Dave Clawson
Dave Clawson went 157–149 as a head coach, 1999–2024, at Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green and Wake Forest. Share
Nine seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1999–2003 at Fordham; 2004–07 at Richmond. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 157–149 career
- Seasons
- 25
- Schools
- 4
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Aug 16, 1967
- Alma mater
- Williams 1989
- Best season
- 2021 11–3, No. 15
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Fordham * | 0–11 | 7th | |||
| 2000 | Fordham * | 3–8 | 6th | |||
| 2001 | Fordham * | 7–4 | 3rd | |||
| 2002 | Fordham * | 10–3 | T–1st | NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal L | ||
| 2003 | Fordham * | 9–3 | T–3rd | |||
| 2004 | Richmond * | 3–8 | 5th (South) | |||
| 2005 | Richmond * | 9–4 | 1st (South) | NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal L | ||
| 2006 | Richmond * | 6–5 | T–4th (South) | |||
| 2007 | Richmond * | 11–3 | 1st (South) | NCAA Division I Semifinal L | 4 | |
| 2008: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2009 | Bowling Green | 7–6 | 3rd (East) | Humanitarian Bowl L | ||
| 2010 | Bowling Green | 2–10 | T–5th (East) | |||
| 2011 | Bowling Green | 5–7 | T–4th (East) | |||
| 2012 | Bowling Green | 8–5 | 2nd (East) | Military Bowl L | ||
| 2013 | Bowling Green | 10–3 | 1st (East) | Little Caesars (not coached) | ||
| 2014 | Wake Forest | 3–9 | T–6th (Atlantic) | |||
| 2015 | Wake Forest | 3–9 | 6th (Atlantic) | |||
| 2016 | Wake Forest | 7–6 | T–4th (Atlantic) | Military Bowl W | ||
| 2017 | Wake Forest | 8–5 | T–3rd (Atlantic) | Belk Bowl W | ||
| 2018 | Wake Forest | 7–6 | T–5th (Atlantic) | Birmingham Bowl W | ||
| 2019 | Wake Forest | 8–5 | T–3rd (Atlantic) | Pinstripe Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Wake Forest | 4–5 | 10th | Duke’s Mayo Bowl L | ||
| 2021 | Wake Forest | 11–3 | 1st (Atlantic) | Gator Bowl W | 15 | |
| 2022 | Wake Forest | 8–5 | 6th (Atlantic) | Gasparilla Bowl W | ||
| 2023 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | 14th | |||
| 2024 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | T–14th | |||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 37 | 7–30 | 19% |
| Against top-10 teams | 15 | 0–15 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 37 | 13–24 | 35% |
| Conference games | 129 | 56–73 | 43% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 10 | 5–5 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 74 | 33–41 | 45% |
| At home | 97 | 53–44 | 55% |
| On the road | 90 | 39–51 | 43% |
| At neutral sites | 13 | 7–6 | 54% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 96 | 66–30 | 69% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 104 | 33–71 | 32% |
His own 200 games on file, 2009–2024, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Doeren 2011–2024 | 5–7 | Northern Illinois, NC State | 12 | |
| Dabo Swinney 2014–2024 | 0–11 | Clemson | 11 | |
| Dino Babers 2016–2022 | 5–2 | Syracuse | 7 | |
| Steve Addazio 2011–2019 | 4–3 | Temple, Boston College | 7 | |
| David Cutcliffe 2014–2021 | 4–3 | Duke | 7 | |
| Jeff Monken 2014–2022 | 4–1 | Army | 5 | |
| Frank Solich 2009–2013 | 2–3 | Ohio | 5 | |
| Bobby Petrino 2014–2018 | 2–3 | Louisville | 5 | |
| Scott Satterfield 2017–2022 | 2–3 | App State, Louisville | 5 | |
| Mack Brown 2019–2024 | 1–4 | North Carolina | 5 |
Dave Clawson’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| NC Stateseries | 11 | 5–6 |
| Clemsonseries | 11 | 0–11 |
| Syracuseseries | 10 | 5–5 |
| Dukeseries | 10 | 4–6 |
| Florida Stateseries | 9 | 3–6 |
| Louisvilleseries | 9 | 3–6 |
| Boston Collegeseries | 8 | 5–3 |
| North Carolinaseries | 6 | 1–5 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–90 | Albany | Graduate assistant | |
| 1991 | Buffalo | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1992 | Buffalo | Quarterbacks and running backs coach | |
| 1993 | Lehigh | Running backs coach | |
| 1994–95 | Lehigh | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1996–98 | Villanova | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1999–2003 | Fordham | Head coach | |
| 2004–07 | Richmond | Head coach | |
| 2008 | Tennessee | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2009–13 | Bowling Green | Head coach | |
| 2014–24 | Wake Forest | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Hank SmallLehigh
- Phillip FulmerTennessee
Assistants who became head coaches
- Dave CohenHofstra
- Ed FoleyTemple, Fordham
- Rich NagyAllegheny, Lehigh
- John DeFilippoNew Orleans Breakers, Memphis Showboats
- Mark CarneyKent State
- Mike ElkoDuke, Texas A&M
- Jay BatemanSiena
- Marcus SatterfieldTennessee Tech
- Russ HuesmanChattanooga, Richmond
- Tony DeMeoIona, Mercyhurst, Washburn, Charleston (WV)
