.jpg&height=300&type=webp)
From the Quad
3/8/2024 3:52:00 PM | General
Presented by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
Happy #WFFriday Deacon Nation!
In just a few short hours, we'll have a packed David F. Couch Ballpark as the top-ranked Demon Deacons host No. 12 Duke in the marquee baseball series of the college baseball weekend! Tickets can be purchased for as low as $10 – and it's cheaper to buy online before you arrive at the ticket office window than when you arrive at the ballpark! Tonight's game features a pair of projected MLB First Round Draft picks as Duke's Jonathan Santucci will toe rubber against our ace lefthander Josh Hartle. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra. Also this afternoon, Coach Tony Bresky's No. 4-ranked men's tennis team hosts No. 28 Georgia Tech! Admissions is free if you want to stop by before heading to Coach Ballpark or you can watch the matches on Playsight or follow along with live results here.
While these events commence what will be an exciting weekend in DEACTOWN, we have had several big moments over the past two weeks that began on Feb. 24 when Thomas Kitchell won an ACC Championship in the men's shot put at the league's indoor meet! The senior thrower is set to compete this weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Elsewhere around Wake Forest Athletics, Coach Jeff Wyshner's women's tennis squad opened the spring conference season with a weekend sweep a week ago over Louisville and Notre Dame. Meanwhile, our aforementioned men's tennis team downed Virginia Tech in Blacksburg last Sunday and took the defending NCAA Champion Virginia Cavaliers to the wire a week ago. On the diamond, our No. 1 Diamond Deacs won three games last weekend and downed Georgetown on Tuesday in a midweek contest to move to 11-1. Not to be outdone, our golf programs recorded some good performances at the Wake Forest Invite at Pinehurst and Darius Rucker Intercollegiate earlier this week. Additionally, Coach Kim Lewellen's squad is right back at it in Augusta, Ga. this week and you can follow along with all the details here!
With all that said, nothing beats Tournament Time on Tobacco Road, as we're gearing up for a seismic regular season finale inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum tomorrow against the Clemson Tigers at 6 p.m. With the ACC Tournament in our nation's capital next week, Coach Steve Forbes's team has continued to battle and are in the hunt for a top-six finish and their second postseason berth in the last three years. Through dedication, hard work and tremendous effort, Coach Forbes, his staff and our student-athletes have brought winning basketball and "meaningful games in March" back to Winston-Salem with the last three years marking the best run of sustained Deacon success since the legendary Chris Paul donned the Old Gold & Black.
There is so much to celebrate from our team this season, which includes incredible triumphs over No. 8 Duke, a tough home win over Florida in the SEC/ACC Challenge, and sizable home victories over Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia.
It was great to see the Joel Coliseum awakening continue as we recorded the largest crowd in Joel Coliseum history on Feb. 24 when we welcomed 14,744 fans, including our top student crowd since at least 2008 that included 3,100 Screamin' Demons! Additionally, we have averaged over 10,500 fans in attendance across our nine home conference games, which is about 500 more than a season ago! Those passionate crowds helped fuel our student-athletes to those aforementioned big-time wins and Wake Forest now holds an impressive 46-6 record at home since the start of the 2021-22 season including a 15-1 mark this season. The Demon Deacons overall wins since the start of the 2021-22 season rank tied for second in the country and leads the ACC.
You can still make plans to join us for tomorrow's game – with tickets beginning at just $30. Grab a neighbor to be inside LJVM Coliseum tomorrow and we can't wait to have the Winston-Salem community back next year as we strive to improve upon the Best Fan Experience in North Carolina. Speaking of coming together to cheer on the Deacs, limited full tournament ticket books are still available for sale from Wake Forest for the ACC Tournament next week in Washington, D.C.! Join us at the Crimson Whiskey Bar from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13 and throughout the week before, during and after the Demon Deacons play as it is located a convenient three-minute walk from Capital One Arena. Additionally, the Wake Washington Center (One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 420) will be hosting an ACC Tourney Open House from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on March 13-15. Come learn more about the Center, take a tour, and take some swag home!
