Wake’s 11 wins in 2006 shattered the school record of eight, and its ACC title was its first since 1970. The unanimous choice for ACC Coach of the Year, Grobe led Wake to a seven-win swing from 4-7 to 11-3, the nation’s most improved team. With a record of 37-35-1 Grobe has recorded more wins at Wake Forest than all but one coach in Deacon history, passing such successful coaches as Bill Dooley, Al Groh and John Mackovic. Grobe has won 19 games against conference rivals, more than any other Deacon coach in history. That is particularly impressive given the recent ACC expansion that introduced three nationally-prominent programs to the league. The levels of excitement and expectation surrounding Demon Deacon football have reached unprecedented heights. Grobe owns an overall 70-68-1 in 12 overall seasons as a head coach.

Before Grobe arrived at Wake, the Deacons went a combined 26-63 in eight previous seasons. He came to Wake Forest after turning a struggling Ohio University program into a Mid- American Conference contender. In the 10 seasons before Grobe's arrival in Athens, the Bobcats won 17 games. In the six years under Grobe, they won 33 and finished with winning records in the Mid-American Conference five straight seasons. A native of Huntington, W. Va., Grobe earned his undergraduate and Master's degrees in 1975 and 1978 from Virginia where he was a two-year starter for the Cavaliers. Grobe and his wife, Holly, have two sons, Matt and Ben.

By Al Featherston for theACC.com

Jim Grobe doesn't think it's reasonable to expect a second straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship at Wake Forest. Of course, he's not sure it's reasonable for anybody to go into the season expecting to win the ACC title.

"There are too many good teams in our league for that," the Deacons' coach said. "I don't think there's a team in the league that thinks they can stay on top for a number of years. The goal should be to be a very good team every year. Our goal is to continue having winning seasons, to go to bowls and to compete for the championship."

Grobe explained the difference between expecting to win the championship and expecting to compete for the title.

"It's not enough to be good - you also have to be a little fortunate to win a championship," Grobe said. "When you win, there are usually four or five games where all the bounces go the right way."

And, indeed, Wake Forest (11-3, 6-2 ACC) had its share of good fortune last season as the Deacons marched to their second championship in 54 ACC seasons. Wake Forest got some breaks - and often made its own breaks - in narrow victories over Duke, NC State, North Carolina, Boston College and against Georgia Tech in the ACC title game.

But what's really startling about the Deacons' unexpected title run was how much misfortune Grobe's team had to overcome over the course of the "lucky" season. It started in the season opener, when Grobe lost his veteran starting quarterback with a broken collarbone. With his backup also banged up, he had to go with his third-string guy all season. His star running back was lost in the third game and so many other runners got hurt that he was forced to move his best wide receiver to running back. His most experienced defensive end suffered a season-ending injury before the first game and one of his two senior starting offensive tackles was lost for the season in the third game.

Sophomore Quarterback
Riley Skinner

"The best thing about our football team is that they just found a way to win," Grobe said. "It's rewarding to see kids respond to all that adversity. We ended up with a lot of good players watching our games from the sidelines. A lot of teams would have crumbled in that situation. I'm proud of how our guys responded."

Grobe doesn't get upset when he hears outsiders label last year's success as a fluke. But he's convinced that what happened in 2006 was the payoff of a carefully thought-out plan that he and his staff drew up when they arrived in Winston-Salem six years ago to try and win at a school that enjoyed just six ACC first-division finishes in the league's first half-century - none since the 1992 team tied for fourth.

Last year provided strong evidence of Grobe's commitment to that plan. Late in the season, the Deacons were within reach of the Atlantic Division title, but a succession of injuries at running back threatened to cost Wake Forest its chance. Grobe could have plugged the gap with true freshman Josh Adams, a heralded tailback prospect from Cary, N.C. Instead, he refused to waste Adams' redshirt year and moved gifted wide receiver Kenneth Moore in at tailback.

"We've talked about trying to build a program, rather than just a good team now and then," Grobe said. "Last year went a long way towards making the statement that we were a good team. The next step is to chase a bowl every year and not just be a flash in the pan."

There's no reason that can't happen. On paper, the Deacons appear stronger than they were going into the 2006 season. Grobe returns eight starters on offense; five starters on defense and the best all-around kicker in the ACC. Those numbers don't count tailback Micah Andrews, a potential star sidelined in the third game last year, nor defensive end Matt Robinson, who was projected to anchor the 2005 line before he was hurt in preseason.

And Grobe is confident that he has well-trained replacements for such departed stalwarts as linebacker Jon Abbate, defensive end Jyles Tucker, offensive tackle Steve Vallos and wide receiver Willie Idlette. In fact, routinely replacing such players is the whole point of what Grobe's been trying to accomplish at Wake Forest.

"That's been the goal all along," he said. "[Our replacements] are experienced guys who have gone through the school of hard knocks."

It also helps that quarterback Riley Skinner now has a year of experience under his belt after being thrust into the starting role so suddenly last season as a redshirt freshman.

"I think Riley had trouble finding his helmet when Ben [Mauk] got hurt," Grobe said.

But Skinner soon proved that he belonged on the field. He completed 65.8 percent of his passes for more than 2,000 yards, while throwing just five interceptions in 260 attempts. He finished the year so impressively that he earned second-team All-ACC honors. He now appears poised to show even more facets of his game as a sophomore.

"Riley is a guy who can do a lot of things for us mentally," the Deacon coach said. "The danger is to ask him to do more things. For instance, last year, we had no confidence in his ability to run the option. That's something we worked on in the spring. I don't know how much we'll ask him to do this fall, but we've put a lot on his plate."

Grobe understands the pressure that comes with winning a championship. He also understands the next step his program must take. "With the situation at Wake Forest, the only way to gain a measure of respect is to be good - very good - every year," Grobe said.

Senior Defensive End
Jeremy Thompson

EXPECTED STRENGTHS: Experience, especially on the offensive and defensive fronts ... the kicking game - Sam Swank is one of the best long-range kickers in ACC history and also is an exceptional punter ... quarterback Riley Skinner - if he was that good as a redshirt freshman, how good can he be as a veteran sophomore?

CONCERNS: Replacing three starters in the secondary, especially safeties Josh Gattis and Patrick McGee - both three-year starters.

EARLY BELLWEATHER GAME: The opener at Boston College on Sept. 1. Wake Forest's 21-14 victory over the Eagles was a pivotal win during last year's championship season, but the rematch is in Chestnut Hill against a team that can match the Deacons at quarterback and in overall experience.