Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons
David F. Couch Ballpark
Soccer stadiumSpry Soccer Stadium
MascotDemon Deacon
NicknameDemon Deacons
Fight songO Here's to Wake Forest
ColorsOld gold and black[1]
   
Websitegodeacs.com

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Wake Forest has won a total of 10 national championships in six different sports; six of these championships have come since 2002. Wake Forest is sometimes referred to as being a part of "Tobacco Road" or "The Big Four", terms that refer to the four North Carolina schools that compete heatedly against each other within the ACC; these include Duke University, North Carolina, and North Carolina State, as well as Wake Forest.

Originally, Wake Forest's athletic teams were known as The Old Gold and Black or the Baptists, due to its association with the Baptist Convention (from which it later separated itself). However, in 1923, after a particularly impressive win against Trinity College (predecessor of Duke University) a newspaper reporter wrote that the Deacons "fought like Demons", giving rise to the current team name, the "Demon Deacons".

The Athletics Director was Ron Wellman, who won multiple Athletic Director of the Year Awards for his work during the 2007–2008 school year.[2] In 2019, Wellman announced his retirement, effective May 1, 2019. On March 2, 2019, Wake Forest named alum John Currie as its new athletics director.[3]

Teams

Men's sports Women's sports
Baseball Basketball
Basketball Cross country
Cross country Field hockey
Football Golf
Golf Soccer
Soccer Tennis
Tennis Track & field†
Track & field† Volleyball
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor.

Football

Main article: Wake Forest Demon Deacons football

Wake Forest's football team was ranked in the Top 25 in the nation by the

Orange Bowl to play Big East champion Louisville, where they lost to the Cardinals. This made Wake Forest the smallest school to ever compete in the Bowl Championship Series. Of all schools that play Division I FBS football, only Rice and Tulsa have smaller undergraduate enrollments, and Wake has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of any school in the Power Five conferences
.

For his part in the record-setting season, coach Jim Grobe was unanimously selected ACC Coach of the Year, and handily won the AP Coach of the Year award several weeks later. Coach Grobe signed a ten-year contract in 2007.

Wake Forest followed its success in 2006 with another excellent year and finished the regular season with a record of 8 wins and 4 losses. During the season, the Demon Deacons were briefly ranked in the Top 25. Their success throughout the year earned Wake Forest an invitation to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina. Played on December 29 in the Bank of America stadium (home of the Carolina Panthers) the Demon Deacons defeated the Connecticut Huskies 24–10.

Wake Forest plays its home football games at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium (formerly Groves Stadium).

Demon Deacons players at the 2016 Military Bowl

Basketball

"Rolling the Quad" is a WFU tradition that is done after major victories in athletic competition.

Men's basketball

Main article: Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball

Wake Forest is generally regarded as a competitive program in men's

NBA Champion, San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan.[4] Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is the home venue for the Demon Deacons basketball team. Skip Prosser, Wake Forest University's men's basketball coach since 2001, died in Winston-Salem on July 26, 2007. One of Prosser's assistant coaches, Dino Gaudio
, was named to replace him. After the firing of Dino Guadio at the end of the 2010 season, Wake Forest hired Jeff Bzdelik as their head basketball coach. Jeff Bzdelik resigned as head basketball coach on March 20, 2014. Steve Forbes is now the head coach of Wake Forest.[5]

Main article: Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's basketball

Women's basketball

Main article: Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's basketball

The women's team have played since 1971, and they have been to the NCAA Tournament just twice, in 1988 and 2021. They have reached the ACC Tournament semifinals in 1986, 1988, and 2012.

Women's field hockey

Recent athletic honors include three consecutive

2022
. Other championships include the 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2014 ACC Tournament championships.

Golf

Arnold Palmer

The men's golf team has had several successful years, winning

national championships in 1974, 1975, and 1986.[6] The team also finished as national runner-ups on four other occasions in 1969, 1970, 1987, 1997. Three Demon Deacons have won the individual national title: Curtis Strange in 1974, Jay Haas in 1975, and Gary Hallberg in 1979. Since the NCAA went to pre-national championship regional competitions in 1989, Wake Forest has won three regionals: 2005 (East), 2006 (East), and 2008 (Central).[7]

They have won 20 conference championships:

The women's golf team has had some success as well. They won 6 ACC team championships in 1986, 1994, 1995, 2009, 2010, and 2022. They have also won 7 ACC individual championships in 1986, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2009, 2010, and 2011. In the NCAA regionals, they had won their region twice, 1994 (East) and 1995 (East).

