When news broke that UCF offensive line coach Shawn Clark had passed away suddenly at 50, it hit college football hard. This was a voice, a mentor, and a voice that carried in locker rooms from Boone to Orlando. Gone too soon. Now, his family faces the toughest opponent yet, and the people who loved him most are stepping up to help. And the effort is symbolic, tangible, heartfelt, and it’s spreading fast.
Pete Thamel of ESPN was among the first to amplify the message. On his X account on September 25, he wrote, “Friends of Shawn Clark have started a GoFund Me to ‘support the Clarks financially for their future.’ It is in support of his wife, Jonelle, and their two children.” A GoFund Me created by family friends Lauren and Justin Watts, alongside Jonelle, Shawn Clark’s wife. The goal is to help Jonelle and her two kids Braxton and Giana have a foundation for the future. In a sport where rivalries define Saturdays, this initiative reminds us that real wins come off the field. But the tributes don’t stop there.
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UCF will honor Shawn Clark’s legacy this weekend and for the rest of the season. Players will wear his initials on helmet decals, a small patch of remembrance on a game-day battlefield. For Scott Frost, who brought him onto his staff this offseason, the loss is personal. “From my standpoint, I just miss my friend,” Frost said. “He just had an energy and a spirit about him, one of my favorite guys I’ve ever been around and coached with.”
Scott Frost didn’t sugarcoat the heartbreak either. “The biggest thing is heartbreak for Jonelle, Braxton, and Giana,” he said. “I know Terry and UCF is going to do everything they can for them financially… All of us will be supportive in any way we can.” In football terms, it’s about covering your teammate’s blind spot. The HC and the Knights are making sure Shawn Clark’s family doesn’t get left behind. And that’s where the larger coaching fraternity comes in.
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A coaching tree that runs deep with Shawn Clark
Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz paused his weekly presser to acknowledge Shawn Clark. The two had shared the sidelines at Appalachian State in 2019, when he went 12–1 in his lone season in Boone. “I want to say that I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Shawn Clark,” he said. “When I first got to App State, we don’t have that type of season without Shawn Clark. Really the glue that held us together, bridging our culture with the championship culture that they had already established, and really being able to bridge that together.”
That “glue” was culture. Shawn Clark had lived it as a Mountaineer offensive lineman from 1994 to 1998 before climbing the coaching ranks. When he became head coach in 2020, he was carrying a legacy. And when he left for UCF, it was another chapter, another chance to mold young linemen into warriors. Now, with his sudden passing, the people he influenced are left with his lessons and a responsibility.
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The GoFundMe, the decals, the tributes. They’re reminders that in college football, a coach doesn’t just impact Saturdays. He builds men, shapes families, and leaves footprints long after the whistle. Shawn Clark did all of that, and more. And the story of how his friends, teammates, and coaching brothers rally around Jonelle, Braxton, and Giana, that may be the most important game plan of all.