When Richard Clark arrived at the Air Force Academy as a football recruit in the fall of 1982, he never could have dreamed that he would end up serving his country in uniform for four decades, that he would achieve the rank of lieutenant general, or that he would one day make history as the academy’s first Black superintendent.

“I can’t believe it. I never even imagined it,” Clark reflected.

“I didn’t grow up in a military family. I came here because I got recruited to play football. I wanted to be a pilot; I was actually thinking more (along the lines of) airline pilot because that was what I’d always dreamt of. But then the (Air Force) coach came to my house, talked to my parents, and my Mom said, ‘Just go. It’s free.’ So I came, and when I saw the place, I was like, ‘This is it.’”

Now, as he prepares to retire from the Air Force, Clark faces a number of personal and professional challenges, including walking away from the organization that has been in his blood for nearly three-quarters of his life, finding work that energizes him in a similar way, and learning to live as a civilian for the first time since he was a teen.

On the professional front, Clark has been tapped to serve as College Football Playoff’s executive director. The former Air Force Falcons linebacker replaces retiring director Bill Hancock.

Clark may not have grown up in a military family, but he and his wife, Amy, have fashioned one of their own. His son, Milo, and daughter, Zoey, are ROTC cadets at Harvard University. Milo will commission as an Air Force 2^nd lieutenant about a week before Clark retires.

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my family, and especially my wife, Amy,” he said. “This is all she has known for 26 years, and I couldn’t have done this without her support.”

Clark spoke with The Gazette about his tenure as Air Force Academy superintendent, his new job with the College Football playoff, as well as his hopes for his own future, and that of the Air Force.

Do you believe the Air Force is a better, stronger organization now than when you joined? 

I will say it’s a different organization now than when I joined. We were doing different things back then. When I joined, it was the Cold War — Strategic Air Command, nuclear alerts — that was the focus. We evolved into the War on Terror after 9/11, and that was really the focus for the middle part of my career. Better and stronger? That’s hard to say, but we are definitely different. And now we are re-optimizing for great-power competition against our peer competitors, namely China and Russia.

At the Air Force Academy, we’ve been preparing for future conflict for a long time, but now that the Air Force has taken that on as a primary challenge for us, I think we’re going to adjust and make sure that we’re in lockstep with the Air Force and the Space Force.

What do you see as the Air Force’s biggest challenge in coming years? 

It’s a different kind of war that we’re preparing for now. Coming out of the global war on terror, the type of adversary we’re going to have to face is totally different. After doing something for so long, it just takes a major effort to prepare yourself for that next conflict that we’re going to be facing. It’s going to take some time, and it’s going to be difficult. Change is hard, but we have to do it. We don’t have a choice. That’s what the country expects of us, and preparing for that next war is our job.

Is there anything you wish you had done better, or any business you consider unfinished? 

Well, I wish we had finished the chapel. (Laughs.) The way I look at it, it’s hard to finish things here because we’re constantly evolving. We just had a visit from former (superintendents). We toured them around, and we briefed them on the things that have changed since their time here at the Air Force Academy. You go back two or three sups, and there are things that they started, that we’re just now finishing.

The institution is constantly evolving. I don’t think any superintendent ever comes out of here and says, “OK, I got done everything I wanted to get done, and we’re good.” I don’t think that’s ever been the case. Every sup has to pick up where the last one left off, and keep going. That’s what I did, and that’s what the next superintendent will do as well.

What will you miss most about the academy? 

I will miss the cadets, the staff, and the coaches. The cadets are just so energetic. They are just amazing, and I love being around them. When I’m around the cadets, it gets my energy up. Their anticipation about the future, their excitement about what they’re gonna do, the energy they bring to everything they do — it’s contagious.

The faculty and the staff and the coaches bring the passion. Everybody here is very passionate about the mission: Developing leaders for the Air Force and Space Force. That’s also contagious. When everybody around you is committed fully to what they’re doing, and they’re passionate about it, you can’t help but catch that bug too.

So I get that energy from the cadets, I get that passion and commitment from the staff and faculty. It keeps me going every day, and I’m gonna miss that. I don’t know if I’ll see that in the civilian world or not — I hope so — but I know that it’s something that I had here, and I’ll miss it.

What will you miss most about the military? 

The idea of serving with people that have the same commitment, people that are focused on something bigger than themselves, is something that I’ll miss. It’s why I stayed in for 38 years — because of the people.

The people here (at the academy) are special for sure, but I’ll miss the people in the Air Force and in the military overall.

What can the academy do to attract more female cadets and cadets of color? 

We’re working hard on that. We’re working hard to just attract the best talent across the board, but if we’re not reaching to every corner, every demographic in our country, then we’re missing some talent. So we have to reach more women, people of color.

What we’ve done is concentrated on specific areas of the country, and on specific demographics, just as applicants. We bring them in as applicants, and after that, it’s merit-based.

We have to make it so that people see this as a place where they can thrive, no matter who they are. So seeing other cadets succeed — other women, other people of color, whoever they might be — if someone can see themselves succeeding here, then they’re more likely to come. So, in this case, I think success leads to success.

But the ultimate goal is to just bring the best America has to offer. The best across the board. That’s what we need. That’s what our Air Force and Space Force demand.

