“When I saw this job had opened up, my eyes lit up,” said Clark. “My wife’s eyes lit up and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be here not only at the university, but within the community. It’s an amazing place with amazing people, and I’m so excited to see what we can do for it.”

Clark was born and raised in Adelaide, Australia. He came to the United States after graduating high school to play basketball at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake. After graduating from the school, he earned degrees from Dickinson State University and Minot State University, where he spent time as an assistant coach.

His most recent coaching position was as head coach at Lake Region State College, where he compiled a record of 40-24 and his teams maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.35

His early priorities included meeting the team, and ensuring commits to the program remained committed after the coaching change.

Alex Courtney

“It’s exciting that the girls on the team have been great during this first week so far,” said Clark. “It’s been exciting just trying to build off of what we’ve got already.”

According to Clark, the Beavers have twelve young women returning from last year’s team, plus the additions of several commits.

“We had a scrimmage day yesterday, and our first kind of on-call workout today,” said Clark. “I’d say it’s a great group, and it’s not easy to go through a coaching change. For them to stick around and stay here says a lot about them, and says a lot about how much Minot State means to them as well.”

While Clark is excited to take the helm of a program, Courtney is just as excited for the opportunity to continue leading one, even with the “interim” tag attached. It’s a position Courtney has held since October of 2023, after previous head coach Alex Lehockey was put on administrative leave pending investigations into the program. Lehockey resigned in January of this year.

“We had a bit of a rough season last year,” said Courtney. “Moving out of that, this spring the focus has really been on just investing back into ourselves and not feeling the pressure of the win-loss record.”

Courtney has spent the time with the team this spring focusing on identifying the areas the team is weak in and working to strengthen those.

“Our focus at practice has been our teamwork, our team energy and our team culture. I think it’s paid off focusing on ourselves and not letting any of the outside pressures translate on the court,” said Courtney.

Courtney also praised the eight remaining players on the roster who have stuck with the program over the past several seasons.

“I have to give a shout out to the remaining eight that will return next year,” said Courtney. “Just sticking it out through everything and being really resilient, and really, just true to themselves and invested in the program. They have been wonderful this spring.”

Among those returning is Sydney Upton, a junior psychology major who played high school at Bishop Ryan.

“She’s such a great personality to have on the court. She’s a competitor at heart when she needs to be, and then she’ll come off the court and she’ll lighten the mood with a joke,” said Courtney.

Courtney first joined the Minot State staff in April of 2022 as an assistant coach.