Dave Clawson
Followed Jim Grobe. Dave Clawson moved Wake Forest from Regional Program II to National Program III in 11 seasons.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached National Program in his 13th career season — faster than 2% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #662 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
1–4 against his rivals. Winless in 11 tries against Dabo Swinney.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
4th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Jim Grobe (2001–2013) · succeeded by Jake Dickert (2025–2026).
| Season | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 3–9 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 4–5 | 11–3 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 4–8 | |
| Postseason | — | — | W bowl | W CFP | W bowl | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #67 | #51 | #57 | #68 | #64 | #57 | #60 | #66 | #71 | #53 | #52 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||||||
| Pass rate | 50.1 | 50.0 | 39.8 | 44.2 | 41.4 | 44.5 | 45.1 | 47.9 | 48.6 | 40.7 | 48.0 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||||
| OC | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | Warren Ruggiero | |
| DC | Mike Elko | Mike Elko | Mike Elko | Jay Sawvel | Jay Sawvel | Lyle Hemphill | Lyle Hemphill | Lyle Hemphill | Brad Lambert | Brad Lambert | Brad Lambert | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||||
| Offense | 0 | 9 | 7 | 83 | 57 | 29 | 60 | 84 | 70 | 15 | 15 | |
| Defense | 67 | 45 | 79 | 43 | 42 | 42 | 50 | 37 | 19 | 19 | 21 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 50.2 | 48.4 | 44.4 | 50.0 | 46.1 | 44.2 | 37.4 | 48.5 | 50.5 | 38.4 | 45.0 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 50.0 | 42.9 | 34.5 | 42.7 | 35.8 | 38.0 | 35.7 | 38.5 | 38.6 | 39.2 | 46.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 35.3 | 20.6 | 22.0 | 28.6 | 40.9 | 30.6 | 32.3 | 29.3 | 45.0 | 31.0 | 42.9 | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
16 NFL Draft picks: Michael Campanaro (2014), Kevin Johnson (2015), Marquel Lee (2017), Jessie Bates III (2018), Duke Ejiofor (2018), Phil Haynes (2019), Justin Strnad (2020), Justin Herron (2020) + 8 more
9th-best Bowling Green tenure of 14 by the numbers.
Followed Gregg Brandon (2003–2008) · succeeded by Dino Babers (2014–2015).
1 NFL Draft pick: Christopher Jones (2013)