By Kris Freeman
White House Football

Mike Dawson came to White House in 1992 and coaches the offensive backs and defensive line for the Blue Devils. This will be his 14th year at the school and 11th as a football coach.

Coach Dawson graduated from Magnolia High School in New Martinsville, WV, in 1978, excelling in football and as an all-state catcher in baseball. He was recruited as a quarterback, but played outside linebacker at the University of West Virginia for the Mountaineers, a team making appearances in the Peach Bowl in 1981 and Gator Bowl in 1982. After college, he returned to his high school as a coach for one season, before going 15-15 at Hundred High School from 1984-86, then worked as a graduate assistant at West Virginia from 1987-88.

Moving to Bowling Green in 1989, Mike coached the defensive unit at Western Kentucky University and met current coaching mate Mark Lamberth, who was a member of the Hilltoppers. The next year, Dawson was named head coach at Macon County, his first job in Tennessee, and left in 1992 to become a part of the White House staff.

Dawson and his wife Sherry live in White House and have two girls, Rachel and Megan. Rachel will be a sophomore at White House High School this fall and is a manager for the football team.

Q: What is the best part of being at White House?
A: The kids are the best part of being at White House. They're unselfish and they work hard, and they understand the sacrifice it takes to be a team and the great tradition of this program. I enjoy working with the coaching staff here and we all have become great friends. It is truly a team effort.

Q: What is your favorite part of coaching?
A: I enjoy watching the kids develop from little boys to young men, and knowing that a little piece of yourself goes on through each kid that comes through the program at White House.

Q: What's the toughest part of the job?
A: Knowing that you can only play 11 kids at a time is the toughest part of coaching. That means there are a bunch of kids who do not always get to play, who work so hard to get on the field. You owe it to everyone to play the very best and the most deserving, and it's just hard knowing you can only play 11 at once.

Q: What's your favorite memory coaching at White House?
A: My favorite memories are always the last meeting of the year when the seniors stand up and tell what being a White House football player means to them. Some years, that is really special, because you listen and realize how much of their lives you have been a part of and touched.