Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson is stepping down after 11 seasons

Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is stepping down after 11 seasons with the Demon Deacons, the school announced Monday, ending one of the most successful tenures in program history.

Clawson, 57, posted a 67-69 overall record from 2016-22 with six winning seasons and seven consecutive bowl berths. Wake Forest has struggled to gain a foothold in the competitive ACC without adequate resources in terms of name, image and likeness, posting an overall record of 8-16 over the last two years.

In retirement, Clawson will serve as a special adviser to Athletics Director John Currie, the university said.

“Coaching at Wake Forest has been the honor of my career,” Clawson said in a statement. “This is a special place with extraordinary people, and I am deeply grateful for the relationships I have built over the last 11 years. Together we have achieved things that many thought were impossible and I step back knowing that I gave everything I had to the program and university.”

The seven bowl bids and five bowl victories are the most of any coach in program history. Wake set a school record with 11 wins and reached the ACC Championship Game in 2021, earning the Clawson ACC Coach of the Year award. This team rose to No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

He inherited a program in 2014 that had not posted a winning record since 2008 and had recorded just three winning seasons since 2003. Clawson’s 67 wins rank third in program history, 10 fewer than the record set by Peahead Walker (1937-50) and his predecessor Jim Grobe (2001-13).

This was the fourth rebuilding effort in a career that saw Clawson become the only coach in Division I history to win 10 or more games in a season at four different schools.

Clawson’s first team, hired at Fordham in 1999, posted an 0-11 record, but his last two teams finished with a 19-6 overall record and a Patriot League championship. In Richmond, Clawson went 3-8 in his debut starting in 2004, but went 11-3 in 2007 and reached the Championship Subdivision playoff semifinals.

At Bowling Green, his first stint in the Bowl Subdivision, Clawson went 32-31 overall but went 18-8 in his final two seasons, winning the MAC in 2013.

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