If nothing else, the Wake Forest head football coach will have someone in a very similar situation with which to commiserate.
Saturday, we noted that James Franklin will be spending the 2020 college football season away from his family. The Penn State head coach’s daughter suffers from sickle cell disease, which makes her more susceptible to COVID-19. While Franklin is coaching the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley, his family will be at their second home in Destin, Fla.
By way of David Hale, ESPN.com is reporting that Dave Clawson will isolate himself from his wife when Wake Forest football opens up an early portion of camp. Why? Because the head coach’s wife, Catherine, is a breast cancer survivor. “Clawson said doctors told Catherine that, due to a reduced white blood cell count, she is at a higher risk for complications should she contract COVID-19,” Hale wrote.
“When I’m working on a daily basis, coaching 110 to 120 players and having a staff of 50, I don’t know how I could go home at night and honestly tell my wife I couldn’t have come in contact with [the coronavirus],” Clawson said. “I love coaching, but I love my wife more. There’s no way I’m going to do anything that would put her at risk.”
Wake Forest is coming off an 8-5 2019 football campaign in Clawson’s sixth season with the Demon Deacons. Wake has played in four straight bowl games for the first time in school history. Last April, Clawson signed a contract extension that would keep him at the ACC school through the 2026 season.