
Dave Clawson Introductory Press Conference Quotes
12/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 10, 2013
Director of Athletics Ron Wellman's Opening Statement
When a position becomes open, we always develop a profile for our next coach, and in this case the profile was real simple. Number one, we wanted a head coach. We wanted someone who had been a head coach. Number two, we wanted someone who was a winner - who had head coaching experience but was also a winner. Number three, we wanted someone who had been at a private institution. There are differences when you're at a private institution versus a public institution, and that experience we want, so we established that as a priority. Number four, we wanted someone who we believed would understand the values and standards and ideals of Wake Forest University, and we found that man in Dave Clawson. We are here to introduce Dave and his family to you today. His wife is Catherine and his children are Eric and Courtney. So we welcome all of them to Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem as well.
There are some consistencies in Dave's head coaching experience. Number one, he's won at least 10 games in a year at every institution - Fordham, Richmond, and Bowling Green - and at every institution, he's won a conference championship. But at Wake Forest, it goes beyond that. We need someone who is not only a winner; we need someone who understands Wake Forest and understands the other area of importance at Wake Forest, and that is the academic area. If you look at his academic accomplishments, they are equally impressive. Any metric that you use, his metrics and results are outstanding. Whether it be the APR, the graduation rates, or the team GPA, all of them escalated dramatically under his tutelage. We have a winner leading our program now at Wake Forest University in Dave Clawson, and I am pleased to introduce him to you as our head football coach.
Wake Forest Head Football Coach Dave Clawson's Opening Statement
First of all, I just want to say I am absolutely thrilled, honored and humbled to be the new head football coach at Wake Forest University. The opportunity to coach at a nationally recognized, prestigious, academic school. It has a great campus, we're in a great conference (and) we have a beautiful stadium. The opportunity to live in such a beautiful part of the country is such a dream come true.
With the process, I want to thank Dr. Nathan Hatch. I want to thank Ron Wellman, just for their professionalism through the search. Initially, this job came open when we were in the middle of preparations for the MAC conference championship game. They were extremely professional and respectful of the position we were in at Bowling Green, wanting to wait until after the game was over until we had any discussions. I just thought that was the right thing to do. I owed the people at Bowling Green and our football team there the focus on winning the championship. Even after the game was over, we were going to meet the next day, and they allowed me another day to give me time to prepare.
I also want to thank Mike Buddie who was part of the interview process. He got to listen to 14 hours of football philosophy at our kitchen table. How he stayed awake I don't know, but he got to learn more about football than he probably ever wanted to. Yet he was very much a part of the process of wanting to come here.
When the position opened, I was really hoping that I could be a candidate for it. I think this is a special place. I think it's a special institution. Again, I'm very lucky to be able to be the head football coach here.
Another part of this process was just spending the time with Ron and certainly talking to people about his reputation in the field. He is respected as one of the very best athletic directors in the country. Everybody who ever knows Ron or who had ever worked with Ron uses the terms trustworthy, straight-shooter, reliable (and) dependable. All of those things that create a great working relationship and allow you to build a championship culture. That is one of the attractions to Wake Forest; the ability to learn and work with an athletic director that has the reputation of Ron Wellman. I really look forward to developing my relationship with him. I know that there's a lot that he'll be able to teach me, not just about the institution, but college athletics. I really look forward to that.
I really need to thank Bowling Green State University. The five years that we were able to spend there as a family was awesome. I want to thank Carol Cartwright and Greg Christopher, the president and the athletic director that hired me and believed in our vision for the program, even when the results weren't immediate. Our new president Mary Ellen Mazey was as supportive as a president could be. Our new athletic director Chris Kingston, we developed a very quick friendship and is going to do a great job there. The donors, the fans, the staff were nothing short of wonderful to us during our whole time there. And this is not a matter of wanting to leave a place, this is wanting to come to a place.
And I really need to thank the players of Bowling Green. We had a group of guys that bought in and did everything we asked and were able to win the first conference championship there in 21 years. I `m extremely grateful to all of them. I had a meeting with them today before we left, and that was an emotional meeting. Again, I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to come here. But it was gut-wrenching and heart-breaking to leave a group of players that I just fell in love with in the last five years.
I also really want to thank my family. This is a hard profession on families, and I'm very fortunate that I have a great partner, my best friend, the love of my life, Catherine, who is extremely supportive of what we do. I have two wonderful children in Courtney and Eric. Courtney, after meeting Mr. Wellman, got up the next morning and said, `If they offer you the job, you can take this one.' That's an important part of the process. It's also neat to share a moment like this with your parents, Ron and Sue Clawson, who are here. My entire family lives in the Charlotte area so it's very exciting for me to be close to family again.
I also want to acknowledge Coach Grobe. Certainly, in building the program at Richmond, one of the people I stole from was Coach Grobe. He proved that Wake Forest can win at a very high level in the ACC. He did it with class, he did it with dignity. He was certainly one of the most respected coaches in the profession. Certainly, replacing a man of his stature is a responsibility I don't take lightly. He's one of the truly class gentlemen in the coaching profession. At some point, I hope I have the opportunity to visit with Coach Grobe.
I really hope that I can make Wake Forest University very proud of Wake Forest football, not just on the field but off the field. We will have standards for our program in the classroom, outside the classroom and on the football field. I know if our players strive for those standards, our vision is to win championships here. When people say `what is your goal' I think if you set your goal any lower than being a champion, you're setting the standard too low. So our goal is to be champions. We know it's going to take a lot of work. We're going to have to get the right people on board, whether it's our staff, our recruiting efforts. But I believe wholeheartedly that can be done at Wake Forest. We will work relentlessly to that goal until it's accomplished.
I had a chance earlier today to meet the team, and that was an impressive meeting. They were an attentive group, an impressive group, and I can't wait to get back here when they get back on campus in January and build the program going forward. When you hire a head football coach, there are press conferences and you dress in a suit and you meet a lot of different people. But the heart and soul of the football program is the players. The part of the job I love the most is working with the players, getting to know them, and creating those relationships. It can't happen fast enough if we want to move this forward.
I feel this is a great opportunity. If you look at college football on a national scale, there are a lot of great academic schools that play high-level football. Stanford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt. You can combine great academics and be a great football program. The academics cannot be an excuse to not succeed. To me, it's a reason we will succeed. There is no reason that Wake Forest can't reach great heights as other great academic schools in this country have done. I can't wait to get out and sell Wake Forest football to recruits throughout North Carolina. I'm really excited to reconnect with the coaches in this state. This was a big recruiting area for us when I was at Richmond.
So again, I really look forward to rolling up my sleeves, going to work and making the Demon Deacons champions once again.