Passing on His Passion

Brent has seen the daughter he coached as a youngster rewrite virtually every NCAA scoring record while taking the University of Iowa women’s basketball program to historic heights. Watching Caitlin perform her magic on the court and winning the hearts of fans across the nation has left him in grateful awe.

“Starting out in COVID and then coming to this point where you’re playing in front of sell-out crowds home and away is certainly humbling,” said Brent. “On the other end of it, it’s special — it’s spectacular.”

SPECTACULAR FROM THE START

Caitlin’s dominance in sports started from the moment she took the basketball court, softball diamond or soccer field as a five-year old. Coaching her in all those sports, Brent says it was clear early on that she was in a league of her own. Caitlin was an unstoppable scoring machine in both co-ed hoops and soccer — dribbling by the competition with remarkable ease.

“It finally got to the point where somebody said, ’Caitlin, you’ve got to pass to your teammates,” said Brent. “So maybe that’s where her passing skills started. But at the time, Caitlin was like, ’Why do I want to do that when I can just score every time?’ She certainly had a feistiness even at that age.”

Brent continued to coach Caitlin until about fourth grade, when she started ascending in club competition enroute to her remarkable career at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines. She left high school as the #4 scorer in Iowa history, setting the stage for far greater glory in college.

DAD HAS GAME, TOO

While jaw-dropping performances are the norm for Caitlin, Brent also turned heads with his stellar play back in the day. The Simpson Athletics Hall-of-Famer was an all-conference performer in both basketball and baseball. His hometown college has always been close to his heart.

In his early days, Brent spent a lot of time on Simpson’s campus, where his mom, Carole, worked for many years as an administrative assistant. He says he attended many football and basketball games, getting to know and idolizing the players. And though he originally had hoped to play NCAA Division I basketball, Brent ultimately landed at Simpson as good fortune fell into place.

“The best thing that ever happened was that my high school baseball coach, John Sirianni, became the athletic director and baseball coach at Simpson. So, it just became a natural transition for me.”

HOOP HEROICS, DIAMOND GEMS

Many of Brent’s Simpson contemporaries contend that he was actually most impressive as a baseball player. Sirianni, who led his teams to five conference crowns in 22 seasons, including one in 1987 with Clark patrolling center field, says Clark was indeed one-of-a-kind.

“I can go through all 22 years of the kids I coached, and we had some really good ones,” said Sirianni, a member of Simpson’s Coaches Hall-of-Fame. “But Brent’s speed, his arm strength, his ability to go catch a ball, his ability to play anywhere in the field, and his overall competitiveness puts him clearly at the top of the list.”

On the hardcourt, Brent — most certainly like Caitlin — was never afraid to dial up a shot from downtown — and he connected on a lot of them. In fact, Brent led the nation in three-point field goal percentage during his junior year.

“Out of all the guys I coached, he probably had the best range of any of them,” said Simpson Hall-of-Fame Coach Bruce Wilson, who led the team for 25 seasons. “It was effortless for him. He would pull up from the 24-foot hashmark and shoot. It was one of those things where I’m yelling, ’No, no, no… oh yeah, good shot!’”

COMPETITIVE FIRE AND SEEDS OF MATURITY

Beyond their shared love for shooting threes, Brent sees other competitive similarities between him and Caitlin — especially in terms of their passion for the game.

“I was a pretty emotional player,” said Brent. “I even recall fights in a couple of games. I wasn’t the instigator, but the competitive juices just flow. Caitlin and I see a lot of me in her in that way, but I think she does a much better job of controlling her emotion. She’s got fire, but she has the presence of mind not to react when someone says something or does something to her. I wish I had a little bit more of that maturity when I was at Simpson.”

But there were seeds of maturity planted in Brent during his Simpson days, most notably through the example of Coach Sirianni. Brent recalls how Sirianni would invite players to join him at Catholic Mass during baseball road trips. Though Brent chose not to go, it left a lasting impression on him — a significant influence on the strong Catholic faith he cherishes today.

“That was an impactful thing, even though I wasn’t comfortable with it. There was just that element of his faith and the way he was as a father. He was such a great leader — always super positive.”

WINNING WITH PURPOSE

Boasting a career filled with highlight reel performances, Brent most treasures his Simpson education. Today, he’s making a global impact with his degree in international management and business. As executive vice president of Concentric International — a Ruan company that sells ag/industrial components — he oversees all operation areas while doing business with companies in China, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as a few European countries.

“Even though I went to college in my hometown, Simpson just felt like it was a different world within that space. It gave me the ability to think and write and made me more well-rounded as an individual with skills I’ve had to use a lot in my career.”

For all his professional success, Brent says it’s his faith and family that matters most to him. His wife, Anne, a multi-sport athlete herself at Dowling Catholic, enjoyed a thriving career as a marketing executive and now oversees day-to-day elements of the Caitlin Clark Foundation.

Brent and Anne’s oldest child, Blake, played football at Iowa State, where he was a four-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection. He earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering and works at Chevronin Ames. Their son, Colin, meanwhile, starred in basketball and track and field in high school and is completing his first year at Creighton University, where he intends to major in one of the medical sciences.

Always rooting for each other, the Clark family has rallied around Caitlin for every step of her incredible journey. Brent is soaking it all in while remaining focused on letting Caitlin shine alone in her spotlight.

“I get a little teary-eyed thinking about the thank you card Caitlin wrote me about a year ago telling me that she appreciates my selflessness. That’s something I really wasn’t in college or high school. I’m very intentional about keeping a lower profile. This is her moment.”

Her moments just keep getting bigger. After leading Iowa to its second consecutive NCAA Championship game, Caitlin joined the Indiana Fever as the #1 pick overall in the WNBA draft. And when this story went to press, she was also competing for a roster spot on Team USA for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Brent hopes her journey is really just beginning.

“I couldn’t be prouder of Caitlin. She handles the attention with such grace and poise. Her impact is difficult to measure, but it’s generational, notable and real. My advice to her is simple — stay humble, stay hungry.”