By Mark Pszonak
The NCAA has countless issues on their plate nowadays. One of them re-emerged this week when Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson decided to step down. He joined other coaches, such as Nick Saban, Chris Petersen and Jeff Hafley, whose frustration with the direction of the sport they love drove them away.
Sources: Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is stepping down from his head coaching position, sources told ESPN. Clawson is expected to remain with the university in an advisory role, and the decision to step down was his. pic.twitter.com/Pi0NQ7wvBH
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 16, 2024
Wake Forest is a challenging job, but Coach Clawson brought success to Winston-Salem. During his 11 seasons he took the Demon Deacons to seven bowls. The program has only been to 17 bowls in their 117-year history and seven came during Clawson’s tenure.
However, the last two seasons were disappointing, with Wake Forest finishing a combined 8-16. Can a connection be made between the sudden importance of NIL and the transfer portal with Wake’s struggles? I believe so. Wake is a small private school (enrollment of 9,000) that doesn’t have the same financial capabilities that the mega-state schools or historically successful private schools possess. And that makes competing in 2024 extremely difficult.
During his press conference yesterday, Coach Clawson discussed the current status of the program:
“I think the future of Wake Forest football is very bright. I’ve made no secret the last two years have been frustrating. I think it’s gonna be a rebuilding job. Please be patient with whoever is the new coach like you all were with me. This is a new era.”
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That new coach is Jake Dickert from Washington State, which Wake Forest announced this morning.
Join us in welcoming the newest member of the Demon Deacon family, @CoachDickert!
📰: https://t.co/NMf4ORa4U9#GoDeacs 🎩 pic.twitter.com/23Yr8NHqNM
— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) December 18, 2024
Coach Dickert faced similar financial struggles at Washington State so he won’t be surprised with what is coming his way. But just because he understands the situation, does not mean that he will be able to thrive in it. Only time will tell if Coach Dickert will be able to navigate the new muddy NCAA waters at Wake Forest.
In the meantime, the sport has lost another good coach because of these muddy waters. Good coaches help the direction of the sport, but instead more and more are leaving. And as usual nothing will be done by the NCAA to change this pattern.
Instead, everyone will sit around and wait to see who gives up next.
