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The Un i v e r s i T y of Ak r o n • 2008 fo o T b A l l Me d i A GU i d e COACHES AND STAFF Dan a Ch a m B e r s Defensive Line Third Season Central Missouri State, 1983 Dana Chambers is in his third season at Akron, serving as the defensive line coach. In his first season with the Zips, Jermaine Reid and Kiki Gonzalez combined for 21 tackles for losses. Reid moved on to the Canadian Football League and Gonzalez signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2007, Almondo Sewell was named second team All-Mid-American Confernce and honorable mention Freshman All-American. Also, despite missing time due to injuries, Nate Robinson was invited to the East-West Shrine Game and signed as a free agent with the New York Giants. Prior to Akron, Chambers spent two years at Youngstown State, as the Penguins’ defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator. In 2005, Chambers coached two all-conference players and an all-newcomer team performer for YSU. Defensive end Justin Scholes was a first-team All-Gateway selection, while fellow end Brandon Brown was a second team all-conference pick. Freshman DT Mychal Savage was named to the conference’s all-newcomer team. The defensive front played a key role in the turnaround of the defense and the program, as the Penguins finished 8-3 overall and shared the school’s Gateway Football Conference title. After yielding 191.9 yards rushing and 378.0 yards per game in 2004, YSU allowed just 133.5 yards rushing and 330.4 total yards a season later. The team also led the GFC in scoring defense and total defense in 2005. Before coming to YSU, Chambers spent the 2003 season at Upper Iowa, a program which moved from Division III to D-II status. Chambers spent eight years at the Division I-AA level, including five in the GFC. He spent four years as the defensive line coach at Southwest Missouri State, and three as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois. From 1999-2002 he was the defensive line coach at SMS. Under Chambers, the Bears had three All-Gateway d-line selections. While at SMS, he took part in the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship Program, spending the 2001 training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line. Prior to his stint at SMS, Chambers spent one year at Roosevelt High in St. Louis, Mo. Before that, he was a mainstay on the coaching staff at Western Michigan, spending 11 seasons (1987-97) with the Broncos. During his tenure, he served as the defensive ends coach, defensive line coach and special teams coordinator. From 1991-97, he coached the defensive linemen and was in charge of special teams, while from 1987-1991 he was the coach of the defensive ends. Chambers began his collegiate coaching career in 1983 as a student assistant coach at Central Missouri State, working with the outside linebackers. After a year at Centaurus High in Lafayette, Colo., as assistant football and basketball coach, he moved to Eastern Illinois in 1984. There, Chambers spent three seasons working with the Panthers’ outside linebackers. A native of Fulton, Mo., he was a three-sport standout at Fulton High, competing in football, basketball and track — earning all-state honors in football. Chambers played two years at Highland (Kan.) Community College and finished his career at Central Missouri State, serving as team captain his senior year. He earned a physical education degree from CMSU in 1983. Chambers and his wife Amy, who works in the Zips’ academic advising office, have three children, Dana Jr., LaQuisha and Parker. He is a cousin of former major league outfielder Bake 58 The Chambers Family (I-r): Dana, Parker and Amy. McBride, who was a member of the 1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. mik e Da w s o n Linebackers Third Season UMass-Amherst, 1997 Mike Dawson is in his third season with the Akron football program, coaching the linebackers. Brion Stokes led the Zips in tackles in 2007, while Kevin Grant was third. Stokes, who ranked among the MAC top 10 in both tackles for losses (14.5) and sacks (5.5), was a second team All-Mid-American Confernce pick as he finished his career with 38.5 TFL, second on the UA all-time list, and Grant was a third team All-MAC pick. He came on board in February, 2006, and led a corps which featured four of the team’s top seven tacklers. Grant was second on the squad in tackles and Stokes ranked third, while Doug Williams and Mark Groza tallied 50 and 49 tackles. The quartet combined for 38 tackles for losses, including 13 by Stokes. Dawson was an assistant at the University of New Hampshire for the previous six years where he served on both sides of the ball, including his final two seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He spent his second season at UNH in charge of the offensive line. In 2005, UNH was one of the top-ranked ranked teams in Division I-AA and advanced to the national quarterfinals. Dawson spearheaded one of the top defenses in the country, as the Wildcats ranked 35th nationally in scoring defense (22.23 ppg) and led the nation in takeaways (45) in 2005. UNH was also second in the Atlantic 10 in sacks (34) during the 2005 campaign. In 2005, the Wildcats were co-champions of the A-10 for the first time since 1994 and posted a record of 21-5 from 2004-05. A three-year starter at linebacker and defensive end with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Dawson began his career as a defensive line coach at UMass-Lowell in the spring of 1998. He returned to his alma mater in the spring of 1999 before spending that fall as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh working with current UA head coach J.D. Brookhart and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead. Dawson also gained coaching experience on the defensive side of the ball at the University of Maine from July 1998 through March 1999. He graduated from UMass-Amherst in 1997 with a degree in sports management. Dawson’s brother, Matt, is the linebackers coach at Fordham. Dawson is married to the former Jodi Walters, who was an all-conference swimmer at UMass-Amherst. The couple has a son, Frankie, born in October of 2007. The Dawson Family (I-r): Jodi, Frankie and Mike. Akron’s 66th and Final Season at the Rubber Bowl
