The Monmouth University football team’s new hire, MU alum Kamau Dumas, has started his first season with the Hawks on the coaching staff as the Defensive Backs (DB) Coach after joining the team in February of 2025.
Kamau Dumas is in his first season coaching at Monmouth; however, this is not his first time with the Hawks. Dumas attended Monmouth from 2013 to 2017, where he played football as a defensive back.
During his time as a player, he appeared in all 11 games as a sophomore, junior, senior, and fifth year. He was part of the 2017 playoff team and led Monmouth in kickoff returns his junior year and punt return yards his sophomore year.
Shortly after graduation, Dumas went back to his high school, Morristown High School, and spent three years coaching football and track and field. He then helped guide Gannon University’s team to a PSAC West Championship and one of the best seasons in school history. After a year with them as the cornerbacks coach, he was Wagner College’s DB coach, where he was named to Football Scoop’s Rising Minority Coaches List.
Before Monmouth, Dumas spent the 2024 season at Central Oklahoma as the cornerbacks coach, where he helped lead the team to an MIAA Conference Championship and a second-round playoff appearance. This defense ranked among the top ten nationally in pass breakups.
He left Central Oklahoma after being contacted by Monmouth about the open position. Right away, the job was extremely appealing to him. According to Dumas, the familiarity of this place, along with the care he has for it and the success it brought him in life, was why. The familiarity, added to the financial aspect and the opportunity to coach at a higher level, ultimately led to him accepting the job offer.
Dumas believes he was the right choice as the new DB coach because he knows what needs to be done, having been in the players’ shoes himself. He said that it is a little bit more special when it’s someone who sat in the same seats in the locker room, played on the same field, and has had success at the same school.
“I’ve learned a lot through my years of coaching, and I’ve been thankful to help develop a lot of players, both on and off the field. I would say just having had success here and getting opportunities that some of these guys aspire to have, having walked in their shoes, adds more value on top of me, knowing what I need to do for the position group,” Dumas said.
Dumas’ former coaches, Head Coach Kevin Callahan and Defensive Coordinator Lewis Walker, made a collaborative decision to hire Dumas, said Walker.
“He has a lot of energy and passion he coaches with. He really, really implements a positive mindset and a growth development mindset and really preaches confidence into the players. I think he has an approach that he takes to continually develop every single player in his room. He’s very detailed in terms of his technique in coaching,” said Walker, who actually served as the team’s DB coach from 2017-2021.
Since his arrival, the Hawks’ record is 8-1 in the current season. In the entire 2024 season, defense totaled six fumble recoveries, four forced fumbles, and five interceptions. Nine games into 2025, the defense is already at 11 fumble recoveries, nine forced fumbles, and five interceptions this season.
“We’ve been doing well. There’s always room for growth, and that’s for us as an entire defense. I think in terms of the young guys he has in that room that don’t have a lot of experience, he’s really, really getting those guys to step up to the plate and execute their assignment,” commented Walker.
Comparing the defensive backs he’s been coaching from when he first met them to now, Dumas said he has seen tremendous growth in terms of technique, eye discipline, and leverage on the field. However, off the field is where he believes they have grown the most.
He often tells his players, “Today is the worst we’ll ever be, but the best we’ve ever been.” Though he admits to using the “tough love” method of coaching, his players have been responding positively.
“I like him as a coach. I think of him like family, like an uncle, like a pop. He’s a good person. He definitely develops me and gets me better at my sport,” said Chris Palmer Jr., freshman defensive back.
Palmer Jr. had a fumble recovery in the Hawks’ game against Villanova, which helped lead Monmouth to a win. He attributes a lot of his success so far this season to Coach Dumas.
Dumas hopes to make it to the playoffs for the FCS Championship, taking his love for football and combining it with the knowledge he has of the team, the position group, and the sport overall.
“I feel like it’s ordained from God for me to do this. I believe it’s my calling to help young men become better people in society through their character and morals, through having an influence on them from my faith, and I really enjoy seeing these young men reach their potential,” said Dumas.
