Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe is expected to announce his resignation at a scheduled media conference this afternoon, via the Winston-Salem Journal.
Grobe to step down as Deacons’ football coach http://t.co/ySRsUfWnqi
— Winston-SalemJournal (@JournalNow) December 2, 2013
The Demon Deacons went 4-8 this season, one of just three ACC teams not to become bowl eligible. Wake Forest started the year 4-3, with wins over NC State and Maryland, but five straight losses ended the season, including close ones to Duke and Vanderbilt.
Grobe, 61, has been around football nearly his entire life. After earning his master's degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Virginia in 1978, Grobe took his first college coaching gig at Emory and Henry College as their linebackers coach. He was quickly named the linebackers coach at Marshall in 1979 and spent five years there before taking the same position at Air Force. Grobe worked for at the Academy for a decade before landing his first head coaching gig at Ohio in 1995. After five solid seasons with the Bobcats, Wake Forest plucked him away and named him head coach in 2001.
For a school without much football tradition, Grobe helped Wake Forest get to some of its higher points in school history. He led to school to two winning seasons in 2001 and 2002, and after few down years, the Demon Deacons rebounded to play in the Orange Bowl in 2006 after winning the ACC. They went on to lose to Louisville, 24-13, but there was seemingly optimism everywhere in Winston-Salem.
Schools around the country began calling for Grobe, and he used that to his advantage, securing a fat contract extension from Wake Forest to begin paying him upwards of $2 million each season.
Wake Forest went on to post respectable winning seasons in 2007 and 2008, but the honeymoon would end shortly after. The program hasn't posted a winning record since, dropping their lone bowl appearance (2011, Music City Bowl) in the process. Coming into the 2013 season, many felt Grobe was on the hot seat and would have to turn things around in a hurry if he hoped to keep his job. After a slow start to the year, his seat began to really warm up before he eventually being forced out of town.
Given his age, it seems unlikely Grobe will be able to land another head coaching gig. He's always been a guy who places an emphasis on defense, and there is a chance he's able to catch on as a defensive coordinator somewhere.
Grobe leaves Wake Forest with a 77-82 record, including a 42-62 mark in ACC play.
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