Holly Schroth, a Management Consultant and Senior

¶ … Holly Schroth, a management consultant and senior lecturer at the Haas School of Business and Management, describes the management style of Coach Jack Clark. Clark is the coach for the University of California's rugby team, and, under his leadership the team has won 21 national championships in the past 25 years. The article focuses on different aspects of Clark's leadership. The first part focuses on his leadership and development of the team under normal circumstances. The second part focuses on how Clark dealt with this team being downgraded from varsity to dub status as a result of budget cuts, which talks about how he leads in crises.

Clark was an athlete who attended the University of California as a football player. Like many football players, he played rugby at the end of football season, and fell in love with the sport. He played some professional football, and some professional rugby, but his career as a professional athlete ended early; he was knifed and then shot several times, while trying to protect a stranger from some assailants. Clark changed his focus to business, going to work at Xerox, but did not give up on fitness; he ran a 10K race within a year of his assault. He also began working as the assistant rugby coach at the University of California while still at Xerox. When he became the head coach, his salary was a nominal $1 per year. For years, Clark pursued success in the business world and rugby, and then eventually transitioned to a full-time career as a rugby coach. Clark's leadership inspires his staff and his players. He sets clear expectations for his team members, develops leadership in all of his team members, gives constant performance improvement to his players through assessment and feedback, does not confuse his team for a family, and manages the team dynamics by acknowledging that not every person is naturally a team player but can still contribute to the team. According to Clark, the team is not a family, instead membership is conditional, and this is an important lesson for people who confuse work with a non-work relationship. Finally, the article looks at how Clark dealt with unexpected budget-related challenges. Five teams were cut, and, because of Title IX proportionality requirements, Clark had to ensure that the two women's sports teams were reinstated as well as worrying about getting rugby reinstated. He was able to raise enough funds to save rugby and the two women's programs.

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