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List of Wake Forest Demon Deacons head football coaches

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The Wake Forest Demon Deacons college football team represents Wake Forest University in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Demon Deacons compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 32 head coaches since it began play during the 1888 season. Since December 2024, Jake Dickert has served as head coach at Wake Forest.

Six coaches have led Wake Forest in postseason bowl games: Peahead Walker, John Mackovic, Bill Dooley, Jim Caldwell, Jim Grobe, and Clawson. Two of those coaches also won conference championships: Cal Stoll and Grobe each captured one as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Peahead Walker is the leader in games won and seasons coached with 77 wins in his 14 years as head coach each. Hank Garrity has the highest winning percentage at 0.722. Bill Hildebrand has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.175.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason
No. Order of coaches GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 W. C. Dowd 1888 1 1 0 0 1.000 — — — — — — — — — —
2 W. C. Riddick 1888–1889 6 3 3 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — — —
3 E. Walter Sikes 1891–1893 9 6 2 1 0.722 — — — — — — — — — —
4 A. P. Hall Jr. 1908 5 1 4 0 0.200 — — — — — — — — — —
5 A. T. Myers 1909 6 2 4 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Reddy Rowe 1910 9 2 7 0 0.222 — — — — — — — — — —
7 Frank Thompson 1911–1913 24 5 19 0 0.208 — — — — — — — — — —
8 Wilbur C. Smith 1914–1915 16 6 10 0 0.375 — — — — — — — — — —
9 G. M. Billings 1916 6 3 3 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — — —
10 E. T. MacDonnell 1917 8 1 6 1 0.188 — — — — — — — — — —
11 Harry Rabenhorst 1918–1919 11 3 8 0 0.273 — — — — — — — — — —
12 James L. White 1920–1921 19 4 15 0 0.211 — — — — — — — — — —
13 George Levene 1922 10 3 5 2 0.400 — — — — — — — — — —
14 Hank Garrity 1923–1925 27 19 7 1 0.722 — — — — — — — — — —
15 James A. Baldwin 1926–1927 20 7 10 3 0.425 — — — — — — — — — —
16 Stan Cofall 1928 10 2 6 2 0.300 — — — — — — — — — —
17 Pat Miller 1929–1932 37 18 15 4 0.541 — — — — — — — — — —
18 Jim Weaver 1933–1936 33 10 23 1 0.309 2 3 0 0.400 — — — 0 — —
19 Peahead Walker 1937–1950 134 77 51 6 0.597 53 33 5 0.610 1 1 0 0 — —
20 Tom Rogers 1951–1955 50 21 25 4 0.460 16 14 2 0.531 0 0 0 0 — —
21 Paul Amen 1956–1959 40 11 26 3 0.313 7 19 1 0.278 0 0 0 0 — —
22 Bill Hildebrand 1960–1963 40 7 33 0 0.175 6 21 0 0.222 0 0 0 0 — —
23 Bill Tate 1964–1968 50 17 32 1 0.350 13 18 1 0.422 0 0 0 0 — —
24 Cal Stoll 1969–1971 32 15 17 0 0.469 9 9 0 0.500 0 0 0 1 — —
25 Tom Harper 1972 11 2 9 0 0.182 1 5 0 0.167 0 0 0 0 — —
26 Chuck Mills 1973–1977 55 11 43 1 0.209 6 23 1 0.217 0 0 0 0 — —
27 John Mackovic 1978–1980 34 14 20 0 0.412 6 11 0 0.353 0 1 0 0 — —
28 Al Groh 1981–1986 66 26 40 0 0.394 8 32 0 0.200 0 0 0 0 — —
29 Bill Dooley 1987–1992 67 29 36 2 0.448 14 29 0 0.326 1 0 0 0 — —
30 Jim Caldwell 1993–2000 89 26 63 0 0.292 12 52 0 0.188 1 0 0 0 — —
31 Jim Grobe 2001–2013 159 77 82 — 0.484 42 62 — 0.404 3 2 — 1 — AP College Football COY (2006)
Bobby Dodd COY (2006)
Sporting News COY (2006)
32 Dave Clawson 2014–2024 136 67 69 — 0.493 32 55 — 0.368 5 2 — 0 — —
33 Jake Dickert 2025–present 0 0 0 — – 0 0 — – 0 0 — 0 — —

Notes

  1. Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.
  2. A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.
  4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.
  5. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. Wake Forest did not have a head coach for the 1895 season.
  7. Wake Forest did not field teams for the 1890, 1894, or 1896–1907 seasons.

References

  1. "Wake Forest hires Washington State's Jake Dickert as new coach". ESPN.com. December 18, 2024. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  2. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons head football coaches
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