Danielle Dawson enters her third season as assistant women’s basketball coach at Shaw University.
Dawson is a respected veteran in the profession. She has 24 years of coaching experience on the collegiate (NCAA Divisions I and II), international, AAU and high school levels.
Before landing at Shaw University, Dawson was at Virginia Union where she was an assistant coach during the 2019-20 season. She helped guide Virginia Union to a top-5 national ranking and a NCAA DII regional berth.
Dawson was an assistant coach at Radford for the 2013-14 season and was on Delaware State’s bench as an assistant coach from 2005-12. In her first season, the Lady Hornets advanced to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. The following season (2006-07), Delaware State captured its first MEAC Tournament crown and made its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Petersburg, Va. native began her coaching career at Valdosta State during the 1999-2000 season before joining the Monmouth women’s basketball program as an assistant coach from 2001-04. During the 2003-04 season, Monmouth reached the Northeast Conference Tournament championship game. Following that season, Dawson spent one year as an assistant coach at North Carolina A&T.
On the international and AAU circuits, Dawson was an assistant coach on the Virgin Islands Senior Women’s National Basketball Team (2014) and was a skill development trainer with Team Loaded in Richmond, Va. (2016-17). She was also the girls head coach of the Alabama Heat Elite in Birmingham, Ala. (2017-18) and the boys head coach of Team Marsh AAU in Chesterfield, Va. (2020-21).
As a collegian, Dawson was a standout player at Hampton University from 1996-99. She helped lead the Lady Pirates to two conference championships (1998, 1999).
Dawson earned several accolades during her collegiate career. She was named MEAC Rookie of the Year during the 1996-97 season and earned All-MEAC first team, MEAC All-Tournament and Team MVP honors in the 1997-98 season.
Dawson received her bachelor’s degree in communication (Speech Therapy) from Hampton in 1999 and a master's in Sports Administration from Delaware State University in 2009.
Before enrolling at Hampton University, Dawson was a standout at Menchville High School in Newport News, Va. While there, she earned All-America and All-State honors.
