Dawson Odums, a championship coach with a track record of developing student-athletes both on and off the field during his collegiate coaching career, enters his fourth year as the head football coach at Norfolk State University in 2024. He was named the 18th head coach in Spartan history on April 21, 2021.
Norfolk State continued to build up its program in 2023, taking significant strides in several key areas on the stat sheet. While the Spartans finished the season with three wins, the team remained competitive every week. Five of Norfolk State’s losses came by one score.
Six players earned All-MEAC accolades in 2023, headlined by promising freshman AJ Richardson. The first-year linebacker led the team with 69.0 total tackles, including 41 solo stops and 11.0 tackles for loss.
Norfolk State picked up a 31-23 road victory over Hampton in the Battle of the Bay, before rushing for 350 yards in a gutty 21-14 win at Towson. The Spartans also cruised past Delaware State 44-21, as Terron Mallory became the first player in the program’s Division I history to intercept three opposing passes in a single game.
The Spartans fought the injury bug throughout the 2022 season but picked up their first win of the season in a thrilling 24-21 result over Morgan State. Quarterback Otto Kuhns found wideout Da’Quan Felton in the end zone to secure the victory for NSU in the game’s final 10 seconds.
Norfolk State landed nine players on All-MEAC teams in 2022, led by linebacker Tyler Long’s first team selection. Long led the MEAC with 106 tackles, including 48 solo stops. He was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week after a spectacular performance in the team’s season-finale win over South Carolina State, logging 13 tackles with three tackles for loss and two sacks.
Odums led NSU to a successful campaign in his first season in charge. The Spartans went 6-5 in 2021, which included a six-game winning streak that was the program’s longest since 1984. Officially, the 2021 season marked NSU’s first winning ledger since 2007.
A balanced, high-powered offense was NSU’s calling card in 2021. NSU averaged 33.2 points per game, most in its Division I history and third-most in school annals, while averaging a MEAC-high 440.5 yards per game – another school D-I record. That included 212.2 rushing yards per game, second-best in program history and the most since 1984.
The Spartans had a school-record 18 players earn All-MEAC honors following the 2021 season. That included NSU capturing three of the MEAC’s top awards – Offensive Player of the Year (Juwan Carter), Rookie of the Year (J.J. Davis) and Offensive Lineman of the Year (Justin Redd).
A native of Shelby, North Carolina, Odums has more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience. Most recently, Odums enjoyed a stellar 10-year run in the Southwestern Athletic Conference at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Odums directed Southern to a winning record in each of his eight full seasons at the helm of the program, including a 5-1 mark in the abbreviated 2021 spring season. In his last five seasons, the Jaguars posted a 29-6 SWAC record. His overall record with the Jaguars was 63-35.
After joining the Jaguars as defensive line coach in 2011, Odums was elevated to interim head coach two games into the 2012 season before earning the permanent head coach position following the year. On the field, Odums led Southern to a 53-17 SWAC mark over the last nine seasons. His ledger includes one SWAC championship (2013), one SWAC Coach of the Year honor (2013) and four SWAC West Division titles (2013, '14, '18, '19).
Odums' teams at Southern excelled in all three phases of the game. In the 2021 spring season, Southern ranked first nationally in blocked punts, second in third-down conversions, fifth in sacks and eighth in scoring offense. Southern finished the year ranked 20th in the FCS Top 25 Coaches Poll. Defensive end Jordan Lewis brought distinction to the Jaguars by winning the Buck Buchanan Award, given annually to the top defensive player in the Division I FCS. Lewis, who led the country in sacks and tackles for loss, also won SWAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Southern posted top-20 total offenses in 2015 and 2016 and a No. 13 mark in rushing offense en route to a SWAC West title in 2019. Odums' squads ranked in the top 10 in the FCS in punt return average four times, including leading the country in 2017, and also ranked top-10 in kickoff return average twice.
The 2013 season was a special one for Odums. His first full year as head coach at Southern culminated in a double-overtime SWAC championship game victory over Jackson State. The win made Odums just the second coach in Southern history to win a SWAC divisional title, outright SWAC championship and SWAC Coach of the Year honors in his first year as head coach.
The Jaguars went 9-4 that year, one of four seasons in which they won at least eight games on Odums’ watch. They also won nine games and captured the divisional title the following year, 2014.
Seven players coached by Odums have signed with teams in the NFL or CFL. That list includes SWAC all-time leading rusher Lenard Tillery and Southern's all-time leader in receiving yards and return touchdowns, Willie Quinn. That list includes two-time All-MEAC defensive end De’Shaan Dixon, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars last year after finishing his career as a Spartan.
Jaguar student-athletes have also performed well in the classroom. Fifty-seven Southern players earned Dean's List honors during the fall 2020 semester. Under Odums' guidance, Southern's APR score has steadily risen, reaching a multi-year rate of 952 in the last NCAA report of his tenure there.
