Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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40 SEPT. 26, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI TRYING TIMES For the past two decades, Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson has been one of the top program builders in college football. • He inherited an 0-11 Fordham team in 1999, was 7-4 two years later and 10-3 his fourth season. • At Richmond in his initial sea- son in 2004 the Spiders finished 3-8, and 1-7 in their league. The following year they were 9-4, notably 7-1 in the conference. • His second season at Bowling Green in 2010 produced a 2-10 out- come, but three years later the Fal- cons were 10-3 and won the Mid- American Conference championship by defeating unbeaten Northern Il- linois 47-27. • At Wake Forest, after 3-9 ledgers his first two season, the Demon Dea- cons have finished above .500 four straight years, including 8-5 last sea- son, while fashioning a 3-1 mark in bowl games. However, nothing could prepare him for the challenge he faced with the coronavirus. His wife, Catherine, is a breast cancer survivor and con- sequently at a higher risk of develop- ing complications from COVID-19. Since July 12, he has been isolating from her as a precaution because of her diminished count of white blood cells. "It's not fun … you get married to someone because you enjoy spend- ing time with them," Clawson told The North Star Journal. "If you're in a good marriage and you enjoy spend- ing time with your wife, this is hard. But we didn't take this as a perspec- tive of complaining or woe is us. "People in the military have to do this all the time, and they're risking their life. You have medical profes- sionals that every single day work with COVID patients and put their lives on the line. "I think we've had 900 people in our country who are medical profes- sionals that have died from COVID. I'm coaching football. We'll be fine." He has also been in quarantine from his daughter Courtney, who at- tends Davidson College, and his son Eric, who is in high school. "That's been way harder than man- aging all the protocols we have," he said. "It's just, you go home from work at night and you look forward to seeing your wife and your kids, and to not have that mentally is tough. "I was single the first six years I coached, so you just dive completely into your job." It's a whole different rebuilding job this year. 'SAGE' WISDOM? As of mid-September, 23 players from nine different ACC teams opted to sit out the 2020 college football season because of the coronavirus. North Carolina had the most with five, while Virginia had four. Although many of the losses were relatively inconsequential, the four most prominent with high projec- tions in the NFL Draft were Virginia Tech cornerback Caleb Farley, Mi- ami defensive end Gregory Rous- seau, Pitt defensive lineman Jaylen Twyman and Wake Forest wide re- ceiver Sage Surratt. Surratt announced his decision on Aug. 19 so he could begin train- GAME PREVIEW: WAKE FOREST Top STorylineS The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson to isolate himself from his family. He chose to do that to protect his wife, Catherine, who is a breast cancer survivor. PHOTO BY JAYLYNN NASH/COURTESY WAKE FOREST ATHLETICS