After a couple of weeks of quiet speculation, it has been reported that it is official. Dave Clawson is stepping down as head football coach at Wake Forest. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report. Last Word has confirmed with sources that it was completely Clawson’s decision to walk away from the head coaching job.
Clawson is expected to stay with the university in an administrative role under athletic director John Currie. There is no confirmable information as to when Currie knew about Clawson’s decision.
The school issued a statement in Clawson’s name Monday afternoon. “Coaching at Wake Forest has been the honor of my career,” Dave Clawson said. “This is a special place with extraordinary people, and I am deeply grateful for the relationships I’ve built over the last 11 years. Together, we achieved things that many thought impossible, and I step down knowing I gave everything I had for this program and University.”
Wake Forest will utilize the services of a search firm to help find the new head coach. A short list has already been put together.
Dave Clawson Steps Down at Wake Forest
There had been quiet rumors over the last two weeks of the season. But once it got to the point of being a couple of weeks after the season, it was assumed Clawson would return. He leaves Wake Forest after 11 seasons. Clawson has a 67-69 overall record and a 32-55 record in the ACC. His peak was the 2021 season when the Demon Deacons finished 7-1 in conference play and won the Atlantic Conference title. They were beaten by Pitt in the ACC championship game but won the Gator Bowl. Clawson’s bowl record at Wake Forest was 5-2.
The Demon Deacons have struggled the last two seasons going 4-8 overall each year. They were 1-7 in conference play in 2023 and 2-6 in 2024.
Clawson’s Resume
Prior to Wake Forest, Clawson spent five years at Bowling Green where he had a 23-17 overall record and a 32-31 record in the Mid-American Conference. He coached the Richmond Spiders for four years from 2004-2007, compiling a 29-20 overall record and an 18-14 conference record.
Clawson started his head coaching career at Fordham in 1999. He coached there through the 2003 season, compiling a 29-29 overall record with a 16-17 conference record. He took the Rams to the NCAA 1-AA quarterfinals in 2002.
The Youngstown, New York native played defensive back at Williams College from 1985-1988. He would frequently joke during his Wake Forest tenure that the only reason he played Division 3 college football was because there was no Division 4.
The Bigger Picture
Clawson is on the Board of Trustees for the American Football Coaches Association. He has been outspoken with his views on the current state of college football, the transfer portal, NIL, collectives, and the calendar under which it all happens. He has been a vocal advocate for players making money and having the ability to leave but talked about the amount of illegal player tampering that goes on from schools with relation to the transfer portal.
Wake has struggled to keep up financially with the donor-drive collectives that other schools use as pay-for-play with athletes. Wake is the smallest of the Power Four schools and thus has the smallest alumni donor base.
Next
Clawson reiterated those challenges several times during the season. When his defensive secondary was struggling in the middle of the season, Clawson told the media that they were doing the best they could but that getting better players out of the portal proved to be too expensive based on the funds they had. After repeating it for weeks, the administration started putting an associate athletic director in Clawson’s weekly press conferences.
A search for a new head coach will begin immediately. Clawson was estimated to be making a little more than $4 million per year. That would put him near the bottom half of the ACC coaches. Wake Forest, like all schools across the country, will be using revenue sharing as part of its financial plan for athletes. That should help close the gap with other schools, but only by a little, as they will all have similar assets. The ability to get an established big-name FBS coach could prove to be elusive.
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