Milestone Reached in Baity Street Area Redevelopment Efforts
Earlier this week on Monday evening, the Winston-Salem City Council approved the receipt of $35 million in state funding that will go towards targeted infrastructure enhancements necessary to support economic development. Located in the Baity Street area, north of Coliseum Drive and south of Reynolds Boulevard, the redevelopment effort will reinforce Winston-Salem's position as a tourism, sports and entertainment destination. Carter and Front Street Capital, the development team for the project, will implement these funds as part of the first phase of the redevelopment.
First announced in August 2023, Wake Forest, the City of Winston Salem and Carter/Front Street Capital are collaborating to develop a transformative vision for a lively mixed-use development in an area of the city that draws more than 750,000 visitors per year. The team is evaluating the addition of new retail, restaurant, experiential and residential uses that will benefit residents, students and visitors alike.
I want to echo the statement that was shared by President Susan R. Wente after this news on Monday. We are grateful to the City Council for their continued support of a thriving community where people can live, work, play and stay. This initial infrastructure work is a big step toward ensuring the area between Reynolds Boulevard and Coliseum Drive meets the needs of our Winston-Salem community.
Wake Forest Announces Child Care Center Plans for September
Speaking of bringing Value to Wake Forest, Winston-Salem & Triad Communities, the University recently announced that it has selected KinderCare Learning Companies to operate a child care and early education center located in the University Corporate Center. "KinderCare at Wake Forest University" will primarily serve the families of Wake Forest faculty, staff and students, but it will be open for community enrollment, where spaces are available. Additional information can be found here! I want to take a quick moment to thank President Susan R. Wente and her leadership team at Wake Forest for pushing this process forward as it will be a huge value-add to our community.
NCAA News & Notes - Name, Image & Likeness & Future of College Football Playoff
While there continues to be a myriad of news stories around the future of college athletics, our focus remains on taking advantage of current opportunities to support our 425+ student-athletes as we strive to provide them a World Class Student-Athlete Experience. One perfect example of this includes Wake Forest student-athletes being in the new EA Sports College Football game that will come out this fall!
Our staff has worked with EA Sports so that fans around the world will be able to play as the Demon Deacons in the upcoming 'College Football' franchise. It was fun to see wide receiver Taylor Morin, who is pursuing his MBA and has already earned an undergraduate degree, selected to be a featured athlete in the announcement of the new game. With that said, the work EA Sports is doing to provide over 10,000 college student-athletes opportunities to benefit directly from their name, image and likeness is a tremendous lift and we're proud to report that our entire football team has signed on to participate.
Speaking of football, there have been many media stories about the future of the College Football Playoff following various meetings that include ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. It is important to remember that an expanded playoff means greater access to all FBS programs, including Wake Forest, as we would have made an expanded field in 2021 and been in the hunt all season long in 2022! With a 12-team playoff format in place for this fall, don't miss out on cheering on Coach Dave Clawson's team this fall inside Allegacy Stadium.
Finally, before we move on, NCAA President Charlie Baker recently penned a letter to all member institutions where he announced that the Division I Board of Directors has directed NCAA enforcement staff to pause and not begin investigations involving third-party participation in NIL-related activities. Our University leadership has been monitoring this situation very closely and we will continue to ensure that Wake Forest will maximize its opportunities within the rules and regulations set forth by the ACC and NCAA as we move forward.
North Carolina Rescinds Initial State Order Guiding NIL for NC Universities
With that in mind, I want to share the press release from earlier today where the state of North Carolina repealed its Name, Image, Likeness Executive Order. As I quoted in that announcement, intercollegiate athletics is an integral element of the higher education experience for thousands of student-athletes and dozens of institutions and communities across the State of North Carolina. On behalf of Wake Forest Athletics, we appreciate our state leadership's engagement as the Name, Image & Likeness landscape has continued to evolve since July 1, 2021. Wake Forest Athletics is proud to be a leader in providing a competitive NIL infrastructure as a component of our commitment to providing a World Class Student-Athlete Experience for our 425+ student-athletes.
