ALLARD TO LEAD CARLSBAD
He’s been an assistant at power Torrey Pines under Olive for past seven years
Basketball is a family affair for Clark Allard.
His father is a coach. His wife, Sara, is the girls basketball coach at Pacific Ridge. His brother Clint is an assistant coach on Eric Olen’s staff at UC San Diego.
Finally, after seven years as an assistant on John Olive’s staff at Torrey Pines, Allard, 33, has a program of his own after being named boys varsity basketball coach at Carlsbad. He succeeds the man who hired him, Sam Eshelman, who stepped down in July to become the school’s athletic director.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Allard said. “This is 100 percent a great opportunity. Carlsbad is one of the top public school jobs in San Diego.”
Allard played at Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose, earned a BS in business administration from Cal Poly and a master’s degree in coaching and administration from Concordia University in Irvine.
“Clark is a student of the game, a guy who attacks film study and relates to his players,” Eshelman said. “He had a great mentor at Torrey Pines in John Olive. It’s time Clark had a program of his own.”
Carlsbad was 80-48 in four years under Eshelman.
Torrey Pines is 69-1 in the last seven years of league play. The one loss was to Carlsbad in 2019.
“I know all about Carlsbad basketball,” Allard said. “There is tremendous pride in the program.
The student support is awesome. And the facility is among the best in the county.”
Carlsbad was 24-9 last season, losing to No. 1-seeded Santa Fe Christian in the San Diego Section Division I championship game after beating Montgomery, Mission Hills and El Camino.
The JV team was 16-9.
The Lancers return 6-foot-6 Caleb Nelson, guard Toby Harris and a number of valuable role players from that team. Kai Burdick, a 6-10 post player, also returns, but Burdick is an outstanding baseball player and may have to choose between the two sports since basketball and baseball are in the same season in 2021.
“Caleb has a chance to be special, but we have some really good pieces around him,” Allard said. “I’m so looking forward to running
my own program with these kids.
“I’ve learned a lot from Kelly Peters (coaching associate with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers), Eric Olen and Kyle Bankhead (an assistant coach at UNC Greensboro).
“And, of course, I married a coach.”
The biggest inf luence on Allard was Olive.
“Working for John Olive was a blessing every day,” Allard said. “He threw me into the system from the first day, gave me responsibility, gave me freedom, gave me the confidence to run a program. He kept my passion for the game alive. “I’m ready to get started.” With only two seasons of play this school year instead of three, the first day of basketball is March 3.