This is all strikingly familiar for Mike Dawson, and also all just slightly different, too.
The Nebraska outside linebackers coach, rehired to Scott Frost’s staff this winter, knows all of the ins and outs of life as a Husker assistant coach.
He knows the neighborhood he wants to move back into. He knows the school district and sports teams he wants his son to play on. He knows the rest of the assistant coaches, or at least mostly. He knows the personnel and the way Frost runs things.
When Nebraska began spring practice earlier this week, the former Husker offensive lineman said the new responsibility is a big deal to him.
And for all the familiarity, this is going to be new, too, for Dawson and his family.
Same neighborhood, sure, but not the same house. Same coaching staff, sure, but not the same position. Same players, largely, but he’ll be in charge of different ones. His office moved three doors down.
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“I’m like a boomerang,†Dawson said in his big, booming voice as he sat down to a table of familiar-looking reporters Monday afternoon. “Throw me away and I’ll eventually come back around.â€
The past two months have been a smooth transition, but a transition nonetheless. And it’s still very much in progress — especially on the personal front — as Nebraska hits what would have been Week 2 of spring ball but instead is in an unexpected shutdown in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The veteran coach spent the 2018 season as NU’s defensive line coach before taking a job with the New York Giants, where he coached outside linebackers for a year. He enjoyed it, but head coach Pat Shurmur was fired at the end of the season and the staff was out the door, too.
It didn’t take long for Frost to get in touch and for a reunion to get finalized.
“It is a little bit different I guess. I don’t know how many times this situation has happened in college football where you go and then a year later you’re back,†Dawson said. “My office has moved three doors down and I have a different meeting room and the (defensive line) guys, you build relationships with those guys over recruiting and then having those guys in the room with you for a year, so there’s a lot of those guys that come over and you get to see them. That’s part of the reason I’m so excited to come back.â€
After Dawson’s rehire was official, he wasted little time jumping back on the road recruiting. He hit some of his familiar territory in the Northeast, where in the past he’s helped the Huskers land players such as defensive lineman Casey Rogers and running back Rahmir Johnson.
“Some of the (coaches) that I have longstanding relationships with especially in the Northeast — in New Jersey and New York and stuff — they were kind of giggling, ‘You’re back again?'' Dawson said. "It’s like riding a bike. You just get back on it and keep on going and it gets you right back into it.â€
Really, the toughest part currently is the family transition. Dawson’s wife and son are still on the East Coast and the family is back on the hunt for a house in Lincoln.
“The part that stinks, if you want to know the real deal, is it’s three years in a row of going through that kind of, end of January, February stretch where my wife and my son are finishing school and we’re transitioning and selling a house and moving into another house," he said. "Once they get here and we get it locked in, that’s when that will hit. The going back and forth of them having to come back and forth, that’s probably the most stressful part of it.â€
A day after canceling all remaining winter and spring sports events, the Big Ten has suspended all organized team activities. Â
For now, Dawson either stays at a hotel or couch surfs. “I’ve known the guys on the staff long enough, and we’ve got those connections where they’ll say, 'All right big guy, come on. I’ll listen to you snore for a couple nights,’†he says. "But I try not to wear out my welcome, that’s for sure.â€
He certainly is welcomed back, though, by Frost and the familiar coaching staff. He’s breaking in a new relationship with defensive line coach Tony Tuioti, who is coaching the guys Dawson used to coach. They have a lot of crossover, too, since the outside linebackers and defensive linemen typically work hand-in-hand. If that’s the biggest part of the transition workwise, that seems like a pretty darned good spot to be in.
Dawson certainly thinks it is.
“It’s been a crazy 12 or 14 months or whatever it’s been,†he said. “Maybe not how you draw it up, but I’m very lucky. You don’t get a lot of second chances in life, and I’m very lucky to be back to Lincoln, back to the University of Nebraska, back with Scott.
“I’m real excited about it.â€