ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY NAMES DAVE DAWSON AS ITS
NEW HEAD BASEBALL COACH

        RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Dave Dawson, the head baseball coach at Kansas Wesleyan University, has been named the new head coach of the Arkansas Tech University baseball program, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Steve Mullins announced on Wednesday.

Dawson was selected from a pool of nearly 80 applicants and will officially take the reins of the Wonder Boys baseball team on July 1.

“We are pleased to add Dave to our athletic family,” Mullins said. “He has built a winning program at Kansas Wesleyan and we know he can achieve the same success here at Arkansas Tech.”

          Mullins said that Dawson was one of four finalists for the position that were brought on campus for interviews with the five-member search committee and Tech President Dr. Robert C. Brown.

          “First off, I would like to thank everyone on the committee, along with Coach Mullins and Dr. Brown for allowing me with this opportunity to serve as the head baseball coach at Arkansas Tech University,” Dawson said Wednesday. “I am extremely excited to join a fine institution and also get the chance to coach in the best Division II baseball conference in the country.

“This is a great situation for me, my wife and our kids as we’ll be in the middle of our family that lives in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.”

          Dawson, who is the 17th head baseball coach in the program’s 67-year history, comes to the Arkansas River Valley after spending the previous four seasons as the head baseball coach at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kan. Kansas Wesleyan is an NAIA affiliated school that is a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. While with the Coyotes, Dawson led the school to back-to-back regular season KCAC titles in 2008 and 2009 and compiled a 115-94 record, including winning a school-record 40 games this past spring. In addition, Dawson led the Coyotes to two KCAC Baseball Tournament titles in 2007 and 2009 and helped the school advance to the championship game of the 2009 NAIA World Series opening round and achieve its first-ever national ranking in the NAIA Top 25 Poll. This past season at KWU, Dawson led the Coyotes to a school-record 26-game winning streak and his team finished sixth in the NAIA with a team batting average of .366. In his tenure at KWU, Dawson was named the KCAC’s Coach of the Year three times, including taking home the honor the past two seasons, was named the NAIA’s Region IV Coach of the Year in 2008, coached 38 All-KCAC performers, including 13 first-team honorees and also coached four NAIA All-Americans and had two players win Rawlings NAIA Region IV Gold Glove Awards. Along with that, KWU senior catcher Stephen Cilladi was selected in the 33rd round (997th selection overall) by the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on June 11.

          “To be successful in baseball it starts with pitching and defense and that is something I’m going to stress to our current players and also when I’m out on the recruiting trail,” Dawson said. “I’m going to work hard and bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to build a quality program.”

          Prior to working at Kansas Wesleyan, Dawson, who is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), spent two seasons (2004-05) as an assistant coach at fellow KCAC member, University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kan. At Saint Mary’s, Dawson was in charge of recruiting and also served as the school’s hitting coach and was in charge of infield defense on Rob Miller’s staff. While at Saint Mary’s, he helped the club win the 2005 KCAC Conference Baseball Tournament. During the summer of 2005, Dawson served as an assistant coach for the MBSL Royals of the Ban Johnson League in Shawnee Mission, Kan. The MBSL Royals was a select group of college baseball players.

Before going to Saint Mary’s, Dawson spent seven years as a high school baseball coach and six years as an American Legion coach during the summer months. He began his high school coaching career at Higbee High School in Higbee, Mo., in 1997 and then spent six years (1998-03) as the head baseball coach at Piper High School in Kansas City, Kan. From the summer of 1998 through 2003, Dawson served as the head coach of the American Legion Post 199 team in Kansas City.

          Dawson, who is a native of West Plains, Mo., began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ottawa University, in 1996. In his one season with the Braves, Dawson was in charge of recruiting and helped his alma mater win the 1997 KCAC Conference title. As a player, Dawson played for four seasons at Ottawa and was a three-time All-KCAC selection as a catcher and holds the school’s record with career walks with 72. In addition, Dawson was a two-time team captain (1995-96) at Ottawa.     

          The new Tech coach said he is excited about his returning players as the Wonder Boys only had five seniors on this past season’s 22-30 team. Among the top returners for the Wonder Boys in 2010 are senior pitcher Karl Whitley (Tucson, Ariz.), senior right fielder Clint Stroud (Bonham, Texas) and senior left fielder Jeremy Houchin (Springdale, Ark.). Both Stroud and Houchin were Second-Team All-Gulf South Conference West Division selections this past season.

          “We have a lot of quality players returning, so I don’t think of next season as a rebuilding year,” the new Tech coach added.

          Along with a strong nucleus of returning players coming back, Dawson said he is also out recruiting to find the best players available to add to Tech’s roster for the 2010 season.

          “Our recruiting is first off going to start by keeping the best players in the area at home and then we’re going to expand out and find the best baseball players we can find,” Dawson said.

          Dawson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from Ottawa in 1996 and received his master’s degree in education from the University of Saint Mary in 2005. He and his wife, the former Janene Binns, are the proud parents of a two sons, Cole (7) and Blake (4). 

                                                         -- Tech Athletics --    

Transactions: Arkansas Tech University names Dave Dawson as the school’s new head baseball coach.