Closing the Book on 2023-34 Women's Basketball
Our women's basketball program showed tremendous heart, competing all season long against one of the most difficult schedules in the country and logging late-season road victories at Pitt and Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, I was so proud to see our team beat Virginia on Wednesday and advance in the ACC Tournament for the fifth-straight season. Coach Megan Gebbia's squad hit the fourth-most threes in program history and finished near the top of our record books from the free-throw line too. I continue to hear so many positive comments from our community, fans and alumni about the leadership of Coach Gebbia and her staff. I know the win total will climb for Demon Deacons women's hoops as we build towards a team that contends annually in the ACC and NCAA.
Speaking of the road ahead, the ACC announced future home and away opponents for both our hoops programs! Check out the women's 2024-25 & 2025-26 schedules here and the men's schedule for next season through this link.
From the Quad Big 3
Before we close, here are today's Big 3 ways to help the Deacs:
Go Deacs!
John Currie
Director of Athletics
Happy #WFFriday Deacon Nation!
In just a few short hours, we'll have a packed David F. Couch Ballpark as the top-ranked Demon Deacons host No. 12 Duke in the marquee baseball series of the college baseball weekend! Tickets can be purchased for as low as $10 – and it's cheaper to buy online before you arrive at the ticket office window than when you arrive at the ballpark! Tonight's game features a pair of projected MLB First Round Draft picks as Duke's Jonathan Santucci will toe rubber against our ace lefthander Josh Hartle. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra. Also this afternoon, Coach Tony Bresky's No. 4-ranked men's tennis team hosts No. 28 Georgia Tech! Admissions is free if you want to stop by before heading to Coach Ballpark or you can watch the matches on Playsight or follow along with live results here.
While these events commence what will be an exciting weekend in DEACTOWN, we have had several big moments over the past two weeks that began on Feb. 24 when Thomas Kitchell won an ACC Championship in the men's shot put at the league's indoor meet! The senior thrower is set to compete this weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Elsewhere around Wake Forest Athletics, Coach Jeff Wyshner's women's tennis squad opened the spring conference season with a weekend sweep a week ago over Louisville and Notre Dame. Meanwhile, our aforementioned men's tennis team downed Virginia Tech in Blacksburg last Sunday and took the defending NCAA Champion Virginia Cavaliers to the wire a week ago. On the diamond, our No. 1 Diamond Deacs won three games last weekend and downed Georgetown on Tuesday in a midweek contest to move to 11-1. Not to be outdone, our golf programs recorded some good performances at the Wake Forest Invite at Pinehurst and Darius Rucker Intercollegiate earlier this week. Additionally, Coach Kim Lewellen's squad is right back at it in Augusta, Ga. this week and you can follow along with all the details here!
With all that said, nothing beats Tournament Time on Tobacco Road, as we're gearing up for a seismic regular season finale inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum tomorrow against the Clemson Tigers at 6 p.m. With the ACC Tournament in our nation's capital next week, Coach Steve Forbes's team has continued to battle and are in the hunt for a top-six finish and their second postseason berth in the last three years. Through dedication, hard work and tremendous effort, Coach Forbes, his staff and our student-athletes have brought winning basketball and "meaningful games in March" back to Winston-Salem with the last three years marking the best run of sustained Deacon success since the legendary Chris Paul donned the Old Gold & Black.
There is so much to celebrate from our team this season, which includes incredible triumphs over No. 8 Duke, a tough home win over Florida in the SEC/ACC Challenge, and sizable home victories over Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia.
