HAVERFORD, Pa. – Haverford College men's lacrosse head coach Brendan Dawson has announced his resignation to accept the Assistant Athletic Director/Head Boys Lacrosse Coach position at The Haverford School. Dawson had spent the last two years at Haverford College, helping the Fords reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season this past spring.
Named the 2018 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year, Haverford clinched the final spot in the Centennial Conference Tournament with a 7-6 victory over rival Swarthmore on the last day of the regular season. The Fords' postseason came to a close with a hard-fought 7-5 defeat at the hands of top-seeded Gettysburg during the conference semifinals. The team also won seven games in Dawson's first year as head coach.
In addition to the Fords' success as a team, several individuals earned top honors both on the playing field and in the classroom. PJ Jackson '17, a Gregory Kannerstein '63 Award recipient, was a third-team USILA All-American and Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Year during the 2017 campaign. Both Jackson and Max Ellis '18 were selected to play in the USILA North vs. South Senior All-Star game under Dawson's tutelage and were among five All-Centennial Conference selections for Haverford during the past two seasons.
This past season, Jack Sollee '18 received Haverford's William W. Ambler '45 Award for having the highest cumulative GPA among all senior student-athletes while Ben Frost '19 was named the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year following the 2018 season. The Fords also had the highest number of student-athletes named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll during both of Dawson's seasons. Haverford had a program-record 19 men's lacrosse student-athletes honored in his first season only to break that mark one year later with 22 honorees.
Dawson came to Haverford after spending five seasons as the head coach at Widener University (2012-16) where he was twice named the MAC Commonwealth Coach of the Year. He also started the varsity lacrosse program at Aurora University (Ill.) and led that team to 11 wins in its inaugural season.
A national search will be undertaken for Dawson's replacement.