NCAA Championship match play finals.[11]

Several well-known players include Arnold Palmer, Lanny Wadkins, Jay Haas, Billy Andrade, Bill Haas, Curtis Strange, Robert Wrenn, Scott Hoch, Webb Simpson, Will Zalatoris, and Grayson Murray.

Soccer

Main articles: Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer and Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's soccer

Wake Forest is a consistent

2007 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship defeating Ohio State
.

Tennis

Noah Rubin

NCAA singles championship
.

The Wake Forest Men's Tennis team won the NCAA Division I Team National Championship in 2018, beating runner-up Ohio State 4-2 at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. That Demon Deacons team was led by freshman

Bar Botzer
, who clinched the National Championship. Wake also won the ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor Tennis Championship in 2018.

Women's volleyball

Women's volleyball is a varsity sport at Wake Forest.

2019 college admissions bribery scandal, in which he is accused of accepting $100,000 to help a student get into Wake Forest illegally as a purported volleyball recruit.[16] The university placed Ferguson on administrative leave.[17] He later resign in August 2019.[18]

Baseball

Main article: Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball

Wake Forest won the

1955 College World Series in baseball
. In 2023, the Deacons reached No. 1 in the Top 25 national rankings and won the ACC regular-season title.

Championships

NCAA team championships

Wake Forest has won 10 NCAA team national championships.[19]

NCAA individual championships

ACC Athlete of the Year

Male Athlete of the Year

Year Athlete Sport
1955 Dickie Hemric basketball
1962 Len Chappell basketball
1995 Randolph Childress basketball
1997 Tim Duncan basketball

Female Athlete of the Year

Year Athlete Sport
2002 Bea Bielik tennis
2005 Kelly Dostal Field Hockey

Screamin' Demons

Student attendance of Wake Forest football and basketball games was formerly high, in part due to the program known as "Screamin' Demons". At the beginning of each respective athletic season students on the Reynolda Campus could sign up for the program whereby they pay $15 for each season; in addition to the slightly better seats than the other students in football (not enforced) and seats behind the rim in basketball, this gets students a football shirt in the fall and a tie-dye T-shirt in the spring along with a card that serves as an automatic pass to the sporting events. They lose this privilege if they miss two of the games. Most students sign up because ticket distribution to non-Screamin' Demons is unreliable. Through the planning of Sports Marketing and the Screamin' Demons program, basketball game seats in the students section are difficult to attain without participating in the Screamin' Demons program. In 2011, sports marketing lowered the student allotment, and very few students currently attend.

Now, the Screaming Deacons app operates as a way for students to receive their free tickets to Wake Forest sporting events, with students earning rewards points for attendance at games. These points can be exchanged for prizes.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Logos & Branding – Wake Forest University". November 24, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  2. ^ "Ron Wellman Earns Second AD of the Year Award". Cstv.com.
  3. ^ "After messy exit at Tennessee, John Currie gets a fresh start at Wake Forest". www.si.com. March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  4. ^ "Deacs in the NBA". godeacs.com. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  5. ^ "Jeff Bzdelik out at Wake Forest". CBSSports.com.
  6. ^ "Wake Forest's NCAA Championship Teams" (PDF). Grfx.cstv.com. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  7. ^ "Wake Forest Demon Deacons – NCAA Regional History" (PDF). Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  8. ^ "Wake Forest wins first women's golf title with 3-1 win over Southern California". AP NEWS. May 25, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  9. ^ "Wake Forest Demon Deacons – ACC Championship History" (PDF). Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  10. ^ "World Amateur Golf Ranking Player Profile". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  11. ^ "Wake Forest wins first women's golf title with 3-1 win over Southern California". Associated Press News. May 25, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  12. ISBN 9781427496348
    .
  13. ISBN 9781250120571
    .
  14. ISBN 9780874476804
    .
  15. ^ "SportsRecruits | Wake Forest University (North Carolina) Women's Volleyball Recruiting & Scholarship Information".
  16. ^ "Wake Forest coach accused of accepting six-figure bribe to help student get into the university | | journalnow.com".
  17. ^ "Wake Forest coach accused of accepting six-figure bribe to help student get into the university | | journalnow.com".
  18. ^ Murphy, Kate (August 23, 2019). "Wake Forest volleyball coach charged in national college admissions scandal resigns". Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  19. ^ "Championships Summary Through June 28, 2018" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  20. ^ Communications, Wake Forest Athletic (May 21, 2018). "Jennifer Kupcho Wins NCAA Championship". godeacs.com. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  21. ^ "Screaming Deacon Rewards - FAQs". Screaming Deacon Rewards. Wake Forest. Retrieved May 25, 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wake Forest University athletics.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wake_Forest_Demon_Deacons&oldid=1226507606"