Rhodes College Athletics

Mike Clary returns to Rhodes to serve as the interim Golf Coach for the 2025-26 season.

Prior to retiring in May, 2023, Mike served for 44 years as a member of the athletics staff.

In 2014, Rhodes captured the college’s first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship. Entering the championship as the eighth-ranked team in the country, Rhodes led the tournament wire-to-wire to win by 24 strokes.

In 2016, entering the NCAA tournament ranked No. 1 in the country, Rhodes captured its second National Championship, becoming only the second NCAA Division III women’s team to win multiple NCAA titles. In the third round the Lynx shot a team score of 294, a new NCAA Division III Championship record.

In 2017, Rhodes captured their third NCAA Division III National Championship. Trailing by four shots entering the final round and by seven shots with nine holes to play, the Lynx played great golf down the stretch to win by two shots.  Junior Nikki  Isaacson finished as the individual national runnerup.  After winning their third national championship in four years, Clary was named WGCA National Coach of the Year.

The Lynx won three consecutive Southern Athletic Association championships from 2014-16. Rhodes captured the 2019 Southern Athletic Association Championship earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The Lynx placed sixth, led by senior Emily Salamy's third place individual finish. Clary was named to the 2016 Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame. 

During Coach Clary’s 26 years as the Director of Athletics, the number of student-athletes competing in varsity athletics tripled. Rhodes also consistently ranked among conference leaders in the number of athletes earning Academic Honor Roll, while ranking at the top of the conference in overall athletic success. 

Mike served as Rhodes head football coach from 1984-96 and is the all-time winningest coach in Rhodes history. From 1985-90 the Lynx compiled a 43-9-3 record, which ranked Rhodes in the top ten in NCAA Division III in winning percentage and as the winningest college football program in Tennessee. Clary’s teams won two College Athletic Conference championships and one Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship, and the 1988 team participated in the NCAA Division III national playoffs. 

Clary also served as the men’s head track and field coach from 1980-90 and the 1990 Lynx team captured the College Athletic Conference Championship. In addition, Clary served as the head swimming and diving coach from 2003-05. 

Clary is a 1977 graduate of Rhodes where he majored in biology. He was a three-year starter for the Lynx in football and also played on the 1977 golf team which captured the College Athletic Conference Championship. Mike and his wife Nancy have two children, Brian and Julie, who are both Rhodes graduates.