The Average Man is Dave Morris, who lives an average life in an average town smack-dab in the middle of the country. He has worked as a prison sociologist, processing new admissions to the Illinois Department of Corrections and as a counselor for maximum security offenders, including those on death row. He has also taught criminology at Ball State University and Southwestern Illinois College and co-authored Prison Guards: The Culture and Perspective of an Occupational Group. In addition, Morris has worked as a reporter and editor for several Midwestern newspapers and wrote a popular column, Daves Notebook.