Ashcraft: Dawson Will Return
NASHVILLE COACH LEAVING TO PREACH
Thursday, November 26, 2009
SPRINGDALE — Clint Ashcraft can’t help joking with Nashville coach Billy Dawson.
The Conway coach, Dawson’s defensive coordinator in 2004 at Siloam Springs, has kept in close touch with his former boss. And Ashcraft says he admires that Dawson - 65-3 at Nashville with state titles in his first three years - has chosen to step away from coaching.
Dawson will become the fulltime preacher at Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville at season’s end, and Ashcraft has genuinely supported the move. He respected Dawson’s prior work as an interim preacher at Harvard Avenue Baptist Church during his one season in Siloam.
But Ashcraft said he expected Dawson’s absence from the coaching ranks to be temporary.
“I tell him straight up that he’ll be back,” Ashcraft said this week, chuckling. “He just laughs at me, I think because he knows I’m probably right. But you know what, Coach Dawson is a guy who embraces new things and new challenges, and he’s already accomplished so much as a coach.”
“Now there’s something else in his life that he wants to do.”
Dawson laughed Wednesday when told of Ashcraft’s comments, saying he simply didn’t know when or if he’d coach again. He says he doesn’t think about it.
He’s instead locked in on Shiloh Christian, Nashville’s Class 4A playo◊opponent Friday night in Champions Stadium, and he’s at peace with his decision. Dawson’s far more interested, it seems, in preparing his undefeated Scrappers for the Saints than dwelling on his last days - for now, at least - as a coach.
“We haven’t talked about my (leaving coaching), and the kids haven’t talked about it,” Dawson said. “It’s been business as normal. I’ll look back when it’s over and refl ect.
“I’m sure I’ll miss the kids, the coaches, the camaraderie, the daily grind, the weekends.”
Dawson will miss coaching, but he’ll succeed as a preacher, Ashcraft said.
Ashcraft and Dawson go way back. Dawson’s father coached Ashcraft’s father at Rison. The two coached against one another in some junior varsity games with Ashcraft at Watson Chapel and Dawson at Sheridan. They, of course, spent the year together at Siloam.
And all the while, Dawson has impressed Ashcraft.
“He may be the greatest motivatorI’ve ever been around,” Ashcraft said. “Whatever ‘it’ is, he’s got it, when it comes to pushing the right buttons. He’s got it. He could have those kids running through a wall in a matter of minutes.”
Shiloh coach Josh Floyd said Dawson’s coaching talents could be judged solely by his record as well.
“Everywhere he goes, he wins,” Floyd said. “He turned the program around at Siloam Springs, and his record at Nashville is just unbelievable. He’s obviously a great coach.”
Sports, Pages 9 on 11/26/2009
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