Virginia Tech has strong interest in Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson to be the next head Hokie, sources told FootballScoop on Wednesday.
Clawson is an established and well-traveled head coach, still in the prime of his career at 54 years old.
Now in his 22nd season as a head coach, Clawson's 49-46 career record belies his actual success. He went 0-11 in his first year at Fordham and went 19-6 in his last two seasons. He went 3-8 in his first season at Richmond, in 2004, and had the Spiders in the FCS semifinals by 2007.
After a one year detour as Tennessee's offensive coordinator in 2009, Clawson took the Bowling Green job in 2009 and had the Falcons in the MAC title game by 2013. At Wake Forest, Clawson went 3-9 in his first two seasons and has reached a bowl game all six seasons since.
The 2021 campaign represents his pinnacle thus far. His Demon Deacons are 9-1, ranked No. 10 in the country, and one win shy of clinching their second ACC Atlantic Division championship.
Clawson's team can end Clemson's run of six straight ACC title games on Clemson's turf this Saturday.
In the event Wake loses Saturday, the Deacons can clinch the division with a win Nov. 27 at Boston College. And though it remains a long shot, Wake Forest has not been eliminated from College Football Playoff contention either.
Because of that, a deal would not be expected to come together until following the ACC championship game on Dec. 4.
Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock is looking to restore a one-time ACC power that has fallen off in recent years. Virginia Tech played in five of the first seven ACC title games but has appeared only once since 2011. The outgoing Justin Fuente's record over the past two seasons sits at 10-11, at a program that won at least 10 games annually all but twice from 1999 through 2011.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.