Dawn Plitzuweit was named the 10th head coach in women’s basketball program history on April 22, 2016. Plitzuweit (PLITTS-zoo-white) served as the head coach of the Coyotes for six seasons until April of 2022.
The three-time Summit League Coach of the Year, Plitzuweit was the recipient of the 2022 Kay Yow Award presented by CollegeInsider.com. She was also a semifinalist for the 2020 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year. The Coyotes made the postseason in all six seasons, qualifying for four-straight NCAA Tournaments from 2019 through 2022.
The Coyotes made noise on the big stage during the 2022 NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 as a No. 10 seed. The postseason run included a 75-61 win over a receiving votes Ole Miss squad, followed by a 61-47 takedown of No. 7/5 Baylor in the second round. It was the biggest win in program history and a Summit League squad’s first win over a top-10 nationally ranked team since 1994. South Dakota fell to No. 12/12 Michigan, 52-49, in the Sweet 16.
Plitzuweit tops the Summit League charts for overall winning percentage (.814) and in league games (.894). On Jan. 29, 2020, she became the fastest Summit League coach to reach 100 wins by eclipsing the milestone in just 124 games at USD. She compiled a 158-36 overall record and 84-10 conference record at South Dakota for the best winning percentage in school history and ranks second in total wins.
On the national stage, Plitzuweit’s Coyotes have made a name for themselves as a premier mid-major program. Twice in her final three seasons, USD finished the season No. 1 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll. The 2019-20 Coyotes finished No. 17/11 in the final Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. USD’s No. 11 ranking is the highest national ranking bestowed upon a Summit team. The Coyotes set Summit League records during the season for weeks in both polls with 16 weeks in the coaches’ poll and 12 weeks in the AP poll. USD also completed the 2021-22 season at No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
South Dakota has stamped its name all across the Summit’s record book in Plitzuweit’s tutelage. In the 30 years of the Summit League’s history, only four teams have ever run the table during the regular season. Two of those four teams were Plitzuweit’s Coyotes – in 2018 and 2020. Her 2020 squad routed league opponents by an average of 32 points per game, becoming the first and only program to go undefeated in the Summit regular season and win the Summit League Tournament. Other Summit records include the most consecutive overall wins (20, 2017-18), most consecutive league wins (24, 2019-21), most consecutive home league wins (40, 2017-2022), highest overall winning percentage (.938, 2019-20), fewest losses (2, 2019-20).
South Dakota won three-straight Summit League Tournaments (2020, 2021, 2022) and three Summit League regular season titles (2018, 2020, 2022) under Plitzuweit.
Under Plitzuweit, South Dakota women’s basketball recorded its first-ever wins against AP Top 25 teams. South Dakota topped No. 23/22 Iowa State 64-59 at home and followed that up with a 74-61 road win at No. 22/24 Missouri during the 2018-19 season. South Dakota became ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Division I Coaches Poll for the first time in program history on Feb. 11, 2019. The team remained ranked for two weeks in the AP Top 25 and five weeks in the coaches’ poll. The Coyotes’ biggest win was over No. 7/5 Baylor in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Plitzuweit has coached six all-Summit League players highlighted by 2020 Becky Hammon Mid-Major and Summit League Player of the Year Ciara Duffy, a three-time all-league first team pick. Chloe Lamb, a three-time all-league pick, was the 2022 Summit League Player of the Year. Other all-league players include three-time first-team picks Hannah Sjerven and Allison Arens, two-time pick Liv Korngable, and Jasmine Trimboli. With defense as the cornerstone of Plitzuweit’s style, South Dakota picked up the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year five times between Trimboli (2018), Arens (2019) and Sjerven (2020, 2021, 2022). The Coyotes led the league in scoring defense all five years.
The Coyotes are the only program in Summit history to total five players on the first team, second team or honorable mention squad and Plitzuweit’s teams have done it twice (2018, 2020).
Plitzuweit has compiled a 346-129 record for a winning percentage of .728 in 15 years as a head coach. She has guided programs to 25 winning seasons in 27 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels including 14 NCAA tournament appearances.
As a head coach, Plitzuweit led her teams to 14 postseason appearances highlighted by the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16 and a 2006 NCAA Division II Championship at Grand Valley State. She reached the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time as a head coach with South Dakota in 2019, then advancing to the NCAA Tournament again in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Plitzuweit began her coaching career at her alma mater, Michigan Tech, under her collegiate coach, Kevin Borseth, in 1995. The pair teamed up for 11 seasons with stops at Michigan Tech, Green Bay and Michigan.
A 1995 graduate of Michigan Tech, Plitzuweit earned back-to-back Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year awards, four all-conference honors and three all-defensive team nods. She led the Huskies to a 99-22 record and four trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament. She was a Division II Bulletin second-team All-America selection and a two-time Kodak All-America honorable mention pick (1994, 1995). She earned WBCA All-Academic accolades in 1994 and 1995 and was named Michigan’s NCAA Woman of the Year in 1995.
A native of West Bend, Wisconsin, Plitzuweit and her husband, Jay, have a son, A.J., and a daughter, Lexi. A.J. was the 2021 Summit’s Newcomer of the Year and all-Summit first team as a member of the Coyote men’s basketball team.
