Wake Forest moved quickly to secure its new head coach.
According to the Athletic, the Demon Deacons are hiring Washington State coach Jake Dickert just days after Dave Clawson resigned. Clawson announced Monday that he is resigning as the team’s head coach after 11 seasons.
Washington State is 23-20 in three-plus seasons under Dickert. He took over midway through the 2021 season after coach Nick Rolovich was fired amid a protracted vaccine battle with the university. The Cougars have posted two winning seasons in Dickert’s three full seasons at the school and were 8-4 in 2024 during their first season in the college football wilderness.
Oregon State and Washington State essentially remained without a conference prior to the season, when 10 of the Pac-12 members found other conferences. Oregon State and Wazzu have constructed the “conference” portion of their schedule through an alliance with the Mountain West and are leading the way in an effort to rebuild the Pac-12 with an assortment of current Mountain West teams.
Washington State lost three straight games to end the season after an 8-1 start in 2024, even though the Cougars were one of the most entertaining teams in college football. Washington State scored nearly 37 points per game but gave up more than 28 points per game.
QB John Mateer led college football with 44 total touchdowns, though he too is leaving Washington State. Dickert announced on Monday that Mateer would enter the transfer portal.
Mateer’s decision to transfer comes after Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle was hired as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator. The turnover at Pullman could be indicative of Washington State’s troubled future at the highest level of college football, as the Cougars are no longer part of a power conference.
Wake Forest went 4-8 in 2024 for the second straight four-win season. The Demon Deacons won 11 games in 2021, but fell to 8-5 in 2022 before going 4-8 in 2023. In 11 seasons at Wake Forest, Clawson’s teams went 67-69 with seven bowl appearances. He came to Wake Forest after five years in charge at Bowling Green. The Falcons were 32-32 in his time there and went to three bowl games.
