The Miami football program officially hired Shannon Dawson as offensive coordinator on Thursday. Dawson is from the Hal Mumme and Mike Leach Air Raid offensive system tree. Expect Dawson to incorporate the Air Raid while staying true to the power spread and emphasis on the line of scrimmage Mario Cristobal prefers.
Dawson has been an offensive coordinator for 10 of the last 11 years. In eight of the last nine years Dawson has run his own offense. The only exceptions to those seasons were as the Co-OC at West Virginia in 2012 and the tight ends coach at Houston in 2019. Clayton Tune was one of the best quarterbacks nationally in 2022.
Tune finished fifth nationally averaging 313.4 passing yards per game, 14th completing 67.4 percent of his passes, tied for third with 40 touchdown passess, 17th with a 158.92 passer rating and 32nd averaging 8.2 yards per attempt. Tune also had 546 yards rushing and another five TDs.
The 4,074 passing yards and 40 TD passes Tune had in 2022 were the most by a QB under Dawson. The 158.9 passer rating by was the highest by the primary QB under Dawson. Tune easily had the best season by a Dawson QB. Tyler Van Dyke has a chance to take a similiar step with the Miami football team in 2023.
Miami football: Primary QB stats per season under Shannon Dawson
| Year/School|Player|G|Cmp|Att|Pct|Yds|Y/A|AY/A|TD|Int|Rate |
|---|
| WVU 2013|Clint Trickett|8|123|233|52.8|1605|6.9|6.1|7|7|114.6 |
| WVU 2014|Clint Trickett|11|281|419|67.1||3285|7.8|7.6|18|10|142.3 |
| Kentucky 2015|Patrick Towles|11|183|326|56.1|2148|6.6|5.2|9|14|112.0 |
| Southern Miss 2016|Nick Mullens|11|243|384|63.3|3272|8.5|8.5|24|11|149.8 |
| Southern Miss 2017|Kwadra Griggs|10|148|265|55.8|1879|7.1|8.0|16|2|133.8 |
| Southern Miss 2018|Jack Abraham|9|223|305|73.1|2347|7.7|7.2|15|10|147.4 |
| Houston 2020|Clayton Tune|8|170|285|59.6|2048|7.2|6.7|15|10|130.4 |
| Houston 2021|Clayton Tune|14|287|420|68.3|3544|8.4|8.8|30|10|158.0 |
| Houston 2022|Clayton Tune|13|334|496|67.3|4074|8.2|8.9|40|10|158.9 |
The numbers Miami had passing in 2022 pale in comparison to what Dawson and Tune accomplished with Houston. Miami QBs completed 61.7 percent of their passes for 239.0 yards per game, a 128.66 passer rating, 18 TDs and 12 interceptions. Miami needs to significantly improve its passing game in 2023.
Dawson has a diverse background as an offensive coach. In addition to his experience as an OC and QBs coach Dawson has coached running backs, tight ends and wide receivers. Those experiences should help Dawson as a coordinator. Van Dyke should put up numbers similiar to the other primary QBs under Dawson.