On July 1, 2021, the NCAA (National College Athletic Association) made a decision that would completely change the landscape of college sports forever: the introduction of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals for student athletes.
That same year, then Head Coach of Wake Forest Football Dave Clawson led his team to an 11-3 record and was named the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) Coach of the Year.
Just four years later, Dave Clawson is no longer coaching college football, and NIL has taken over college sports.
“I just looked at where the industry is right now, and I just felt like it was time,” Clawson said in an interview just days after he retired.
Soon after Clawson’s retirement, Wake Forest hired Jake Dickert from Washington State University. Dickert overhauled Wake Forest’s football program, bringing much of his coaching staff and team with him to Winston-Salem.
The landscape of college athletics is rapidly evolving. For four consecutive years, college football has broken its own record for the number of players who enter the transfer portal. This year’s total amassed 3,998 student-athletes. Players have more power to make demands than ever before. If a school cannot comply, athletes will simply leave to find a team that meets their requests. Wake Forest is changing the way athletics at this university operate to succeed in this new era of college sports.
“We’re now in the age of student athlete portability, which is amplified by revenue sharing,” John Currie, athletic director at Wake Forest, said. “You have to evolve your strategy.”
Poaching in the transfer portal
Former Wake Forest Basketball player Damari Monsanto transferred from Wake Forest to the University of Texas San Antonio, whose enrollment is over 30 thousand students, on a false NIL promise by their head basketball coach, which he wrote in a now-deleted post.
Players are being poached from their schools by other colleges and universities with the promise of lucrative NIL deals. Wake Forest, being a small private university, does not boast the same funding as a large public university might have.
That is where Wake Forest is evolving to compete.
“There’s a huge ability to manage information with analytics, data science, and AI,” Currie said. “We see that in baseball with our student analytics team, we take advantage of that and continue to look at ways to elevate and maximize how those kinds of intellect advantages can play out for us from a more competitive success standpoint.”
Wake Forest’s ability to analyze talent using analytics helps them target recruits in the transfer portal that might be regarded as under the radar.
In order to maintain competitive teams, Wake Forest has typically recruited through high schools. More recently, they’ve been looking towards the transfer portal for new talent.
“You’re either going to participate in it or you’re going to have to tailor your strategies to understand that other people are participating,” Currie said.
Wake Forest Football decided to participate. The team brought in 31 total transfer students, many coming from Washington State University. According to 247Sports, that recruiting class ranked 45th out of 134 teams across the country.
A team with chemistry and drive
“If you don’t believe, get out,” Dickert said in his first meeting with the football team.
Students, Demon Deacon fans and players alike are excited for this upcoming football season. The team will look a lot different from last season, but they believe.
Senior wide receiver Micah Mays Jr. stayed at Wake Forest after last season, which saw much of the team enter the transfer portal.
“There’s great opportunity here,” Mays Jr. said. “We’re in the ACC so we play good competition, we have good academics here too. I like good competition.”
Dickert has fostered a very competitive environment for his team. With a roster full of new players, Mays Jr. must compete to earn his spot in the lineup. However, the coaching staff is also making sure they build team chemistry.
“[The coaches] do a lot of team bonding so we can get together and get closer,” said Mays Jr.
Senior running back Demond Claiborne said in an April interview, “The vibe in the locker room has been tremendous.”
Dickert showcases high energy and relentless pursuit of improvement, something he hopes will rub off on his players.
“(You want to) build a program that can sustain,” Dickert said in his introductory press conference. “And when you get to that level, you’ve got to be willing to invest in the players.”
Dickert is only the third head coach of Wake Forest’s football program this century, and he comes after Clawson, one of the most successful football coaches in this university’s history.
Dickert will have a lot to prove this season, but the excitement among fans, players, coaches, and students is there.
“This is a new era of Wake Forest football,” Raymond said.
