Richmond, VA -- Richmond on Monday announced that Dave Clawson has been selected as the 32nd head football coach in school history. Clawson replaces Jim Reid, who left the program earlier in February to become the defensive line coach at Syracuse.

Clawson spent the previous five seasons as the head man at Fordham, where the Rams broke 45 individual and 16 team records. Fordham had the 14th best winning percentage among Division I-AA football programs the past three seasons and the school's 19 combined wins during the 2002-03 seasons were the most since 1918-19.

"I am very excited and feel privileged and honored for the opportunity to lead the football program here," said Clawson, who was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002. "I hope in a short period of time that we can produce a football team that the administration, students and alumni of Richmond can be proud of."

An All-Conference quarterback has emerged from Clawson's offense in five of the past eight seasons, including the last three at Fordham.

The other two honors came during his three-year tenure at Villanova, where he served as the offensive coordinator from 1996-98. While coaching the Wildcats, Clawson helped to mentor Brian Finneran, who won the Sport Network's Walter Payton Award, given to I-AA's most outstanding player.

"Dave Clawson is a good fit for this University, athletic department and football program," Richmond athletic director Jim Miller said. "In five years as a collegiate head coach, Dave has already established himself as a winner."

Clawson graduated from Williams College in 1989 and joined the coaching staff at Albany from 1989-90. He has also coached at Buffalo (1991-92) and Lehigh (1993-95).