Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson has resigned.
Wake Forest announced the decision Monday and confirmed multiple reports, including one from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. Clawson will remain at Wake Forest as a special advisor to athletics director John Currie.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the decision was Clawson’s, as he felt it was time to take action. According to the report, he will play an active role in fundraising in his advisory role.
“Coaching at Wake Forest has been the honor of my career,” Clawson said in Wake Forest’s announcement. “This is a special place with special people, and I am extremely grateful for the relationships I have built over the past eleven years.
“Together we have achieved things that many thought impossible, and I step away knowing that I gave everything I had to this program and this 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 after 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 consecutive bowl appearances and a No. 10 ranking in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Wake Forest had never previously been ranked in the top 10 and had not been ranked higher than 14th since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953.
Clawson was named ACC Coach of 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 past two seasons, amid the program’s struggles to retain talent, in part due to reported NIL restrictions that put it at a financial disadvantage compared to its peers.
Clawson steps down after coaching 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 elaborate on its plans to replace Clawson in its announcement Monday.