The Un i v e r s i T y of Ak r o n • 2008 fo o T b A l l Me d i A GU i d e COACHES AND STAFF Jim Fl e m i n g Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Fifth Season University of the South, 1982 Fifth-year defensive coordinator Jim Fleming, is one of the most experienced members of J.D. Brookhart’s staff with over 20 years tutoring collegiate defenders under his belt. He works with the Akron secondary – the safeties and rovers specifically – in addition to his coordinator duties. Also under his tutaledge in 2008 will be his son, Will, one of the top-rated high school defenders in Ohio and now freshman for the Zips. Fleming’s 2007 defense featured two of the top corner backs in the nation — Reggie Corner and Davanzo Tate — as well as one of the gutiest players in nation — rover and captain John Mackey who blew ou this knee in week four only to play the final four games of the season with a torn ACL. Corner and Tate tied for the MAC lead and ranked sixth in the NCAA with 19 passes defended, while Corner, a fourth-round pick by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, led the MAC and ranked fourth in the NCAA with seven picks. In all, Akron landed five on the 2007 All-MAC team with first team honoree Corner, second team picks Almondo Sewell and Brion Stokes with third team selections Kevin Grant and Mackey. Sewell additionally was named honorable mention Freshman All-American. In 2006, thanks to Tate ranking 11th in the nation with 13 pass breakups and Corner ranking second in the league with four interceptions, Fleming’s unit moved up nearly 20 spots in the national rankings with a defensive pass efficiency of 119.85. Fleming and his staff made great strides in 2005. After ranking 10th in the MAC total defense in 2004, the Zips climbed eight spots to No. 2 in 2005. On a national scale, the Zips move from 98th to 32nd in total defense (339.9 ypg) was tied for fourth-highest leap among I-A schools. Akron also improved in scoring defense and passing defense. The Zips jumped from 91st to 52nd in scoring defense (24.5 ppg), the seventh-best increase in the nation, as well as improving from 87th to 16th in passing defense (180.9 ypg), also the seventh-highest jump nationally. All of that was accomplished with the Zips playing nearly half the season without their starting safeties, Chevin Pace and Dion Elie, who suffered season-ending injuries in the middle of the year. The Zips’ defense was rewarded with three All-MAC honorees in defensive lineman Kiki Gonzalez, and linebackers Jay Rohr and Stokes. Grant also earned third team freshman All-America honors from The Sporting News. The Zips defense was an opportunistic group in 2004, picking off 11 passes and returning two for touchdowns. Akron did not have any all-conference honorees in 2004, but sent linebacker Chase Blackburn to NFL, signing a free-agent contract with the New York Giants. Prior to coming to Akron, Fleming spent two seasons (2002-03) as the defensive backs coach at North Carolina. That stint came after two seasons as the head coach of Sacred Heart, a Division I-AA school in Connecticut, where he led the Pioneers to a 21-1 record, including a perfect 11-0 mark in 2001, earning the Division I-AA mid-major national championship. During their championship run the Pioneers ranked second in the nation in scoring, pass efficiency and turnover margin, fourth in total defense, and seventh in scoring defense and passing yards allowed. He was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 and ‘01 after Sacred Heart won only two games in the season prior to his arrival. In his first season at the school he led a turnaround from 2-9 in 1999, to 10-1 and a No. 5 national ranking in 2000. Fleming, a native of New York, N.Y., also spent two years as defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Villanova (1998-99), and four years (1994-97) coaching linebackers (1994) and defensive backs (1995-97) at East Carolina. His 1997 squad ranked second in Conference USA in pass defense, while in 1996 the team ranked 28th nationally in scoring defense and first in turnover margin, with 36 strips. In 1995, the Pirates finished 9-3 and earned a berth in the Liberty Bowl where they defeated Stanford, 19-13. That season the ECU defense ranked seventh nationally in pass efficiency defense, producing 33 takeaways and 19 interceptions. He mentored current UA assistant and eight-year NFL veteran Emmanuel McDaniel while at ECU. He spent the 1993 campaign as the defensive coordinator at Brown where the team went from 0-10 and last place in the Ivy League, to 4-6 and a tie for fourth place in the conference. From 1987-92, he had a successful six-year stretch, including the final three as defensive coordinator at Boise State. His 1991 Broncos’ defense led the nation in rushing defense and was third in turnover margin, and led the Big Sky Conference in every statistical category. In 1990, BSU finished 10-4 and advanced to the semifinals of the Division I-AA playoffs, leading the conference in scoring defense. Fleming was also responsible for special teams where his unit ranked third nationally in kickoff returns in 1991. A 1982 graduate of the University of the South with a degree in English, Fleming began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at South Carolina in 1985. He and his wife Leslie have four children, Jimmy (19), Will (18), Kate (16) and Meg (13). The Fleming Family: Front Row (l-r): Kate, Leslie and Meg Back Row (l-r): Will, Jim and Jimmy Akron’s 66th and Final Season at the Rubber Bowl 59
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