Richmond coach Dave Clawson chosen Vols offensive coordinator

1/11/2008 4:43 PM

By BETH RUCKER
Associated Press Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Richmond coach Dave Clawson resigned Friday to become Tennessee's offensive coordinator, a job he said was ``too good of an opportunity to pass up.''

Clawson, who led the Spiders (11-3) to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals this season, steps up to the major college level to work under coach Phillip Fulmer.

After four years at Richmond, Clawson said he was excited about the prospect of moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision and the challenges of coaching in the Southeastern Conference.

``This was always a goal professionally and a dream of mine,'' Clawson said. ``This is not the first phone call I've had for an opportunity like this, but this was the first one that excited me. I really believe Tennessee is one of the premier football programs in the country.''

Clawson replaces David Cutcliffe, who left Tennessee to take over as head coach at Duke.

Clawson is credited with re-energizing the Richmond program. After going 3-8 in 2004, the Spiders went 9-4 and made the playoffs the following year. This season, Richmond was beaten in the semifinals by eventual champion Appalachian State.

Tennessee officials planned to formally introduce the new coordinator Saturday morning. The Tennessee athletic department would not release information on Clawson's salary until other vacancies on Tennessee's coaching staff had been filled.

Clawson said he was not seeking to leave Richmond, and that Fulmer had first contacted him Sunday after speaking with a mutual friend. Clawson said he had told Richmond athletics director Jim Miller he would not leave the program for anything but a Football Bowl Subdivision program.

``On a professional level, coaches are driven and I'm no different,'' he said. ``The challenge of coaching in the SEC at Tennessee, I think, is a great challenge and one that was too good of an opportunity to pass up.''

Clawson, a two-time Football Championship Subdivision coach of the year, also will coach quarterbacks, as Cutcliffe did for the Vols. He also spent five years coaching Fordham and was the offensive coordinator at Lehigh and Villanova, where he worked with Tennessee's new running backs coach Stan Drayton.

``His multiple offensive system using the talents of the players available to their fullest has been impressive,'' Fulmer said. ``He has a great passion for recruiting, which is important for Tennessee, and his experience as a head coach will serve us well.''

Fulmer had also considered former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, former San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti and Clemson offensive coordinator Rob Spence.

Kurt Roper, who coached running backs at Tennessee, and Matt Luke, who coached tight ends, followed Cutcliffe to Duke. Roper was named offensive coordinator and Luke offensive line coach.

On Wednesday, Fulmer announced Drayton, who was working as a Florida's running backs coach, would take over the same position at Tennessee. The wide receivers coaching position vacated by Trooper Taylor, now co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, is still vacant.

Clawson is a native of Youngstown, N.Y., and was a defensive back and played basketball for Williams College in Massachusetts before working as an assistant coach at Buffalo and Albany.

AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz Jr. in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.