Dave Clawson

Dave Clawson
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Bowling Green
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	22–28
Playing career
1985–1988	Williams
Position(s)	Defensive Back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1989–1990 1991–1992 1993–1995 1996–1998 1999–2004 2004–2007 2008 2009–present	Albany (QB/RB/Sec.) Buffalo (Sec./QB/RB) Lehigh (RB/OC) Villanova (OC) Fordham Richmond Tennessee (OC) Bowling Green
Head coaching record
Overall	80–77
Bowls	0–2
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Dave Clawson (born August 16, 1967, in Youngstown, New York) is the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons college football team. Before joining Bowling Green, Clawson was the short-lived offensive coordinator for the University of Tennessee Volunteers and was the coach at Fordham University and the University of Richmond where he won two Div I-FCS coach of the year awards. His career record as a head college football coach is 65 wins and 55 losses.

Coaching career

Assistant Coaching

Clawson got his start in the coaching business as the quarterbacks and running backs coach at the University of Albany in 1989. He was an assistant at Albany again in 1990, this time coaching the defensive secondary. He later went on to coach as an assistant at the University at Buffalo, Lehigh University, and Villanova.

Fordham University

Clawson got his first head coaching position at Fordham University. His record as a head coach at Fordham was 29–29.

University of Richmond

After Fordham, Clawson became the head coach for the University of Richmond Spiders. He served as coach from the 2004 season until the end of the 2007 season, and was the 32nd football coach at the school. His career coaching record at Richmond was 29–20. This ranks him seventh at Richmond in total wins and fifth at Richmond in winning percentage.

At Richmond, he was awarded Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) Coach of the Year twice. Clawson is credited with re-energizing the Richmond program. After going 3–8 in 2004, the Spiders went 9–4 to win the Atlantic 10 Conference and made the playoffs the following year. In 2007, Richmond won their conference again, going 11–3 before eventually losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Appalachian State.

University of Tennessee

On January 11, 2008, it was announced that Dave Clawson had been hired as the new offensive coordinator for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team by head coach Phillip Fulmer. He replaced David Cutcliffe, who moved to Duke University as head coach. Clawson's stay in Knoxville was short and disappointing. Fulmer was forced to resign as head coach with 3 games left in the 2008 season. Incoming head coach Lane Kiffin relieved Clawson of his duties on December 1, 2008. With Clawson as their offensive coordinator, Tennessee suffered its worst statistical offensive season in over 30 years.

Bowling Green State University

Clawson was hired on as the head football coach at Bowling Green State University on December 12, 2008, just 12 days after being let go by Tennessee. Clawson replaced Gregg Brandon, who after six seasons was let go after a disappointing 6–6 season (including a 1–4 home record) in 2008, a season in which the Falcons were a preseason favorite to win their division.

Clawson's era at BGSU started off proving he would be a disciplinarian as he dismissed senior defensive lineman Michael Ream for an undisclosed violation of team rules just months into his tenure. His first game as coach of Bowling Green came on September 3, with a win at home against Sun Belt opponent Troy.

He coached his first bowl in the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl on December 30 in Boise, Idaho. After scoring to make the lead 42–35 over the Vandals, the Vandals took over with 00:33 seconds left in the game. Idaho then connected on a long pass down inside the 20 and scored on a questionable touchdown call to make it 42–41 with 00:04 left. The Vandals went for a gutsy two-point conversion and were successful, sealing a 43–42 and ruining Clawson's first bid at a bowl game.

In January 2010, rumors began to circulate that East Carolina University was interested in Clawson for their vacant head coaching position, following former ECU coach Skip Holtz' move to South Florida. The rumors intensified following Middle Tennessee State's head coach Rick Stockstill turning down the East Carolina job. However, as of January 20, 2010, Bowling Green has stated that neither athletic director Greg Christopher or Clawson himself have been contacted by East Carolina officials.

On November 7th 2012, he led the Falcons to an upset victory against division rival Ohio Bobcats 26–14. The special teams had two blocked punts and forced two bad snaps which one of them rolled into Ohio's endzone to force a safety. The Falcons took advantage of these turnovers and scored 19 points (2 Touchdowns, 1 Field Goal, and 1 Safety). With the win, BG moved into 2nd place in the MAC East Division and kept their hopes alive of winning the MAC East and better yet the entire conference.

Offensive Philosophy

Clawson describes his coaching style as one that utilizes the available talent to maximize success. His philosophy focuses on getting individual playmakers more touches rather than sticking to a rigidly-defined system. His offenses have displayed components of the Pro-Style, Spread and Power Running attacks. His influences included Hank Small whom he coached under at Lehigh University and numerous NFL teams including the New York Jets, New York Giants and others.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Fordham Rams (Patriot League) (1999–2003)
1999	Fordham	0–11	0–6	7th
2000	Fordham	3–8	1–5	6th
2001	Fordham	7–4	5–2	3rd
2002	Fordham	10–3	6–1	T-1st	L Div I-AA Quarterfinals
2003	Fordham	9–3	4–3	T-3rd
Fordham:		29–29	16–17
Richmond Spiders (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2004–2006)
2004	Richmond	3–8	0–8	5th (South)
2005	Richmond	9–4	7–1	1st (South)	L Div I-AA Quarterfinals	8
2006	Richmond	6–5	3–5	T-4th (South)
Richmond Spiders (Colonial Athletic Association) (2007)
2007	Richmond	11–3	7–1	1st (South)	L Div FCS Semifinals	4
Richmond:		29–20	17–15
Bowling Green Falcons (Mid-American Conference) (2009–present)
2009	Bowling Green	7–6	6–2	3rd (East)	L Humanitarian
2010	Bowling Green	2–10	1–7	T-5th (East)
2011	Bowling Green	5–7	3–5	T-4th (East)
2012	Bowling Green	8–5	6–2	2nd (East)	L Military
Bowling Green:		22–28	16–16
Total:		80–77
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
†Indicates BCS bowl, Bowl Alliance or Bowl Coalition game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll.