EDITOR’S NOTE: Story updated to reflect that it is now official. Wake Forest announced 90 minutes after the article published that Jake Dickert has signed his contract.
It is not a done deal yet, but Wake Forest has its choice of football coach in contract talks. Last Word’s sources have confirmed that Washington State coach Jake Dickert is the choice of athletic director John Currie. There is no signed contract yet as of this publishing. But the two sides are reportedly close. If “New head coach at Wake Forest” were a Jeopardy clue, the most likely correct at this point would be Who is Jake Dickert?
A couple of Washington State media sites went so far as to track the travels of a private plane earlier in the week, carrying Dickert from Pullman to Winston-Salem. But the truly amusing part of the process is that even though we have confirmed that at this moment, there is no signed contract, Dickert’s Wikipedia page has been changed to show him as the head coach at Wake.
Who Is Jake Dickert?
Dickert would replace Dave Clawson who officially resigned earlier this week after 11 years running the football program.
The 41-year-old Dickert took over as interim coach in 2021 when Nick Rolovich was fired for refusing to abide by state Covid protocols. The Cougars went 3-3 under Dickert and 3-1 in Pac-12 play. Since then he is 20-17 overall. The conference record is listed as 9-14, but there is no conference for Washington State right now. With the departure of the other 10 teams, Oregon State and Washington State are playing mostly Mountain West teams.
Washington State is scheduled to play in the Holiday Bowl on December 27th. The Cougars are already going to be without their quarterback John Mateer has entered the transfer portal. It is too soon to know beyond speculation if Mateer will follow his coach to Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons do not have a quarterback on the roster with any significant playing background.
Dickert’s Coaching History
The job at Washington State is Dickert’s first as head coach. He got his first full-time assistant coaching job as the safeties coach at North Dakota State in 2009. He has also been an assistant at South Dakota, Southeast Missouri State, Minnesota State, and Wyoming before going to WAZZU as the defensive coordinator/linebacker coach in 2020.
Dickert played quarterback and wide receiver at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2002 to 2006.
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