Wake Forest hired a new football coach on Wednesday.

The Holiday Bowl picked up some drama with a little more than a week left before kickoff.

Washington State’s Jake Dickert is headed to Wake Forest, two days after Dave Clawson resigned unexpectedly following 11 seasons that included regular bowl bids and an Atlantic Coast Conference division title.

Dickert, 41, had been set to coach the Cougars against No. 22 Syracuse in the Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl at Snapdragon Stadium. Washington State went 8-4 this season, the first since the Pac-12 fell apart.

Mark Neville, CEO of Sports San Diego, which stages the annual game, told the Union-Tribune on Wednesday that he has been communicating with WSU officials “and they are full-steam ahead.”

The Cougars named assistant head coach Pete Kaligis as acting head coach on Wednesday morning.

Later in the day, news broke that Washington State quarterback John Mateer, who entered the transfer portal this week, was headed to Oklahoma. Mateer is among nearly two dozen Cougars players who have entered the portal since it opened Dec. 9.

The Holiday Bowl faced similar circumstances last season, when two dozen players for both Louisville and USC opted out of the game. Included among was Heisman Trophy-winning Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams.

Neville noted that the opt-outs created “an opportunity for another quarterback to step up.”

“It was Miller Moss. He comes out and breaks a bowl record, throwing six touchdowns,” Neville said. “Now that same kind of thing is in play with Washington State. There’s some players up there who are really hungry. They’re going to be on a national stage with an opportunity to go up against a nationally-ranked team. So I think this creates a lot of excitement for the game.

“They’re football players. This is an opportunity for them to shine, and they realize that. They’re going to play really hard to represent themselves and represent their school.”

Washington State has spent nine weeks in the AP Top 25 poll over the past two seasons, peaking at No. 13 during a five-week run amid a 4-0 start in 2023 and reaching No. 19 in early November of this season.

Dickert arrived at Washington State after a three-year run at Wyoming in a career with stops at the Division II level, though those generally were at schools in the central part of the country or further west.

“Coach Dickert’s approach to building a program — through evaluation and development of talent with a plan rooted in detail, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to student-athlete development — reminds me of what made Dave Clawson so successful during his 11-year transformational tenure as our head football coach,” Wake Forest Athletic Director John Currie said in a statement.

“Jake’s philosophy of fostering personal growth, cultivating trust within the team, and relentlessly competing for championships embodies the principles we hold dear.”

In an emotional news conference Tuesday, Clawson said he “just felt like it was time” to step aside to let Wake Forest take a fresh approach to the changes, which include the looming arrival of revenue sharing with athletes.

Clawson went as far as to say it felt as if it was “somebody else’s job.”

And now, that somebody is Dickert.

Includes information from the Union-Tribune’s Kirk Kenney and The Associated Press’ Aaron Beard. 

Originally Published: December 18, 2024 at 5:27 PM PST