Wake Forest’s approach had been successful in turning a small, private university into a strong Atlantic Coast Conference competitor, even earning top-10 national rankings.
Last year was different.
The Demon Deacons struggled, finishing with only four wins, coming in last place in the ACC, and ending a seven-year streak of bowl games. Wake Forest is bringing back six starters on both offense and defense as they try to return to the steady method that worked well during Dave Clawson’s time as head coach.
Clawson, starting his 11th season, mentioned that the staff adjusted their offseason and spring preparations for a team that is predicted to finish 15th in the expanded 17-team ACC.
“When things are going well, you don’t want to mess with it,” Clawson said. “And then you have a thump and you go 4-8, and it makes you examine everything.
And maybe it isn’t what you did, but sometimes I think just to (say), ‘This is not acceptable.’ As the head coach, you’ve got to change things up. For me to not change anything would say everything we did was correct.”
Clawson’s teams have often performed better than preseason expectations, including making it to the league title game in 2021 after being picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Division. But last year was the biggest setback in what has been a steady improvement.
“When we all came in, this was a program that was going to bowl game after bowl game, winning season after winning season,” receiver Taylor Morin said. “Last year was an anomaly. It was definitely a little weird and we were humbled by that.”
