With the new football coaching era at Wake Forest comes a new staff of assistant coaches. With the change from Dave Clawson to Jake Dickert there are significant changes in the staff that can now properly be reported. The off-season revolving coaching door has come to Wake, and it’s time to meet some new staff.
Clawson routinely touted how much of his staff he kept intact from one year to the next. For Dickert, it is about assembling assistants he has worked with or people with whom he has a football relationship. Once Clawson stepped down as head coach there was immediate speculation as to assistant coaches who might be afforded the opportunity to stay, and others that were likely to be replaced.
Some of these changes were reported over the last 10 days by another site that has unique circumstances when it comes to information. But coaches coming in means others are leaving. And yes, they signed up for the profession, but it still means packing up your family, again, and maybe moving your kids to a new school again, we tried to handle it with some sensitivity. But now that official announcements are being made, it’s time to dig into some of the hires.
Defensive Coordinator
Veteran defensive coach Scottie Hazelton is going to be Wake’s new defensive coordinator and linebacker coach. That means he is replacing Brad Lambert and Glenn Spencer.
Hazelton spent the 2024 season as a special assistant to Steve Sarkisian at Texas. He is leaving that role early to begin his work for Dickert.
Prior to Austin, Hazelton was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Michigan State for four years, (2020-2023). In two of his four years in East Lansing, the Spartans defense was ironically not that far apart statistically from Wake Forest, (we dismiss the stats from 2020 because of the randomness). In 2021 Michigan State was 54th in the country in total defense, while Wake was down to 88th.
Lambert was brought in at Wake in 2022 and the Deacs defense that year was 83rd in the country, and Michigan State’s dropped 20 spots to 74th. In 2023 Michigan State had the 87th defense in the country and Wake’s was 74th.
While the 51-year-old Hazelton was not the defensive coach at Texas for 2024, the university does credit him with work as an analyst. The Longhorns have the 55th-ranked total defense in the country.
Hazelton and Dickert worked together on the defensive staff at North Dakota State from 2008-2010. The two were also at Wyoming together in 2017-18. Hazelton was the defensive coordinator and Dickert was the safeties coach.
Dickert released a statement through the school’s athletic department, part of which is likely to make Wake Forest fans sit up and take notice after the defense of last season. “Scottie’s defenses are always near the top of the league in creating turnovers which happens from his aggressive and disciplined style that helps our players succeed.”
Offensive Coordinator
Dickert’s pick for offensive coordinator is Rob Ezell, who spent 2024 as the offensive coordinator at South Alabama. Ezell was at South Alabama from 2021-2023 as the tight ends coach.
The Jaguars had the 20th-ranked offense in the country under Ezell in 2024, averaging 442 yards per game. South Alabama beat Western Michigan in the Veteran’s Bowl last month, 30-23, racking up more than 500 yards of offense in the process.
Prior to joining the staff at South Alabama, Ezell was on the staff at Alabama for five years, first as a grad assistant, and then as an offensive analyst. Ezell was a walk-on on Alabama’s 2009 national championship team.
Defensive Backs
Freddie Banks is Dickert’s choice for defensive backs coach. We are told that is a fluid position right now. Wake had James Adams as the safeties coach and Chip West as the cornerbacks coach. Dickert’s new staff could eventually evolve into a similar scenario, but for the moment both positions will fall under the tutelage of Banks.
He has spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Colorado State. The Rams were 8-5 this last season and had a defense that gave up just under 26 points per game. Banks played for Dickert at North Dakota State in 2009 and 2010 when Dickert was the safeties coach. Banks has also had assistant coaching stints at Montana State, Nevada, and Stephen F. Austin.
A slew of other assistant hires were announced late Friday afternoon.
Running Backs
Effrem Reed is the new running backs coach. He had the same position at South Alabama under Rob Ezell, the new Wake offensive coordinator. Reed was an offensive analyst at Michigan State in 2020 and 2021, where he worked with former Wake running back Kenneth Walker III. In 2022 he became the running backs coach. He spent 2023 and 2024 at South Alabama.
Receivers
Washington State receivers coach Nick Edwards is moving east to join his boss at Wake Forest. Edwards had one season, in 2024, as the receiver’s coach in Pullman. Prior to that, he was an offensive assistant in the NFL with Atlanta. And in 2020 and 2021 he was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Offensive Line
Dickert is bringing another of his Washington State staff members with him in new offensive line coach Jared Kaster. The two were together for one season in Pullman. Before that, Kaster was at Austin Peay as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Kaster also has a couple of seasons working under Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech as an offensive line assistant and offensive quality control coach.
Special Teams
Washington State’s special teams coach for the last three seasons, Nick Whitworth, is joining Dickert at Wake Forest. Prior to his three years in Pullman Whitworth was an assistant at Texas State and Portland State.
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