Whitney Dobson – Alumnus to Coach

MEQUON, Wis. – This past March, the Concordia Wisconsin Football team hired Whitney Dobson to be the new linebacker coach. The opportunity is special for Dobson, who is a CUW alumnus and former student-athlete.

In the fall of 1995, Dobson was a senior in high school and planning to go to South Eastern Oklahoma State to play football and run track. However, an encounter with long-time assistant coach Keith Collins started him on his path to Concordia Wisconsin.

"At one of my last football games in high school, Coach Collins, who's still at Concordia, was at the game and ended up talking to my parents," said Dobson. "At the end of the game we went over to the fence to say hello and my mother introduced me to him. Coach Collins told me, 'We're looking at you to play at Concordia'. I had no idea Concordia even existed. He said come check it out and I did. At the time Jeff Gabrielsen was the head coach, and I spoke to him and Coach Collins while they gave me a campus tour. Afterward, I came home and just felt like it was a really good fit. I liked the fact that it was a smaller school with smaller classes and that it was close to home, that it wasn't 14 hours away. I thought about it more and ended up deciding that that's where I wanted to go."

Dobson as a Freshman (1996), Sophomore (1997), Junior (1998), and Senior (1999)

Dobson started at Concordia in the fall of 1996. He was a two-sport athlete, playing football and running in track.

"I played both wide receiver and defensive back through high school and they recruited me as a receiver, so the first two years I played wide receiver," Dobson added. "By my junior year, I made the switch over to defensive back, which was where I was more comfortable playing since that's where I played since seventh grade. In track, I was a triple jumper and hurdler, and I ran the 400 every now and then."

While at Concordia, Dobson forged friendships with teammates that have lasted to this day.

"A lot of the people that I played football with I'm still in contact with now," said Dobson. "I made a couple of really good lifelong friends, one of them who was the best man at my wedding; Matt Zavada, who was a lineman. Then our kicker at the time, Tony Licavoli, was my roommate for the four and a half years while I was in school. We still are in contact to this day. I actually just went to a Michigan football game with him this past fall, so we still stay in touch."

While Dobson thrived in the athletics side of the college experience, he was becoming disillusioned with the academic side. He was considering dropping out before even completing his first year until he had a pivotal conversation with Coach Collins.

"My freshman year I was ready to leave," said Coach Dobson. "I didn't feel like school was for me, that it was the right choice. I ended up talking with Coach Collins and he actually made me write a letter and sign it, saying that I would graduate from Concordia and finish my football career. He framed it when I graduated, and I still have it. I think that's my biggest accomplishment, sticking with school and seeing it through."

In 2001, Dobson graduated from Concordia Wisconsin with a degree in Justice and Public Policy. Since graduating, he has worked for companies such as Liberty Mutual and Aurora Healthcare. Additionally, he served as a volunteer firefighter for the Cedarburg Fire Department for 16 years and now works as paid on call for the Grafton Fire Department. On top of all that, Dobson has continually worked as a coach for both track and football.

"I've coached ever since I left college," Dobson said. "I've coached track at Arrowhead, New Berlin Eisenhower, Homestead and Cedarburg. I've coached football at Kohler, West Bend West and Cedarburg."

Having coached high school athletics for years, Dobson was looking to break into the college level. He and Concordia Wisconsin head football coach Greg Etter connected a few years back. At the time there simply wasn't an opening on the staff, but the two remained in contact. Flash forward to just a few months ago and Dobson received a call from Etter who told him there is a position open and asked him to come in for an interview. When Dobson came in for his interview, he was impressed by how much the campus had changed since he was a student two-plus decades ago.

"It's completely different," said Dobson. "Completely different. First of all, our field was grass when I first started, and we were sharing it with the soccer team, so it was always beat up. Where the softball, soccer, and baseball fields are were all open fields and that was our practice area. It was completely different. Our weight room was underneath Regents. At first, our weight room was where the mailroom is and it was so small, I mean, trying to get 80 guys into the weight room was ridiculous. So going around, seeing even the Falcon's Nest and how that whole area completely changed, it was awesome to see. They've done a lot to improve it and it makes me wish that I was back and just entering into college because it's a really cool campus now."

The interview for the position went well, and Dobson was offered the job. He accepted, but it was for more than simply the opportunity to coach for a great team at the collegiate level. Being an alumnus of the university, Dobson knew the culture he was joining was one that cared about integrity and helping student-athletes grow and mature into great men.

"I already know what they are about," said Coach Dobson. "I already know what the program is about. I've been following them ever since I left. Some of the coaches who are still there were coaches when I was there. So I know about their integrity, I know about the pride they have. I know details from being a former player. You know what they stand for, what they are teaching the young men that come through Concordia to play football. They're teaching them more than just football. They are teaching them about life, and I wanted to be a part of that. It also gave me an opportunity to give back to the school that gave to me."

From a football perspective, Dobson is looking forward to getting to coach players who already know the game and give their all every day to be better.

"I'm excited because it's a different level of coaching," Dobson expressed. "In high school, you're really trying to guide them, you're really still teaching them the game, whereas in college they know the game and you're just trying to perfect their understanding of the game. You're trying to expand on what they can do."

The platform he now has as a coach to help guide student-athletes through the difficulties and frustrations of college is not lost on Dobson. He remembers how close he was to walking away from it all and how a coach helped him stay on track and graduate. With that perspective, he hopes his life experience will allow him to help student-athletes who have the same misgivings he had as a freshman 24 years ago.

"They might have the same feelings I had as a freshman," said Coach Dobson. "They're going to have that 'I don't know if this was the right fit' feeling, and not really give it a chance just like I wasn't going to. Coming from that point of view, I hope to help those kids focus, kind of keep their eye on why they came here."

The Falcons are scheduled to open their 2020 season on Saturday, September 5th at Martin Luther College, with the student-athletes reporting in mid-August for training camp. Twenty-four years ago Dobson was the one in pads and a helmet, just starting his journey as a Falcon student-athlete. Now, he has the opportunity to coach a new generation of Falcons to help them achieve greatness both on and off the field.

"I'm really excited for the opportunity that Coach Etter gave me," said Dobson. "Being able to come back as an alumnus and coach the team that I played for, I'm just really excited to take my coaching to that next level. I'm excited to be a part of where the program is going because I really do think it's going in the right direction, and I'm excited that I get to help it go in that right direction."