Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson will step away from his position at the helm of the Demon Deacons, according to a Monday report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Clawson finished the 2024 season with a second straight 4-8 record, and Wake Forest has won three conference games over the past two seasons. He led the Demon Deacons to seven straight bowl appearances from 2016-22, including an 11-win season in 2021, but the program failed to find its footing since the transfer of longtime quarterback Sam Hartman.
“Clawson is expected to remain with the university in an advisory role,” Thamel wrote, “and the decision to step down was his.”
Clawson will end his 11-year tenure with a 67-69 record, the third-most wins in program history, and no other Wake Forest coach can match his five bowl victories.
The timing of this decision means his final game as head coach will be the Week 14 loss to Duke when [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] on the final play of the game, the final touch on a 14-point comeback.
Wake Forest becomes the second ACC school within the state to need a new head football coach. The North Carolina Tar Heels fired Mack Brown, the winningest coach in school history, after a 6-6 season, but UNC already found legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick to replace him.