- Adam FullerAssumption
- Warren RuggieroGlenville State
- and 8 more
Worked under (2)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hank Small | Lehigh | 1993 | Running backs coach | |
| Phillip Fulmer | Tennessee | 2008 | Offensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (20)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Cohen | Fordham, 1999–2001: defensive coordinator; Wake Forest, 2014–17: defensive line coach; 2018–24: assistant head coach and defensive line coach | Hofstra | |
| Ed Foley | Fordham, 1999–2003: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | Temple, Fordham | |
| Rich Nagy | Fordham, 1999–2000: defensive backs coach | Allegheny, Lehigh | |
| John DeFilippo | Fordham, 2000: quarterbacks coach | New Orleans Breakers, Memphis Showboats | |
| Mark Carney | Fordham, 2002–03: student assistant; Richmond, 2004–07: quarterbacks and wide receivers coach; Bowling Green, 2009–13: wide receivers coach | Kent State | |
| Mike Elko | Fordham, 2002–03: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Richmond, 2004–05: special teams and linebackers coach; Bowling Green, 2009–13: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Wake Forest, 2014–16: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Duke, Texas A&M | |
| Jay Bateman | Richmond, 2004: assistant secondary | Siena | |
| Marcus Satterfield | Richmond, 2004: wide receivers coach | Tennessee Tech | |
| Russ Huesman | Richmond, 2004–07: defensive coordinator | Chattanooga, Richmond | |
| Tony DeMeo | Richmond, 2004: offensive coordinator | Iona, Mercyhurst, Washburn, Charleston (WV) | |
| Adam Fuller | Richmond, 2005: defensive backs coach; 2006–07: special teams and linebackers coach | Assumption | |
| Warren Ruggiero | Bowling Green, 2009–13: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Wake Forest, 2014–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Glenville State | |
| Clark Lea | Bowling Green, 2012: linebackers coach; Wake Forest, 2016: linebackers coach | Vanderbilt | |
| Brad Sherrod | Wake Forest, 2017–19: outside linebackers coach | Texas Wesleyan, Morehouse | |
| Jay Sawvel | Wake Forest, 2017–18: defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | Wyoming | |
| Scott Boone | Wake Forest, 2018: analyst | Randolph Macon | |
| Tom Gilmore | Wake Forest, 2018: outside linebackers coach | Holy Cross, Lehigh | |
| Brad Lambert | Wake Forest, 2022–24: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Charlotte | |
| Glenn Spencer | Wake Forest, 2022–24: linebackers coach | West Georgia | |
| David Elson | Wake Forest, 2023–24: analyst | Western Kentucky |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Albert | Richmond, 2004: special teams coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Wayne Lineburg | Richmond, 2004–06: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; Wake Forest, 2017–24: tight ends and special teams coach | |
| Sean Spencer | Bowling Green, 2009–10: defensive line coach | |
| Shannon Morrison | Bowling Green, 2009: defensive coordinator | |
| Nick Monroe | Bowling Green, 2010–13: defensive backs coach | |
| Tyler Santucci | Wake Forest, 2014–15: graduate assistant; 2019: linebackers coach | |
| Lyle Hemphill | Wake Forest, 2017–18: safeties coach; 2019–21: defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Clawson’s teams went for it on 21% of fourth downs and on 36% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 51% of plays and took 23.5 seconds a play, 2009–2024.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 13 g | Bowling Green | 20 of 104 19% | 38% | 65% | 22.2 | 0.00 | |
| 2010 11 g | Bowling Green | 23 of 94 24% | 38% | 60% | 20.6 | −0.24 | |
| 2011 12 g | Bowling Green | 25 of 92 27% | 46% | 55% | 22.2 | −0.06 | |
| 2012 13 g | Bowling Green | 22 of 111 20% | 30% | 51% | 24.5 | −0.08 | |
| 2013 14 g | Bowling Green | 23 of 93 25% | 34% | 43% | 27.6 | +0.19 | |
| 2014 12 g | Wake Forest | 20 of 118 17% | 33% | 56% | 26.4 | −0.30 | |
| 2015 12 g | Wake Forest | 17 of 108 16% | 28% | 55% | 26.3 | −0.13 | |
| 2016 13 g | Wake Forest | 18 of 130 14% | 31% | 45% | 26.4 | −0.14 | |
| 2017 13 g | Wake Forest | 20 of 114 18% | 30% | 47% | 21.3 | +0.11 | |
| 2018 13 g | Wake Forest | 26 of 124 21% | 31% | 45% | 20.2 | +0.04 | |
| 2019 13 g | Wake Forest | 18 of 116 16% | 33% | 47% | 21.9 | +0.04 | |
| 2020 9 g | Wake Forest | 21 of 78 27% | 47% | 49% | 21.0 | +0.09 | |
| 2021 13 g | Wake Forest | 17 of 88 19% | 34% | 52% | 21.6 | +0.16 | |
| 2022 13 g | Wake Forest | 30 of 95 32% | 51% | 53% | 22.6 | +0.11 | |
| 2023 11 g | Wake Forest | 15 of 85 18% | 31% | 46% | 25.8 | −0.07 | |
| 2024 12 g | Wake Forest | 25 of 95 26% | 48% | 53% | 24.0 | 0.00 | |
| All 197 g | 340 of 1645 21% | 36% | 51% | 23.5 | −0.01 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.