It was great to see the Joel Coliseum awakening continue as we recorded the largest crowd in Joel Coliseum history on Feb. 24 when we welcomed 14,744 fans, including our top student crowd since at least 2008 that included 3,100 Screamin' Demons! Additionally, we have averaged over 10,500 fans in attendance across our nine home conference games, which is about 500 more than a season ago! Those passionate crowds helped fuel our student-athletes to those aforementioned big-time wins and Wake Forest now holds an impressive 46-6 record at home since the start of the 2021-22 season including a 15-1 mark this season. The Demon Deacons overall wins since the start of the 2021-22 season rank tied for second in the country and leads the ACC.
You can still make plans to join us for tomorrow's game – with tickets beginning at just $30. Grab a neighbor to be inside LJVM Coliseum tomorrow and we can't wait to have the Winston-Salem community back next year as we strive to improve upon the Best Fan Experience in North Carolina. Speaking of coming together to cheer on the Deacs, limited full tournament ticket books are still available for sale from Wake Forest for the ACC Tournament next week in Washington, D.C.! Join us at the Crimson Whiskey Bar from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13 and throughout the week before, during and after the Demon Deacons play as it is located a convenient three-minute walk from Capital One Arena. Additionally, the Wake Washington Center (One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 420) will be hosting an ACC Tourney Open House from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on March 13-15. Come learn more about the Center, take a tour, and take some swag home!
Milestone Reached in Baity Street Area Redevelopment Efforts
Earlier this week on Monday evening, the Winston-Salem City Council approved the receipt of $35 million in state funding that will go towards targeted infrastructure enhancements necessary to support economic development. Located in the Baity Street area, north of Coliseum Drive and south of Reynolds Boulevard, the redevelopment effort will reinforce Winston-Salem's position as a tourism, sports and entertainment destination. Carter and Front Street Capital, the development team for the project, will implement these funds as part of the first phase of the redevelopment.
First announced in August 2023, Wake Forest, the City of Winston Salem and Carter/Front Street Capital are collaborating to develop a transformative vision for a lively mixed-use development in an area of the city that draws more than 750,000 visitors per year. The team is evaluating the addition of new retail, restaurant, experiential and residential uses that will benefit residents, students and visitors alike.
I want to echo the statement that was shared by President Susan R. Wente after this news on Monday. We are grateful to the City Council for their continued support of a thriving community where people can live, work, play and stay. This initial infrastructure work is a big step toward ensuring the area between Reynolds Boulevard and Coliseum Drive meets the needs of our Winston-Salem community.
Wake Forest Announces Child Care Center Plans for September
Speaking of bringing Value to Wake Forest, Winston-Salem & Triad Communities, the University recently announced that it has selected KinderCare Learning Companies to operate a child care and early education center located in the University Corporate Center. "KinderCare at Wake Forest University" will primarily serve the families of Wake Forest faculty, staff and students, but it will be open for community enrollment, where spaces are available. Additional information can be found here! I want to take a quick moment to thank President Susan R. Wente and her leadership team at Wake Forest for pushing this process forward as it will be a huge value-add to our community.
NCAA News & Notes - Name, Image & Likeness & Future of College Football Playoff
While there continues to be a myriad of news stories around the future of college athletics, our focus remains on taking advantage of current opportunities to support our 425+ student-athletes as we strive to provide them a World Class Student-Athlete Experience. One perfect example of this includes Wake Forest student-athletes being in the new EA Sports College Football game that will come out this fall!
Our staff has worked with EA Sports so that fans around the world will be able to play as the Demon Deacons in the upcoming 'College Football' franchise. It was fun to see wide receiver Taylor Morin, who is pursuing his MBA and has already earned an undergraduate degree, selected to be a featured athlete in the announcement of the new game. With that said, the work EA Sports is doing to provide over 10,000 college student-athletes opportunities to benefit directly from their name, image and likeness is a tremendous lift and we're proud to report that our entire football team has signed on to participate.
