FAYETTEVILLE -- Billy Dawson, one of the state's most successful high school football coaches, will be the next Fayetteville head coach, pending approval during today's 5 p.m. school board meeting.
Dawson led Russellville to the Class 6A state championship this past season, the school's first-ever football state title, and previously won three state titles as the coach at Nashville.
The Dawson File
Billy Dawson will be named the new Fayetteville football coach today, pending school board approval. Here is his year-by-year coaching record as a head coach:
YEAR^SCHOOL^WIN^LOSS
1992^Smackover^4^6
1993^Smackover^2^9
1996^Baton Rouge (La.) Parkview Baptist^11^2
1997^Baton Rouge (La.) Parkview Baptist^12^1
1998^Lonoke^7^4
1999^Sheridan^5^4^1
2000^Sheridan^8^3
2001^Monroe (La.) Neville^10^2
2004^Siloam Springs^8^3
*2005^Nashville^14^1
*2006^Nashville^14^0
*2007^Nashville^14^1
2008^Nashville^11^1
2009^Nashville^12^1
2012^Nashville^10^3
2013^Nashville^6^5
2014^Nashville^10^2
2015^Russellville^5^7
*2016^Russellville^12^1
Career Record: 175-56-1
Source: Almanac of Arkansas High School Football
*— State champions
"Billy Dawson is an outstanding and award-winning football coach, educator, and a person of exceptional integrity who will serve as an extraordinary leader of the premier Arkansas high school football program," Fayetteville Superintendent Dr. Matthew Wendt said in a school news release. "This is Fayetteville. Our goal was to find the best. The goal was achieved. Coach Dawson is our first choice.
"It is exciting to hire our number one 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 was in his second season at Russellville, where he took over a program that had won two games the year before he arrived. In 2015, the Cyclones finished 5-7 before winning the 6A title with a 12-1 record in 2016, defeating Greenwood to win the title.
He compiled a 91-13 record over eight seasons at Nashville, split up between two separate stints. His overall coaching record is 175-56 and includes four state championships, seven conference championships and a 33-game winning streak. Dawson has been named coach of the year 27 times by different organizations and publications, including this past season's Class 6A Arkansas High School Coach of the Year.
"I think coach Dawson is widely considered one of the best coaches in the state of Arkansas," said Leland Barclay, author of the Almanac of Arkansas High School Football. "Fayetteville, I would not consider them a rebuilding program with all the recent success. But they do lose the top offensive player in the state and the top defensive player in the state. So for them, it is kind of a rebuild and that's what Billy does.
"And this is a guy who wins everywhere he's been."
Dawson replaces Bill Blankenship, who guided Fayetteville to a second-straight Class 7A championship in his only season with the Purple Bulldogs. Blankenship, who was hired in June of 2016, resigned on Jan. 4 and accepted the same position at Owasso, Okla.
Dawson earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Southern Arkansas University in 1991, and a master's degree in administration and leadership from Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1998. He has been married to his wife, Karen, a business education teacher, for 24 years. Their adult children attend Ouachita Baptist University, where Kyle is a junior and Rachel is a sophomore.
"We are happy to welcome coach Dawson and his wife, Karen, to Fayetteville and the Purple'Dog family," said athletic director Steve Janski. "Coach Dawson has an impeccable reputation across the state of Arkansas as a leader, mentor, and coach of student-athletes. Billy's tremendous success and his strong character and integrity make him the right fit for Fayetteville."
Sports on 01/26/2017