Erin Dawson enters her third season as an assistant coach for the Wildcats. Dawson comes to Tucson from Northern Arizona University where she served as an assistant coach for two years. Her duties will include coaching the men's and women's distance runners, as well as assisting associate head coach James Li with recruiting.

Dawson played an integral role in helping the women's distance team return to prominance during the 2009 season. A strong recruiting campaign led to several impressive freshman student-athletes making their mark in their first season. The group of impressive freshmen played a key role in helping take the women's cross country team to their first NCAA Championship appearance in nine years.

During the 2010 track season, five women qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships (Maggie Callahan, Hannah Moen, Elizabeth Apgar, Jennifer Bergman and Megan Meyer). Meyer had one of the top junior times internationally in the 10,000 meters, her time of 33:46 puts her third on Arizona's all-time list and was good for fifth at the Pac-10 Championships. Moen advanced to the Pac-10 finals in the steeplchase, setting a school record en route. She finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships in the event while fellow steeplchaser Callahan was second.

During her final season with the Lumberjacks, Dawson played an integral part in coaching the men's team to a fourth-place finish and the women's team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. This marked the first time NAU posted two top-eight team finishes in the school's history.

The 2006-07 season proved to be successful for the Lumberjacks.Dawson helped coach three cross country national qualifiers and the men's team to the Big Sky Outdoor title. In her time at NAU, Lopez Lomong won two NCAA titles in the indoor 3,000 meters and the outdoor 1,500 meters.

While in Flagstaff, Dawson assisted the NAU women to win both the indoor and outdoor Big Sky Conference championships in 2006. Johanna Nilsson claimed NCAA Championship titles in the indoor mile and 3,000 meters, en route to being named the NCAA Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Prior to her stint at NAU, Dawson taught ESL and Spanish at Stony Point High school in Round Rock, Texas. She worked as the head cross country and track and field coach where she would produce the first 5A regional qualifying team in cross country for the school.

As a student-athlete, Dawson helped guide the Texas Longhorns to the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships. That same season, her team delivered a first-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships - the first in 15 years at Texas. On the track, Dawson contributed conference efforts in the mile, 3,000 meters and steeplechase. She was a member of the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship team.

While at Texas, Dawson was named to the 2003 and 2004 Academic All-Big 12 teams. She has continued to run marathons after college, competing in the Compaq Houston Marathon, Freescale Austin Marathon and the P.F. Chang's Phoenix Marathon.

A native of The Woodlands, Texas, Dawson is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas. After graduating with a double major in Spanish and history, she returned to earn a post baccalaureate degree in secondary education. She received her master's degree in educational psychology with an emphasis in school counseling while at NAU.