Thursday, March 11, 2010
Dixon new Galax football coach
The former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman was also an All-American at Virginia.
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Mark Dixon had helped with the Galax High football team for less than a season. Apparently he made quite the impression.
The former University of Virginia All-American and five-year offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins was named Tuesday night as the new head coach of the Maroon Tide. Dixon succeeds Jared Van Acker, who resigned at the end of last season after three years and an 11-19 record.
Dixon, 38, is working a youth counseling internship in the Galax area as he completes a masters degree at Radford University.
He finishes the degree in May at which point he will begin duties as a special education teacher.
He's anticipating meeting with individual players soon to set up offseason workout schedules. Dixon coached the Galax junior varsity basketball team for the entire season that just past.
"The way I see things right now [at Galax] is through the perspective of basketball and a sense of the athletes we have," he said. "Both basketball teams have been successful for a long time here. We're successful in most other sports here. I think there's plenty of [athletes] here. I know there is. I've worked with them in basketball."
Dixon's primary football influence is his college coach, George Welsh.
"We're going to make sure we're very structured and fundamentally sound," Dixon said. "Win the turnover battle; eliminate the penalties; be able to punt the ball and play good defense."
Galax worked mostly out of the spread during the Van Acker regime, but Dixon promises a complete departure from the previous approach both offensively and defensively.
"There will be wholesale changes across the board," Dixon said.
First off, he wants to keep it simple.
That means a move to multiple offensive sets based on the I-formation and one-back looks. Defensively, he plans an aggressive attacking unit that can operate out of either a four or three-man front. Opponents can count on pressure just about every down.
Before working with the Maroon Tide during the preseason and the first several games of the regular season, Dixon's prior coaching experience included working with youth leagues in Miami and at Nags Head, N.C.
Dixon's limited coaching background was known to those who hired him but that wasn't nearly as much of a factor as the way Dixon handled himself in his short term at Galax, Principal Bill Sutherland said.
"It's been amazing to see him work with our JV basketball players," Sutherland said.
Dixon will be a special education teacher working with some of the system's most challenged students according to Sutherland.
"I think he will be particularly suited for that," Sutherland said.
After finishing at Virginia after the 1994-95 school year, Dixon spent three years in the Canadian Football League and one in the World Football League before serving the last five years of his career with Miami ending after the 2003 season.
