RUSSELLVILLE — Russellville coach Billy Dawson, with stops at several schools, is one of the most successful coaches in the state. He also won three Arkansas state titles at Nashville High School from 2005-09.
However, this year’s Class 6A state title for Dawson was different, in a way, because he had to build up the team. And with that, he is the 2016 River Valley & Ozark Edition Coach of the Year.
“It was just a complete transformation,” he said, referring to what the Cyclones had accomplished. Russellville was 2-8 under former coach Jeff Holt in 2014. Dawson was hired prior to the 2015 season. That year, the Cyclones went 5-7, advancing to the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs.
“I’ve been in a lot of these where the programs have been a little bit down,” Dawson said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like the transformation that these kids have made. That’s really where the credit has to go.”
Dawson said the players transformed their bodies, transformed their minds.
“We helped them along the way,” he said. “They were diligent and attacked everything. They were so hungry. Coachingwise, we just fed off that hunger and fed off their desire to want to do things right. It just kind of snowballed. The kids got a lot of confidence, and boom, here we go.”
Dawson said winning state titles is a standard at Nashville.
“At Russellville, from where we were 18 months ago to where this program is now, it’s an unbelievable transformation. It has to be up there at the top of my list of just watching kids develop, watching them buy into something. It’s really been incredible.”
Dawson is a 1985 graduate of Bentonville High School. He received his college degree from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia in 1990.
He started his coaching career as an assistant at Hampton High School. He was head coach at Smackover in 1992 and 1993. He was an assistant for his father, Bill Dawson Sr., at Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1994 and 95. He was then head coach at Parkview Baptist.
Billy Dawson was head coach in Lonoke in 1998 before going to Sheridan as head coach in 1999 and 2000. He then went back to Louisiana as head coach of Monroe Neville. From there, he spent two years as an assistant coach at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
He got back into high school coaching as head coach at Siloam Springs in 2004. He then spent four seasons as head coach at Nashville before leaving to become a pastor of a church for two years, then coached the Scrappers again from 2012-14 before coming to Russellville.
“My career has been greatly influenced by other people and coaches and the good Lord,” Dawson said. “I feel very fortunate, blessed, humbled — all those things.
“Early in my career, you look at my resume, and I was chasing jobs. I tried to move up the ladder. The past 12 years, I kind of slowed down.”
Dawson was recently named head coach at Fayetteville High School, the defending Class 7A state champions.
“Billy Dawson is an outstanding and award-winning 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 Matthew Wendt said in a Facebook post on the Fayetteville Public Schools page.
In the Facebook post, Dawson said he was excited about this opportunity.
“After talking with Dr. Wendt and hearing his vision for the Fayetteville program and then meeting with Director of Athletics Steve Janski and getting a real sense for his passion, I knew that we are compatible,” Dawson said. “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.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.