David Dean has won multiple NCAA national championships and coached in more than 20 NCAA Playoff games.
But Monday, sources told FootballScoop, Dean elected to step down from his post atop the University of West Georgia football program.
Dean coached the Wolves of UWG from 2017 through this 2023 season, when the program closed with a 6-4 campaign that ended in last Saturday's loss to rival Valdosta State.
The West Georgia program is preparing for a major transition, as the Wolves are climbing college football's ranks to compete at the Football Championship Subdivision level beginning in 2024-25.
A former player at Georgia Tech, Dean got his coaching career started at his alma mater, worked briefly in the high school ranks and then largely became a staple of both the Valdosta State and West Georgia football programs.
Additionally, Dean had a one-year stint in 2016 as Football Bowls Subdivision program Georgia Southern's co-offensive coordinator.
After that year, he left to take over at UWG. Dean guided the Blazers to 19 wins in his first two seasons, a run that included back-to-back NCAA Division II Playoff berths.
Dean then engineered a third run to the D-II Playoffs and advanced into the second round in 2021, but the Blazers could not recapture a postseason berth in each of the past two seasons.
Sources tell FootballScoop Dean isn't done coaching; but it remains to be seen where his next move will take him.
If this is Dean's final head coaching post, he closes his NCAA career with a 127-47 ledger that featured the two national titles from his tenure atop Valdosta State (2007, 2012) and more than 20 career NCAA Playoff games coached.
Through the years. the University of West Georgia football program has helped produce some widely recognized coaches throughout the sport, including current Southern Miss head coach Will Hall, Florida defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and Arkansas offensive line coach Cody Kennedy, a former Broyles Award semifinalist, among others.
The program is expected to perform a national search we are told.