University of Richmond Athletics
Dave Clawson Named AFCA Regional Coach Of The Year
12/05/2007 | Football
Dec. 5, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - University of Richmond head coach Dave Clawson was named the Regional Coach of the Year in the Football Championship Subdivision, it was announced this week by the American Football Coaches Association. The award qualifies Clawson as a finalist for the AFCA's National Coach of the Year award.
In his fourth year at Richmond, Clawson has guided the 125-year-old program to unprecedented success. On the heels of winning the inaugural CAA Football Championship, the 40-year old Clawson has led the sixth-ranked Spiders to a school-record 11 wins and the team's first-ever NCAA semifinal appearance.
Richmond plays at Appalachian State Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 for a chance to play in the National Championship game.
"What makes this award so special is that this is the only coach of the year award voted on exclusively by the coaches themselves," AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff said. "The winners are selected by the coaches they compete with and against on a daily basis."
Clawson, who was honored this season as the CAA Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award, owns a career record of 58-48 (29-19 in four years at Richmond). He is 27-11 at Richmond since 2005 and 21-7 all-time in November. The winner of the Eddie Robinson Award will be announced next week.
Clawson is one of six coaches nationwide at the FBS level to be named an AFCA Regional Coach of the Year. He shared the Region 1 honor with Fordham's Tom Masella. The other winners include Al Lavan at Delaware State (Region 2), Eastern Kentucky's Danny Hope (Region 3), Mark Farley from Northern Iowa (Region 4) and South Dakota State's John Stiegelmeier (Region 5).
This marks Clawson's first AFCA award.
The National Coach of the Year will be announced at the AFCA's annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. on January 9.