Odums' other coaching stints include a pair of stops in the MEAC. He spent three seasons at North Carolina A&T (2008-10), serving first as defensive line coach and special teams coordinator and then as defensive coordinator. The Aggies’ special teams units thrived under his leadership, returning four kicks for touchdowns and blocking three kicks in 2010. That came on the heels of a 2009 season in which the Aggies blocked five kicks.
In 2010, Brandon Jackson became the first Aggie in five seasons to record more than 100 tackles in a season, finishing with 106. D'Vonte Graham led the MEAC in interceptions with seven. The year prior saw Jarrell Herring earn first-team All-MEAC honors at defensive end.
Odums’ first stint in the MEAC came as defensive line coach at Bethune-Cookman from 2005-07. Over Odums' three-year span there, the Wildcats run defense was among the stingiest in the MEAC. In 2007, the Wildcats defense ranked third in the conference in rush defense and third in total defense. Odums also worked with the Wildcats special teams units and scouted opposing teams' special teams personnel.
Prior to arriving at Bethune-Cookman, Odums spent three seasons at Division II Clark Atlanta. He served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 2002-03, then as interim head coach in 2004.
Odums’ other stints at the Division I level include two years at Georgia Southern and one at Gardner-Webb. In his first year at GSU in 2000, Odums coached the linebackers while helping the Eagles win the Division I-AA (now FCS) national championship. He then mentored the defensive ends in his second year.
Odums played linebacker and quarterback at Crest High School in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, before competing collegiately at North Carolina Central. A defensive lineman at NCCU, Odums was a team captain and All-CIAA selection as a senior. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1997.
A member of the American Football Coaches Association, Odums participated in the NCAA Coaches Academy in Indianapolis in 2010.
Odums and his wife, Audrey, have two daughters, Jasmine and Jaiden.
| Dawson Odums Coaching Record |
| Year |
University |
Record |
Pct. |
Conference |
Record |
Finish |
Postseason |
| 2004 |
Clark Atlanta |
1-9 |
.100 |
SIAC |
N/A |
N/A |
|
| 2012 |
Southern |
4-5 * |
.444 |
SWAC |
3-5 * |
T-2nd West |
|
| 2013 |
Southern |
9-4 |
.692 |
SWAC |
7-2 |
1st West |
SWAC Champions |
| 2014 |
Southern |
9-4 |
.692 |
SWAC |
8-1 |
1st West |
SWAC Championship Game |
| 2015 |
Southern |
6-5 |
.545 |
SWAC |
6-3 |
3rd West |
|
| 2016 |
Southern |
8-3 |
.727 |
SWAC |
8-1 |
2nd West |
|
| 2017 |
Southern |
7-4 |
.636 |
SWAC |
5-2 |
2nd West |
|
| 2018 |
Southern |
7-4 |
.636 |
SWAC |
6-1 |
1st West |
SWAC Championship Game |
| 2019 |
Southern |
8-5 |
.615 |
SWAC |
6-1 |
1st West |
SWAC Championship Game |
| 2020 ** |
Southern |
5-1 |
.833 |
SWAC |
4-1 |
2nd West |
|
| 2021 |
Norfolk State |
6-5 |
.545 |
MEAC |
2-3 |
T-3rd |
|
| 2022 |
Norfolk State |
2-9 |
.181 |
MEAC |
2-3 |
T-3rd |
|
| 2023 |
Norfolk State |
3-8 |
.273 |
MEAC |
1-4 |
5th |
|
| Total |
|
75-66 |
.532 |
|
56-24 |
.700 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Named interim head coach after 2nd game of season
** Season played in Spring 2021 due to COVID-19 |
| Dawson Odums Coaching Experience |
| 1999 |
Gardner-Webb |
Defensive Line |
| 2000 |
Georgia Southern |
Outside Linebackers |
| 2001 |
Georgia Southern |
Defensive Ends |
| 2002-03 |
Clark Atlanta |
Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator |
| 2004 |
Clark Atlanta |
Interim Head Coach |
| 2005-07 |
Bethune-Cookman |
Defensive Line |
| 2008-09 |
North Carolina A&T |
Defensive Line/Special Teams Coordinator |
| 2010 |
North Carolina A&T |
Defensive Coordinator |
| 2011 |
Southern |
Defensive Line |
| 2012 |
Southern |
Interim Head Coach * |
| 2013-2020 ** |
Southern |
Head Coach |
| 2021-Present |
NSU |
Head Coach |
| * Named interim head coach after 2nd game of season |
| ** Includes spring 2021 season |
| Dawson Odums Coaching Awards |
| 2013 |
SWAC Coach of the Year |
| Dawson Odums Conference Championships |
| 2013 |
SWAC West Champion |
| 2013 |
SWAC Champion |
| 2014 |
SWAC West Champion |
| 2018 |
SWAC West Champion |
| 2019 |
SWAC West Champion |
