Comedian and late-night TV show host Stephen Colbert gave Wake Forest’s commencement speech at the university’s graduation ceremony in May. It was a speech that was praised by most of those in attendance — except representatives from the athletic department.
During his speech, Colbert took a shot at Wake Forest athletics, which haven’t been the most prosperous in recent years.
“This is a school that respects tradition,” he said. “Traditions like rolling the quad with toilet paper after big wins. And this is actually an eco-friendly tradition because, looking at this season’s win-loss record, you guys saved a lot of paper.”
Wake Forest finished 3-9 (1-7 ACC) in football during the 2014 season, and it went 13-19 (5-13) in men’s basketball, missing the NCAA Tournament once again.
Dave Clawson joined the David Glenn Show on June 2, and he made it clear that he didn’t respect Colbert’s shot at the Demon Deacons.
“I won’t be watching his show for at least a year,” Clawson told Glenn. “You invite someone like that, and I’m sure they paid him a fairly healthy sum to be our speaker, and it was not needed and not appreciated.”
Clawson then owned the insult and said it’s his job to make sure Wake Forest football isn’t a punchline anymore.
“He got some laughs out of it, which was his goal, but — it is what it is. He spoke the truth. We did not have a good record last year. Our students didn’t get to roll the quad as much as we want. The bottom line is that it’s our job to change that, and we’ll get that changed, and I”m fully confident that will happen,” he said. “Did I like that he said it? No, but he spoke the truth. We need to win more football games here, and I’m very confident that we’ll do it.”
Clawson also said that a shot Colbert took at Duke was not appreciated or representative of his program’s beliefs about the Blue Devils.
In addition to Colbert’s remark, David Glenn and Clawson spoke about first jobs, family vacations, Wake Forest’s new uniforms and more.
You can listen to the full interview here: