Clark Named MPCC Rodeo Team Coach

Mid-Plains Community College has a new rodeo team coach.

Wyatt Clark, of McCook, has been hired to lead the timed events, joining roughstock coach Aukai Kaai. Clark takes over the role of former MPCC rodeo team coach Garrett Nokes who passed away in February.

Originally from Wellfleet, Clark has spent more than 20 years competing in the rodeo arena. The sport, itself, has been part of his life for as long as he can remember.

Clark competed in calf roping, team roping and bareback riding in high school – earning the state championship in bareback riding as well as a National Little Britches Rodeo All-Around Cowboy title. After high school, in 2009, he headed to Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, Wyo. where his uncle, Jake Clark, is the rodeo team coach. It was there that Wyatt added saddle bronc riding to his list of events.

He qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo in bareback riding in 2010 as a freshman then was temporarily sidelined because of a shoulder injury.

After three years at EWC, Wyatt transferred to the University of Wyoming. He returned to the CNFR in the bareback riding in 2013 and finished fourth in the nation.

Wyatt made a final trip to the collegiate finals in bareback riding in 2014 – that time representing Chadron State College where he was pursuing a master’s degree in organizational management. Wyatt went on to spend two years as the assistant rodeo team coach at CSC.

He got his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association permit in 2009 and his card in 2015. In 2014, Wyatt qualified for the PRCA Permit Holder of the Year Challenge, finishing fourth in the bareback riding. He also ended up fourth in the bareback riding at the Chisholm Trail Ram Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo that same year.

While he continues to team rope at jackpots, Wyatt has left most of the professional competitions behind. He currently works as a vice president at First Central Bank McCook but stays involved with the rodeo world as a judge for the PRCA, National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, Mid-States Rodeo Association – and now as a coach for the MPCC Rodeo Team.