Mike Dawson is in his third season with the Akron football program, coaching the linebackers.

Brion Stokes led the Zips in tackles in 2007, while Kevin Grant was third. Stokes, who ranked among the MAC top 10 in both tackles for losses (14.5) and sacks (5.5), was a second team All-Mid-American Confernce pick as he finished his career with 38.5 TFL, second on the UA all-time list, and Grant was a third team All-MAC pick.

He came on board in February, 2006, and led a corps which featured four of the team’s top seven tacklers. Grant was second on the squad in tackles and Stokes ranked third, while Doug Williams and Mark Groza tallied 50 and 49 tackles. The quartet combined for 38 tackles for losses, including 13 by Stokes.

Dawson was an assistant at the University of New Hampshire for the previous six years where he served on both sides of the ball, including his final two seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He spent his second season at UNH in charge of the offensive line. In 2005, UNH was one of the top-ranked ranked teams in Division I-AA and advanced to the national quarterfinals. Dawson spearheaded one of the top defenses in the country, as the Wildcats ranked 35th nationally in scoring defense (22.23 ppg) and led the nation in takeaways (45) in 2005. UNH was also second in the Atlantic 10 in sacks (34) during the 2005 campaign. In 2005, the Wildcats were co-champions of the A-10 for the first time since 1994 and posted a record of 21-5 from 2004-05.

A three-year starter at linebacker and defensive end with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Dawson began his career as a defensive line coach at UMass-Lowell in the spring of 1998. He returned to his alma mater in the spring of 1999 before spending that fall as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh working with current UA head coach J.D. Brookhart and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead.

Dawson also gained coaching experience on the defensive side of the ball at the University of Maine from July 1998 through March 1999. He graduated from UMass-Amherst in 1997 with a degree in sports management. Dawson’s brother, Matt, is the linebackers coach at Fordham.

Dawson is married to the former Jodi Walters, who was an all-conference swimmer at UMass-Amherst. The couple has a son, Frankie, born in October of 2007.