One of the state's most successful high school football coaches is on his way to Northwest Arkansas to lead a perennial state power.
Russellville Coach Billy Dawson, the 2016 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Coach of the Year, is expected to be named as Fayetteville's new football coach at a school board meeting today.
Dawson at a glance
AGE 49
HOMETOWN Nashville (1985 Bentonville High School graduate)
COLLEGE Southern Arkansas (bachelor’s degree, 1991); Southern University (master’s degree, 1998)
COACHING CAREER Assistant coach, McNeil (now closed) (1990); assistant coach, Hampton (1991); head coach, Smackover (1992-93); head coach, Baton Rouge Parkview Baptist (1994-97); head coach, Lonoke (1998); head coach, Sheridan (1999-2000); head coach, Monroe (La.) Neville (2001); offensive coordinator, Arkansas Tech (2002-03); head coach, Siloam Springs (2004); head coach, Nashville (2005-09, 2012-14); head coach, Russellville (2015-16)
HIGHLIGHTS Won four state championships, including three at Nashville (2005-07) and one at Russellville (2016), and seven conference championships. … 17-8 in past two seasons at Russellville and 91-13 in eight seasons at Nashville. … 2016 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Coach of the Year.
The Fayetteville School Board will vote on the recommendation to hire Dawson at 5 p.m., with a reception for football players, their parents and assistant coaches to follow at 6 p.m.
Fayetteville Superintendent Matthew Wendt said in a news release that Dawson will serve as an "extraordinary leader of the premier Arkansas high school football program."
"This is Fayetteville," Wendt said in the release. "Our goal was to find the best. The goal was achieved. Coach Dawson is our first choice. It is exciting to hire our No. 1 candidate from an impressive list of applicants and interested individuals.
"I am thrilled to place our football players into the care of a man I would want to coach and mentor my own son."
Dawson will be the third head coach for the Bulldogs since the beginning of 2016, taking over for Bill Blankenship, who replaced Daryl Patton.
Blankenship, a former head coach at the University of Tulsa, led Fayetteville to a 12-1 record and its second consecutive Class 7A state championship in 2016. He was hired at Owasso, Okla., earlier this month.
Patton, who guided the Bulldogs to four state championships (2007, 2011, 2012, 2015), resigned in May, citing personal reasons. He later admitted to an improper affair. Patton completed his first season at Bauxite in 2016, finishing 0-10.
Since 2005, Dawson, 49, has won four state championships. He led Nashville to three consecutive Class 4A state titles in 2005-07 and was 91-13 with the Scrappers over two stints (2005-09 and 2012-14). Last season, Dawson guided Russellville to its first state championship in the modern era of the state playoffs, which began in 1968. Russellville went 12-1 in 2016, defeating Greenwood 37-23 in December in the Class 6A state title game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Dawson -- who is 174-57 in his coaching career at Smackover, Baton Rouge Parkview Baptist, Lonoke, Sheridan, Siloam Springs, Nashville and Russellville -- said in a release that once he met with Wendt and Fayetteville Athletic Director Steve Janski, he knew he and the school administration were compatible.
"I knew Fayetteville, with its rich tradition, would be a great place for me," Dawson said in the release. "There was only one job in Arkansas that I would be interested in, and as I have repeated often, that job is right here in Fayetteville."
Dawson did not return phone calls from the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday.
Janski was glad to get a coach of Dawson's caliber to coach the Bulldogs, who will have to replace two-time All-Arkansas Preps Offensive Player of the Year Taylor Powell at quarterback, and first-team All-Arkansas Preps defensive lineman Akial Byers. Byers and Powell have orally committed to Alabama and Missouri, respectively.
Sports on 01/26/2017