Courtesy of Midland Christian
Phil Dawson says he’s “fired up” to become head football coach for Midland Christian School. The Lake Highlands High School graduate and NFL veteran most recently led Austin Hyde Park, another TAPPS Division II school.
“I can’t wait to get to Midland, get boots on the ground and get to work,” Dawson said in a video posted to X in early March. He has since joined the team on campus.
“Speaking of work, the Bible tells us, whatever you do, work with all your heart unto the Lord, not for man. We will do that with Mustang football. We will build upon the rich history, tradition and the solid foundation that’s already been put in place, thanks to all of your hard work. There are bright days ahead for this football program, and I’m inviting all of you to come be part of it. Pony up!”
The Midland Mustangs went 6-6 last year. Dawson took Hyde Park from an 0-10 record in the year before his arrival to 19-14 over his three years of leadership.
“Daily improvement is how I define success,” Dawson told the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “We don’t change our goals. We’re going to focus on the task at hand each and every day. It could be a state championship game day, it could be a February day in the weight room in the offseason. Every day has an opportunity to get better, and I feel I just bring a level of attention to detail that will benefit the process.”
After graduating from LHHS, Dawson earned All-American honors at the University of Texas, where he was a four-year starter. He finished with 13 school records, including accolades for scoring (339), field goals (59) and field goal accuracy (74.7%). He was inducted into the Longhorns’ Hall of Honor in 2012.
Dawson was an NFL kicker for 20 years, including 14 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He was honored as a Browns Legend in 2024.
Dawson and wife, Shannon, have sons Dru (23) and Beau (21) and a daughter, Sofiann (18). He told the Midland Reporter-Telegram he believes his life experiences, including raising athletes within his own family, will add to his coaching success at Midland.
“I just got done being a football parent myself, so I feel I can relate to the parents and the community, what it’s like raising boys who play football and all the things that go into it. Having benefitted from being at the highest level in football and learning all the lessons there, I was able to be around a lot of different people in the game. I learned from a lot of different people, learned what I wanted to do someday, what I didn’t want to do someday. I think I got a clear vision of how I wanted to go about this. The main theme is don’t worry about the results, worry about now. I think that frees the players up from the burden of worrying about their record or their stats and how things are going to turn out.”
