Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson has resigned.
Wake Forest announced the decision on Monday, confirming multiple reports including from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. Clawson will remain with Wake Forest as a special adviser to athletic director John Currie.
Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the decision was Clawson’s as he felt like it was time to make a move. He’ll play an active role in fundraising in his advisory role, per the report.
“Coaching at Wake Forest has been the honor of my career,” Clawson said, per the Wake Forest announcement. “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.”
Clawson, 57, was the coach at Wake Forest for 11 seasons. He led the program to the most successful era in its history.
After five seasons as Bowling Green’s head coach, Clawson took over at Wake Forest in 2014 following five consecutive losing seasons for the Demon Deacons. After two 3-9 campaigns to start his tenure, Clawson led Wake Forest to six winning seasons in seven years through 2022.
The run included seven straight bowl appearances and a No. 10 ranking in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Wake Forest had previously never been ranked in the top 10 and hadn’t been ranked higher than 14th since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953.
Clawson was named ACC Coach on the Year in 2021 after an 11-3 season that included a trip to the ACC championship game and a win over Rutgers in the Gator Bowl.
Wake Forest finished 4-8 in each of the last two seasons amid the program’s struggles to retain talent in part due to reported NIL limitations that placed it at a financial disadvantage among its peers.
Clawson steps down having coached Wake Forest to a 67-69 record in his 11 seasons. Wake Forest went 5-2 in bowl games under Clawson. Wake Forest did not address its plans to replace Clawson in its announcement Monday.