What I want people to understand is that we’re not doing it just for the sake of diversity, or to build a more diverse force. We’re doing it so we can actually serve America in a better way, and pull that talent from everywhere. We don’t want to leave out anyone that’s a potential asset to our country. It’s important that we get this right, and we’ll keep working on it.

How would you like your tenure as superintendent to be remembered? 

 As a wild success! (Laughs.) I would like people to look at me as the example of a leader that they would want to follow. I hope I hit that mark. I know I didn’t always hit it, but I hope that I hit it most of the time.

I also hope I’ll be remembered as someone that changed the culture and kept us relevant, and prepared us for the future that our cadets are gonna face in their service.

I had three priorities. The first was to continue to develop leaders of character for the Air Force and the Space Force. The second was to prepare us for future conflict. The third was to cultivate a culture of dignity and respect for all.

If people look back and say that I was a leader of character, a person who was forward-looking, and a person who displayed dignity and respect, that’s something I want to be remembered for as a leader, but also as someone who continued to grow the culture here. Because other superintendents have done those kinds of things, but I hope that I took us to another level in those spaces.

 Do you anticipate any challenges transitioning to life as a civilian for the first time in nearly 40 years?

 Actually, if you count my four years as a cadet, it’s been 42 years since I was a civilian.

Picking out my clothes every day is gonna be hard. I don’t know how that’s going to go, and my wife says that I’m not skilled in that department.

I’m really excited about the team that I’ll be joining with the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. I’ve met them, and they are passionate about what they do. That was something that I was worried about. I worried that I wouldn’t have a job that would give me the purpose that I have in the Air Force. I feel very fortunate that I’m going to be doing something with a purpose.

It’ll be a different purpose, though. Whether I realized it or not, every day for 42 years, it’s been my job to support and defend the Constitution. That’s been my purpose, and now I’ve got to find it somewhere else.

Also, almost everyone that I work with now is in the military. When I go to my next job, I’ll be working people — not just my team, but there’s gonna be a lot of external partners with different motivations, and their purpose is going to be different. I need to learn how to understand those people’s motivations. That’s going to be different.

But it’s time. I’ve been in a long time. It’s time for me to go, so other people can come in and do great things for our country. I’ll miss it, but it’s definitely time.

What was your first thought when the College Football Playoff contacted you about being executive director? 

It was totally unexpected. When they contacted me, it was a search firm, and they asked me if I would consider putting my name in the hat. I was a very late add, and they told me that I was kind of a long-shot candidate. They said they wanted a more non-traditional candidate in the mix. There were 12 or 13 people that were going through the first round of interviews. So I said, “Yeah, of course I’ll do it.” And I did.

Then, when they narrowed down to three candidates, I thought, “I actually have a shot at this.” When they offered me the job, it was really disbelief.

I have so much gratitude for the people who helped me — really, people who have helped me my whole life — but who helped me prepare for this. The people I used as references, the people who looked over my resume — there were just a lot of folks that were very helpful to me, and I feel blessed to have the opportunity.

The playoff committee took a lot of heat this past season for leaving Florida State out of its final four despite the fact that they were undefeated. Do you think the committee got it right?

I do. I think I got it right. In fact, I sat in on the selection process. I was just a fly on the wall; I couldn’t vote. But I sat in, and the discussions were amazing. The night before the final selections, they were in the room until two in the morning, and then they got back up and met again at eight in the morning. They were determined to get it right.

It was a hard one. It was a tough, tough choice. But they stayed true to their charter, which is to pick the best four teams.

It made me more excited to join the organization. They didn’t let politics get into it, they didn’t let personal biases get into it. They just made their choices.

They knew they were going to take heat for it. They knew some people were gonna freak out. But in the end, they made the right call. And honestly, the way the playoffs went, I think they were vindicated.

How close are we, as a nation, to it being commonplace to have persons of color in influential positions — in sports, business, education, the military, etc.?

I absolutely think we’re not there yet. But we have made such huge progress. I mean here I am — the first Black superintendent of the Air Force Academy. I don’t think it entered anyone’s mind to not choose me — or to choose me — based on the color of my skin. I think they picked me because of my experience.

We just had Gen. (Charles) Brown, our first Chief of Staff of the Air Force. It had nothing to do with his color; it had everything to do with what he brought to the table and the leadership that he has displayed throughout his career. Now, he’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

So I think we’re definitely moving in the right direction. I think there are still pockets of people that haven’t moved along, and you can’t expect everyone to move at the same pace. So we just have to keep moving, and I think eventually we’ll get more people on board so that this can actually be how we run our country: Having the right person in the seat, based on their talent, and not on the color of their skin.

That’s what our Academy is trying to do: To bring the right people here so that people know that it doesn’t matter what you look like.

And that goes both ways. We’re not going to pick someone to come into the academy just because they’re a person of color. They’ve got to bring the skill, and the talent. Same goes with gender. We’re not going to bring someone in just because they come from an underrepresented group.

Our country is moving in the right direction. In the Air Force, I see more people of color in higher ranks than I ever saw when I was a young officer, and more women as well. It’s progress, and it’s notable. But there’s no doubt in my mind that we still have work to do.