Wake Forest signs Jake Dickert to long-term contract after 17-5 start
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Wake Forest is making sure that Jake Dickert isn’t available during this year’s coaching carousel.
The second-year head coach who has the Demon Deacons riding high at 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the ACC, who has accumulated a stellar 17-5 mark since taking over in Winston-Salem last year, signed a long-term contract extension at Wake Forest on Thursday.
Wake Forest athletic director John Currie announced that the deal had been made between the budding ACC powerhouse and the 43-year-old Wisconsin native. Dickert’s only previous head coaching experience came at Washington State, where he spent 3 full seasons as the man in charge before coming to Wake Forest in 2025.
Dickert released this statement upon signing the extension:
Candice and I are thankful to President Rodriguez, John Currie, our trustees, the Wake Forest family and this community for the support they have shown our family, coaching staff and players since we arrived in Winston-Salem. We are excited about the future of Wake Forest Football and taking our program to new heights. Our players are proud to represent Wake Forest and embody what Built in the Dark is all about. We are just getting started.
Wake Forest has already reached those new heights under Dickert, rising to No. 13 in Tuesday night’s latest College Football Playoff rankings while sitting at No. 11 in the latest AP Poll.
Dickert’s 17 victories that he’s achieved at Wake Forest since taking over are already the third-most wins in program history over a 2-year span, and there is plenty of time left in the 2026 season for Dickert and the Deacons to add to that victory total.
Currie said in part in his statement on Thursday:
Wake Forest University is committed to football success at the highest level and Coach Dickert has done an extraordinary job of inspiring belief among our players, fans and the entire Demon Deacon community.
Dickert and Wake Forest will face a fierce road challenge in Week 11 as they head to Dallas to face ACC rival SMU in a noon ET kickoff on ESPN.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
