The Clifford Award was established to honor former UND President Thomas J. Clifford and his long-time support of UND athletics. The Award recognizes UND alumni who serve as athletic coaches on the high school or college level and have been notably successful in their sport the year preceding the award.

1984    Robert H. Peters
1985    Eugene V. Murphy
1986    Mike Stromberg
1987    John (Gino) Gasparini
1988    Tom Petrik
1989    James E. Smith
1990    Richard A. Hanson
1991    Gerald “Jerry” Cool
1992    Steve Nunnink
1993    Gary Schuler
1994    Dick Vinger
1995    Gerhard Meidt
1996    Terry Hjelmstad
1997    Cary Eades
1998    Jim Gustafson
1999    Herschel “Pepper” Lysaker
2000    Herb Claffy
2001    DeWayne “Dewey” King
2002    Jay Gibson
2003    Chester “Chet” Stevenson
2004    Tarek Howard
2005    Dale Lennon
2006    Ron Bergh
2007    Dave Hakstol
2008    Mark Graupe
2009    Tony Couture
2010    Mike Marek
2011    Ben Jacobson
2012    Greg Winslow