Dawson Wins 200th Game As Wittenberg Men's Soccer Head Coach

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg University's 4-1 men's soccer victory over Wabash College on Wednesday, Oct. 17 in Crawfordsville, Ind. was a big win for the team, improving the Tigers to 10-4-1 overall and 4-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference on the 2001 season. In addition, it was Men's Soccer Head Coach Steve Dawson's 200th career victory, a landmark that puts him in some elite company.

Dawson, who has coached the Wittenberg men's soccer team for 19 of the last 20 years, now has a career record of 200 victories, 127 losses and 16 ties. He started the season ranked 37th in victories among active NCAA Division III coaches. Prior to the season, only 43 NCAA Division III coaches had ever reached the 200-win plateau.

"A successful program is one that is consistent and competitive," said Dawson, a native of London, England and a graduate of Loughborough University. "Two-hundred wins doesn't necessarily mean the team has been successful. To me it's important to look at how long it took to get to this point."

Dawson, a member of the Health, Fitness and Sport faculty who missed the 1988 season while taking a sabbatical to finish his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, is easily the winningest coach in Wittenberg history. His 200 wins, an average of 10.5 per season, are 171 more than second-place Steve Moore, who guided the Tigers from 1976-80.

"Two-hundred wins has never been a goal for me," Dawson said. "I am most proud of the fact that we always play a tough schedule, and we have been competitive every year. We've never shied away from the toughest teams, and our strength of schedule is in the top five in the region every year."

The 2001 edition of the Wittenberg Tigers is right in the thick of the NCAC race. The Tigers have won four straight conference games following an 0-2 start, including a 1-0 win at defending champion Ohio Wesleyan last Saturday that stopped the Bishops record-breaking 23-game NCAC win streak. With three NCAC home games remaining, the Tigers control their own destiny. Only the top four teams in the 10-team conference make the postseason tournament, and if the season ended today Wittenberg would be among that select group.

"If our teams weren't competitive, I would stop coaching. I just couldn't stand it," Dawson said. "I took over a program 20 years ago at a school where soccer was never really considered a strong sport. Then in 1989, we had a great season and earned a national ranking. We were able to get players who were serious soccer players. The program has been strong ever since."

Under Dawson's guidance, the Tigers have won at least seven games in each of his 19 seasons -including 2001 - and have advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament four times (1991, '92, '93 and '96). The Tigers have won at least four games every year in the NCAC, considered one of the toughest soccer conferences in the nation, and the 1993 team tied for the NCAC championship.

"This has never been about me," Dawson said. "I'm a faculty member - teaching and coaching go hand in hand for me. I've never been an awards, glory person. I'm in it because I love the game.

"Earlier this month we had 28 alumni players who came back for the annual alumni game this year," Dawson said. "All the shouting I did at them, they probably now think it's worthwhile. It's a close group, our former players. And that is the human side that makes coaching worthwhile."