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Northwood football coach J.C. Clarke, who guided the Timberwolves to consecutive CIF-SS titles and a CIF State championship game, has resigned and shifted to be the team’s defensive coordinator for new coach Erik Terry, the coaches announced.
Terry, the former Irvine head coach, and Clarke were assistants under the late Terry Henigan at Irvine in the late 1990s.
“Erik will do a great job and I get to continue coaching, which I love,” Clarke said. “I believe we will be much better with both of us coaching.”
In his first season in 2021, Clarke guided Northwood to the CIF-SS Division 11 title.
The next season, Clarke led the Timberwolves to CIF-SS Division 8 and CIF SoCal Regional Division 4-AA championships. Northwood reached its first state final and lost at Escalon 28-7.
After Northwood missed the playoffs in 2023, the team bounced back this fall to finish 9-3. The Timberwolves reached the Division 6 quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Murrieta Mesa 19-10.
Clarke finished with a 36-17 record at Northwood. His coaching career spans 50 years.
Terry resigned at Irvine after the 2018 season. He then coached at Mission College Prep in San Luis Obispo.
“(This past fall) was the first season in 30 years I have not coached and I realized how much I missed it,” said Terry, a co-athletic director at Northwood. “When J.C. Clarke started talking about a step back, it seemed to make sense for me and Northwood.”
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