 takeaways for the 2022 season.
A standout defensive performance despite a loss came in the 2022 season finale at Grand View where Clarke's defense held the No. 2 Vikings to just 342 yards of total offense and turned the Vikings over three times with 23 of their 39 points coming either from defensive scores or on short fields starting inside of the Clarke 30 yard line as GVU came into that game averaging over 42 points per game and over 440 total yards per game.
"Being here from the beginning is definitely going to help," Hicks said. "Laying the foundation alongside Coach Regalado is going to be a tremendous asset for me. I'm going to tell our guys that even though there's change, the foundation is set, I was part of that foundation, not much is going to change and we're going to continue moving forward."
Before joining Clarke's staff, Hicks was at the University of Missouri, where he most recently was the recruiting coordinator for the Tigers and Head Coach Barry Odom. He joined the Mizzou Tigers in 2015 as a defensive analyst working with the linebackers and served as the Inside linebackers coach during the 2017 Season. Mizzou's 2015 defense finished in the top 10 nationally in total defense, scoring defense and pass defense. In 2017, the Tigers finished the season with six straight wins and a berth in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl.
Prior to Mizzou, Hicks spent three seasons (2012-2014) at the University of Memphis with Head Coach Justin Fuente. In 2012, the staff inherited a program that had won five games in three years, and in the third season with Fuente's staff the Memphis Tigers won 10 games including an American Athletic Conference Championship and a double OT win over BYU in the Miami Beach Bowl. The 2014 Tigers defense ranked fifth nationally in points allowed (17.1 avg.) and 22nd in total defense (343.3 avg.) in the regular season.
A native of South Fulton, Tenn., Hicks started his coaching career at the University of Mississippi serving as a quality control coach for the secondary under Head Coach Houston Nutt.
Hicks earned his bachelor's degree in sport management from the University of Tennessee in 2009 and completed his master of science degree in health and sport sciences in 2015 from the University of Memphis.
"We have a good challenge ahead of us this upcoming season," Hicks said. "We have to build on some positive things we did at the beginning of the season last year and just continue slowly building this program into what we know it can be here."