The 2023 season will be Mark Dodd’s ninth at Lake Forest College and 15th in coaching. He will continue to work directly with the team’s tight ends and h-backs.

Lake Forest posted an 8-1 record in Midwest Conference play in 2022, claiming a share of the league title and advancing to the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the secons straight season. The Foresters are now 48-27 overall and 34-17 in the league in Dodd's eight seasons with the team.  

Utilized more for their blocking than receiving, Forester tight ends and h-backs have caught 81 passes for 947 yards and 13 touchdowns in 34 games since the start of 2019. They have also helped lead the offense to single-season scoring totals that rank among the top seven in program history in each of the last five full seasons. In addition, Noah Recker was a back-to-back Second Team All-MWC South selection at tight end in 2017 and 2018.

Dodd was the offensive line coach during his first stint at the College (2010-11). The Foresters averaged more than 26 points per game during the two seasons combined and set program records for points, total yards, and passing yards in 2011.

Dodd, 28-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, began his coaching career in 1996 while playing for the Hampton Road Sharks in the Mason-Dixon League. He was then the offensive line and strength & conditioning coach at Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1997. Dodd served in the same capacity in 1998 with the post-graduate team at Hargrave Military Academy before going 14-6 the next two years as Hargrave’s head high school coach.

As a Navy SEAL Dodd was awarded Commendation with Valor during Operation Just Cause. He also served in Operations Desert Shield, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where he earned a Bronze Star.

Dodd has three daughters and a granddaughter and lives in nearby Gurnee.