Speaking of football, there have been many media stories about the future of the College Football Playoff following various meetings that include ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. It is important to remember that an expanded playoff means greater access to all FBS programs, including Wake Forest, as we would have made an expanded field in 2021 and been in the hunt all season long in 2022! With a 12-team playoff format in place for this fall, don't miss out on cheering on Coach Dave Clawson's team this fall inside Allegacy Stadium.
Finally, before we move on, NCAA President Charlie Baker recently penned a letter to all member institutions where he announced that the Division I Board of Directors has directed NCAA enforcement staff to pause and not begin investigations involving third-party participation in NIL-related activities. Our University leadership has been monitoring this situation very closely and we will continue to ensure that Wake Forest will maximize its opportunities within the rules and regulations set forth by the ACC and NCAA as we move forward.
North Carolina Rescinds Initial State Order Guiding NIL for NC Universities
With that in mind, I want to share the press release from earlier today where the state of North Carolina repealed its Name, Image, Likeness Executive Order. As I quoted in that announcement, intercollegiate athletics is an integral element of the higher education experience for thousands of student-athletes and dozens of institutions and communities across the State of North Carolina. On behalf of Wake Forest Athletics, we appreciate our state leadership's engagement as the Name, Image & Likeness landscape has continued to evolve since July 1, 2021. Wake Forest Athletics is proud to be a leader in providing a competitive NIL infrastructure as a component of our commitment to providing a World Class Student-Athlete Experience for our 425+ student-athletes.
Closing the Book on 2023-34 Women's Basketball
Our women's basketball program showed tremendous heart, competing all season long against one of the most difficult schedules in the country and logging late-season road victories at Pitt and Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, I was so proud to see our team beat Virginia on Wednesday and advance in the ACC Tournament for the fifth-straight season. Coach Megan Gebbia's squad hit the fourth-most threes in program history and finished near the top of our record books from the free-throw line too. I continue to hear so many positive comments from our community, fans and alumni about the leadership of Coach Gebbia and her staff. I know the win total will climb for Demon Deacons women's hoops as we build towards a team that contends annually in the ACC and NCAA.
Speaking of the road ahead, the ACC announced future home and away opponents for both our hoops programs! Check out the women's 2024-25 & 2025-26 schedules here and the men's schedule for next season through this link.
From the Quad Big 3
Before we close, here are today's Big 3 ways to help the Deacs:
- Read this Deacon Sports Xtra feature story on 14-year old Jonah Williams and how he has inspired our Wake Forest men's basketball team this season. Pro Humanitate at its finest!
- Wake Forest Athletics is excited to raise the standard of success and looking forward to an exciting 2024 football season. Currently a season ticket holder from this past year? Renew your tickets for the season by clicking here. Looking to become a season ticket holder? Season tickets are available starting at just $149. Call the ticket office today at 336.758.3322 ext. 1 or visit GoDeacs.com/Tickets to secure your seat for the upcoming season. With that, for company outings and group sales, fans are encouraged to contact Assistant AD Jon Hoban at hobanj@wfu.edu or call him (336-758-4030). Group tickets for this football season are officially on sale and can be purchased for any home game on the schedule for groups starting at 15 or more people.
- As you have probably noticed from the myriad of advertisements on every platform and medium over the past few weeks, sports gambling becomes legal in the state of North Carolina on Monday. Remember, it is important for those who are of age to gamble responsibly and we have taken steps on our campus to educate our coaches, staff and student-athletes about the rules and regulations around this topic. Like many of the challenges that exist with sports betting, developing solutions to combating harassment is complex, but attainable. We need our fans to refrain from harassing Wake Forest student-athletes and staff as they are striving each day to Win Championships regardless of any external factors.
Go Deacs!
John Currie
Director of Athletics
.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
Football Media Availability (9/30/25)
Tuesday, September 30
Wake Forest Football Coach Jake Dickert Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, September 30
Coach Jake Dickert Press Conference (Sept. 29, 2025)
Monday, September 29
Sept. 27, 2025: Coach Jake Dickert Postgame Press Conference Following Game vs. Georgia Tech
Sunday, September 28