New CFP director desired to walk in footsteps of Texas A&M President Mark Welsh

DALLAS, Texas (KBTX) – When Rich Clark was assigned in 2005 to the Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, he stepped outside his house and noticed his new neighbor watering the lawn.

That new neighbor already knew Clark’s name and called him over to chat, budding a friendship, and mentorship, that would last into the present.

Wednesday, Clark, a retired lieutenant general in the Air Force, represented the College Football Playoff at the Southeastern Conference Media Days for the first time as executive director of the postseason organization. He owes some of the inspiration for taking the job to that friendly neighbor hydrating his plants — retired General Mark Welsh, the current president of Texas A&M.

“A lot of generals, after you retire, you go into industry,” Clark said. “There are things that are sort of a natural follow-on after you retire, but [Welsh] took a different path. And, frankly, I want to be like him. He’s the role model. And I was like, ‘OK, I think that’s what I want to do. I want to do something different. Something that I can love and have a good sense of purpose about every day.’ And that’s sort of what veered me to a different path.”

Clark was named to his current position last month, after completing a 38-year career in the Air Force, replacing the organization’s first executive director Bill Hancock. A year earlier, Hancock announced his intent to retire after the 2023-24 season.

Clark was slated to serve on the CFP committee beginning this year, but ultimately became a candidate for the director role.

“Rich Clark is a great human being!” Welsh said in a statement provided to KBTX. “He was a tremendous football player at Air Force and a great, great leader for our Air Force! He and [his wife] Amy bring a touch of class to every organization they represent. Rich will bring incredible energy, enthusiasm and common sense to the job. He’ll also bring a commitment to people and performance that will make everyone associated with CFP very proud.”

Initially, Clark said he intended to become a university president, following in the footsteps of Welsh. The Air Force alumnus, and former Falcon defensive lineman, finished his career as the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy.

“He’s just a remarkable leader,” Clark said of Welsh. “I don’t know any better, honestly. And I was, frankly, following in his footsteps. I was trying to become a university president. When I got called to put my name in the hat for CFP — once I got this job, there was nothing better, nothing else I wanted to do.”

A search firm asked if Clark would be willing to put his name in the hat for the CFP job and he accepted, believing he was a “dark horse candidate.” After three interviews, the job was his.

Both men have had to usher in new eras with their respective employers. In March, Welsh hired new A&M athletic director Trev Alberts, with the change in leadership as a shift in itself. Alberts brought business expertise to Aggieland to help the athletic department navigate a new reality the settlement from the House vs. NCAA brings. The settlement creates the dawn of revenue sharing in college athletics and the abolition of scholarship limits, among other changes.

Welsh took over as interim president of A&M in July of 2023, after serving as the dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. The interim tag was removed in December of 2023.

Clark will steward the playoff into the 12-team era after the event featured only four teams since its inception in 2014.

“It’s going to do great things,” Clark said of the new playoff format. “The first thing is that opens the door. It is access to so many teams — 134 FBS teams have the opportunity now to compete on the field for a national championship. The game is not going to be decided by a committee. It’s not going to be decided by polls. It’s going to be decided on the field and that’s very exciting.”

While in the Air Force, Clark served three combat tours as a command pilot earning awards such as the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In more than 4,200 flight hours and 400 combat hours, Clark flew aircraft such as the B-1, EC-135, KC-135, T-1, T-38, T-6 and C-21. In sticking with his love for sports, Clark said he never turned down the opportunity to perform a flyover before a sporting event.

With all that experience and leadership demonstrated on his own, he still said he continues to learn how to be a leader from the current president of A&M. It started with that friendly conversation on Welsh’s front lawn, building a relationship with the new colonel on the base.

“He’s the kind of leader that knows everybody in his chain of command and understands their story and actually cares about them from top to bottom,” Clark said. “From the custodial worker in the building all the way up to the three-star general that works for him, he looks at them, treats them like actual human beings and values them, their families. I have never met someone that cares as much about their people and then inspires them to do the mission.”