Dale Carlson begins his second season as an assistant football coach at Washington University in St. Louis. Carlson is the tight ends coach, and will also coach the special teams.
In his first season serving under head coach Larry Kindbom, WashU posted an 8-2 overall record in the program's first season as an associate member in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) in 2018. The Bears finished in third place in the CCIW with a 7-2 mark. WashU upset then No. 12-ranked Wheaton College (Ill.) 17-10 on Oct. 13 for its first victory over a ranked opponent since 2010.
WashU averaged 33.0 points and 409.6 yards per contest. The Bears ranked first in the CCIW in turnover margin (+8) and third in pass offense (322.8 ypg), and WashU set the CCIW single-season record for passing completions in a season (273).
Carlson brings 26 years of college football head coaching experience, including most recently a two-year stint as head coach at Lindenwood University-Belleville. He has a 117-159-3 career record.
Carlson began his coaching career as an offensive line coach at Elmhurst College from 1982 to 1984. He then moved to Franklin College for the 1984 season and Grand Valley State University from 1985 to 1987, serving in the same role as offensive line coach.
Carlson became the head coach at Lakeland College in the spring of 1987. He spent three seasons with Lakeland, before taking the head coach position at Taylor University.
After leaving Taylor, he was tasked with founding the football programs at Tri-State University, now known as Trine University Carlson spent eight seasons guiding the team and led the team to 11 victories in 1998 plus an NAIA semifinal appearance and a top-three national ranking. He then led Trine to the Mid-State Association Midwest Conference title in 2001 and was named the conference Coach of the Year.
In 2003, Carlson was named head coach at Ohio Dominican University and again placed in a position to build a football program at ODU like he did at Trine. Despite a 0–10 inaugural season, he quickly led the program into a prominent position in the NAIA and an undefeated regular season during the 2007 season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the national playoffs. The 2007 season also saw Carlson earn Conference Coach of the Year and was named the American Football Coaches Association Region II and American Football Monthly/Schutt Sports NAIA National Coach of the Year.
Under Carlson, ODU led all of college football with an average of more than 50 points per game. While guiding the Panthers, Carlson produced five All-Americans, seven Academic All-Americans, and more than 90 All-Conference players in his six years.
Carlson was named the 16th head football coach in at Valparaiso University, a position he held for four years. Following the stint with Valparaiso, he returned to his native Chicago, Ill., to serve as the assistant head coach at North Park University.
Carlson received a bachelor's degree in physical education from Concordia University – Chicago in 1978, and earned a master's degree in physical education from Chicago State University in 1982.
Updated June 1, 2019
