New Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert aims to build the Demon Deacons back into a consistent winner

By Canadian Press on August 21, 2025.

Jake Dickert crossed the country to take over at Wake Forest, which has found regular success as a private university with one of the smallest power-conference enrollments.

“I came here because I believe that we can win,” Dickert said.

Dickert takes over in Winston-Salem after Dave Clawson unexpectedly stepped down to end an 11-year tenure. Dickert is only the fifth coach in 32 years at a school long patient for coaches to build out their system.

Dickert arrives from Washington State aiming to inject energy after Clawson’s last two teams won just eight games. Yet he also points out Wake Forest is the only one of the “Big Four” Atlantic Coast Conference teams in North Carolina to win a league title in four decades (2006).

Jim Grobe led that team, building a developmental system that consistently redshirted players to field older teams to offset the talent advantages of opponents with high-star recruits. Clawson leaned into a similar player-development emphasis, the biggest payoff coming in 2021 when the Demon Deacons cracked the top 10 nationally and reached the ACC title game.

Now Dickert, who turns 42 on Saturday, gets his shot. He signed 35 transfers, though more out of necessity than as an indicator of a long-term approach. This year’s team is picked to finish 16th in the 17-team ACC.

“There’s no short cut to success,” Dickert said. “We’ve been handed a 4-8 team that lost 18 starters. You don’t just change that overnight.”

Focus on Claiborne

Wake Forest’s offense will lean heavily on running back Demond Claiborne, a 5-foot-10, 195-pount senior who ran for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.

He also has expressed optimism for the offensive scheme, including moving on from Wake Forest’s usage of the “slow mesh” — which had the quarterback holding the ball in the gut of the running back for an extended period to confuse defenses before either completing the handoff or pulling the ball back to keep or throw.

“This offense allows me to get into space more and it allows us a lot of on 1-on-1 matchups,” Claiborne said.

Andersen’s return

Defensive back Nick Andersen is set to cap a long career that began with a splash as a freshman walk-on during the pandemic. He grabbed headlines with three interceptions against Virginia Tech in 2020, which helped land him a scholarship and even a segment on the “Good Morning America” TV show.

He’s entering his fifth playing year with eight career interceptions. He ranked seventh in the Bowl Subdivision ranks with 10.2 tackles per game last year.

“Hopefully there’s more to come,” he said, “but I’ve been very blessed by the opportunity Wake Forest has given me and the people I’ve surrounded myself with here. Wake will be my home forever.”

QB question

Questions abound at quarterback after Dickert brought in transfers in redshirt senior Robby Ashford — who’s had stops at Oregon, Auburn and South Carolina — and sophomore Deshawn Purdie from Charlotte.

Ashford started 11 games in the Southeastern Conference, with his most productive season coming in 2022 when he threw for 1,613 yards and seven touchdowns while also running for 710 yards and seven scores for Auburn. Purdie started six games as a 49ers freshman, throwing for 1,802 yards and 10 scores.

Dickert said Wednesday that the coaching staff will carry the decision into the weekend before likely naming a starter Monday.

The schedule

Dickert’s tenure opens with a Friday night visit from Kennesaw State (Aug. 29) in a run of four home-state games, including N.C. State’s visit for a Thursday night league opener (Sept. 11).

October could be tricky, with Wake Forest visiting Virginia Tech (Oct. 4), then making a cross-country nonconference trip to Oregon State (Oct. 11). There’s also a visit from ACC runner-up and 16th-ranked SMU (Oct. 25). Wake Forest closes at instate rival Duke (Nov. 29).

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Aaron Beard, The Associated Press