| Sherard Clinkscales |
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 | Position:
Associate AD for Sport Admin. & Student Services
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| Phone/Email:
919-515-1837/sherard_clinkscales@ncsu.edu
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Sherard Clinkscales joined the NC State Department of Athletics in July 2011 as an Associate Director of Athletics.
Clinkscales will provide oversight to multiple administrative units and sports, including strength and conditioning, sports medicine and student services. He also will serve as the departmental liaison to the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes (ASPSA) and will supervise the baseball, wrestling, and men and women's soccer programs. He is also a member of the Athletic Council.
Sherard is a graduate of Purdue University with a B.A. in history and comes to NC State after two years working for the NCAA at its main headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind. With the NCAA, he served as an assistant director of championships. In addition, he was chosen to serve on a number of internal committees, most notably the NCAA's hiring team and the Communication, Collaboration and Accountability (CCA) team.
The CCA committee was charged by NCAA President Mark Emmert to change the internal dynamics of the NCAA and promote more transparency, both internally and for the NCAA's member institutions. Clinkscales drafted and presented sport-specific legislation to the NCAA Championship Cabinets and Management Council, and also led the NCAA's Division III branding initiative throughout all championships.
As assistant director of championships, Clinkscales had direct oversight over seven different championships, including men's and women's soccer, women's lacrosse, national collegiate rifle and the men's hockey. He directed a staff of 35, and was charged with leading the individual sports committees during tournament selections, building relationships with external constituencies, creating new opportunities around championships, and managing a budget of roughly $500,000.
Clinkscales came to administration after a long and distinguished career as an athlete, coach and scout in college and professional baseball. A first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals, he played three seasons in the Royals minor league organization before injuries derailed his playing career. He quickly made the transition to scouting and worked in multiple capacities in a nine-year scouting career with the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays. Clinkscales left the professional ranks in 2006 and served as an assistant baseball coach at Notre Dame from 2006-09. Among his responsibilities with the Irish, he assisted in recruiting.
A record-setting strikeout ace at Purdue, Clinkscales was the 31st overall pick in the 1992 Major League draft, going to the Royals as a compensatory pick after the first round. The Royals also selected future big leaguers Michael Tucker, Jim Pittsley, Johnny Damon and Jon Lieber within the first 44 picks of the `92 draft.
After injuries cut short his playing career, Clinkscales parlayed his connections into a position with the Atlanta Braves as an area scouting supervisor (1997-99).The Indianapolis native later was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays assistant director of scouting (1999-2001) and returned to the Braves as an area scouting supervisor (2001-05) before being promoted to the position of professional scout in 2005-06.
As a player, Clinkscales emerged as one of the nation's top prospects as a junior at Purdue. The three-year starter compiled a 5.01 career ERA and 14-14 record in 41 appearances (36 starts), with 190 strikeouts and 38 more innings pitched (196) than hits allowed (158). His 14 complete games included three solo shutouts and a no-hitter. He still owns Purdue's top career strikeout average (8.72 K's/9 IP), ranks fourth in fewest hits allowed per 9.0 innings (7.26, best since `71) and eighth in strikeouts (190, most among three-year players).
His 1992 season ranks among the best ever at Purdue, as he tied team records for strikeouts (87) and complete games (9) while posting a 2.34 ERA, second-best in the school record book and tops in the past 40 years, which covers the aluminum-bat era. His 1992 strikeout average (9.71/9 IP) was best in Purdue history at the time and still ranks second, while his 6.0 hits allowed per 9.0 IP is best by a Purdue pitcher since the late 1960s (6th overall). He led longtime coach Dave Alexander's 1992 squad in ERA, strikeouts, wins (7), complete games and innings pitched (80.2). Following the season he earned ABCA all-region and first team All-Big Ten Conference honors.
After compiling similar seasons in 1990 (6.13, 4-6, 55 K's, 48 H in 61.2 IP), and 1991 (7.71, 3-4, 48 K's, 56 H, 53.2 IP), Clinkscales' breakout season earned him the second-most votes for 1992 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. He earlier was invited to attend tryouts for the 1991 United States National team.
The son of former minor-league baseball player Lester Clinkscales -- a lefthanded pitcher who reached Triple-A Indianapolis during an 11-year career in the White Sox organization -- the younger Clinkscales excelled at both baseball and basketball in high school and actually turned down Division I basketball scholarships to take a baseball grant-in-aid at Purdue.
While at Purdue, Clinkscales did walk on and play for Gene Keady's 1989-90 basketball team, which finished as Big Ten runner-up and lost to Texas in the NCAA Regionals. His teammate and roommate on the road was Matt Painter, now head coach of the Boilermakers.
Clinkscales' professional baseball career included stops with the Class A Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds and Rockford (Ill.) Royals before he was released in 1995. He had earlier returned to Purdue to complete his degree requirements and graduated in 1994 with a degree in history.
Clinkscales is the cofounder of After Sport Group, an organization that conducts on-campus career workshops for student-athletes.
He and his wife, the former Trisha Lashan Smith (a graduate of Ball State), were married in 1995 and are the parents of a son, Alex (12), and a daughter, Tara (11).
