Dawn Plitzuweit named head coach of Minnesota women's basketball
The University of Minnesota's national search for a new women's basketball coach has led to the hiring of Wisconsin native Dawn Plitzuweit. The university made the news official Saturday morning, one day after Plitzuweit's West Virginia Mountaineers lost to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"I am extremely excited," said Plitzuweit. "This is a homecoming of sorts, and Minnesota is a program that I am very familiar with from my previous time in the surrounding area and in the Big Ten. I am looking forward to getting back to the area and to meet the team, alumni and fans. I am also looking forward to reconnecting with local high school and club coaches. I can't wait to get to work."
West Virginia athletics director Shane Lyons announced after hiring Plitzuweit a year ago that she received a five-year contract worth a total of $3 million. She arrived at West Virginia after six years at South Dakota, where she led the Coyotes to the NCAA tournament four times. She was the three-time Summit League coach of the year.
Terms of her deal with Minnesota weren't immediately known, but KSTP's Darren Wolfson is reporting that it's a six-year deal.
In the 2022 NCAA tournament, South Dakota beat Ole Miss in the first round and then upset No. 2 Baylor in the second round before losing to Michigan in the Sweet 16.
"I am excited to welcome Dawn, her husband Jay and their family to Minnesota," said Minnesota athletics director Mark Coyle. "Dawn is a process-driven coach and has coached winning teams at every step of her career. She has recruited Minnesota and has consistently produced teams that compete for championships. Dawn has Big Ten coaching experience and knows how competitive and strong the conference is. I know she is excited to get back to the area and build her program."
Plitzuweit is originally from West Bend, Wisconsin.
Minnesota began a national search for a new coach after, according to Coyle, he and Lindsay Whalen "mutually agreed" that it was time for Whalen to step down after five years leading her alma mater.
Whalen has yet to publicly address her departure.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.