A turn of events in Wake Forest’s pursuit of a new defensive coordinator.
The bad news regarding the Wake Forest defensive staff keeps coming. On Friday, Football Scoop reported that Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith was expected to become Wake Forest’s new defensive coordinator, as former defensive coordinator Mike Elko is taking on the same role at Notre Dame. Adam Rittenberg of ESPN is reporting that Robb Smith will instead be joining P.J. Fleck to become the new defensive coordinator at Minnesota. What does this mean for Wake Forest?
SOURCE: Minnesota is hiring Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith for the same position. An official... https://t.co/A1YSbB9rmJ
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 9, 2017
My best guess at this point, and it’s nothing more than a guess, is that Wake Forest will look to promote current defensive line coach Dave Cohen to defensive coordinator. He has also been a defensive coordinator at Rutgers, Western Michigan, Delaware, and Fordham. During his time at Delaware, he was named NCAA 1-AA Defensive Coordinator of the Year. Cohen has done a nice job with the defensive line during his tenure at Wake, and has also been a valuable asset as a recruiter. To me it makes a lot of sense to promote him, but Coach Clawson could also look outside of the program.
Last week, Riley took a look at other potential candidates to fill the void. Clawson has to hire two members to the defensive staff. It’s a difficult balancing act, as National Signing Day is less than one month away and it’s important to have a staff in place for recruiting purposes, but he also cannot be in a hurry to hire the wrong person, and must still have a thorough search to hire a quality coach.
We will have more at Blogger So Dear as we learn more on the process.
