Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson resigns: Who will take over the Demon Deacons?

Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is stepping down to take an advisory role in the athletic department, the school announced Monday.

Clawson, 57, has been a head coach for all but one season since 1999, including at Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and Wake Forest. He was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator during the 2008 season.

Potential candidates for the Wake Forest job could include former West Virginia coach Neal Brown, James Madison head coach Bob Chesney, Washington State head coach Jake Dickert and Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White said about people informed of the situation.

As Wake Forest’s head coach since 2014, Clawson compiled a 67-69 record and reached seven straight bowl games from 2016 to 2022. The highlight of his tenure was an 11-3 record in 2021, capped by an ACC Championship Game appearance and a top-15 finish. It was the longest period of sustained success in the program’s history.

Since then, however, things have gone downhill. The Demon Deacons just completed their second straight 4-8 season.

Before Wake Forest, Clawson spent five years at Bowling Green, winning the MAC in his final season. Previously, he had a 29-20 record at FCS Richmond, winning two conference championships with two top-10 finishes. Clawson also posted a 29-29 record in five seasons at Fordham, from an 0-11 season in his debut season to a conference championship in his fourth year.

Wake Forest was a limited player in the name, image and likeness market compared to many of its competitors, particularly in football rather than basketball. Clawson expressed throughout the season that Wake Forest’s roster was the best it could afford.

Clawson’s teams also frequently relied on veteran leadership, a strategy that became more difficult in the transfer portal era. Wake remained competitive by building a team of developmental players who often peaked in their third, fourth or even fifth seasons with the program. Because of the relaxed transfer rules, these players often leave Winston-Salem when they are ready to contribute heavily. The Demon Deacons have lost numerous starters in recent years, most notably Kenneth Walker to Michigan State and quarterback Sam Hartman to Notre Dame.

“You were only with him for a few months. It can’t be love,” Clawson said of Notre Dame when Hartman ended his career in South Bend. “We are the ones who love him. We had five years with him. You rented it for a season. … When that (farewell) video played, I was like, ‘Holy cow, this is college football.'”

Clawson’s legacy

Clawson’s overall record leaves him well short of eligibility for the College Football Hall of Fame (.600 is the minimum winning percentage), but he was respected as a program builder who did a good job of winning in places where it traditionally wasn’t easy, to win. He is the only coach to win at least 10 games per season at four Division I programs.

That started with his first head coaching job at Fordham in the Bronx, where he took over a failing Division I-AA program and led it to its first NCAA playoff appearance in 2002. He then went to Richmond and led the Spiders to two playoff appearances in four years.

His career faltered when he left Richmond to become offensive coordinator at Tennessee in what turned out to be Phillip Fulmer’s final season as the Volunteers’ head coach.

After a successful stint at Bowling Green, Clawson took over the football program of the smallest power conference school and made seven consecutive bowl appearances. The Demon Deacons went 5-2 in those postseason games.

(Photo: Quinn Harris/Getty Images)