USD names new women's basketball coach

The University of South Dakota has hired Northern Kentucky women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit to replace Amy Williams, the school announced Friday morning.

USD will introduce Plitzuweit at a news conference on Monday at 11 a.m. at the Muenster University Center. She will not be made available to the media until then, nor would athletic directer David Herbster be discussing the new coach until Monday, USD indicated in a release announcing her hiring.

Before the announcement, Herbster did discuss what he was looking for, however, saying he wanted someone with head coaching experience as well as someone familiar with major college basketball.

USD could check both boxes on that count with Plitzuweit, who just completed her fourth season with Northern Kentucky, finishing with a 19-14 record in 2015-16 while going 9-9 in the Horizon League.

The Norse, who defeated USD in the NCAA Division II national title game in 2008, moved up a level in 2012 and were in their last season of transition to NCAA Division I this year. Though still ineligible for NCAA tournament play in 2015-16, they advanced to the Horizon League semifinals this March, losing to host Green Bay in double-overtime.

"She is a tireless worker, she has incredible energy and she has great knowledge of the game," said Mike Williams, the current coach at Grand Valley State, who in the past has worked alongside Plitzuweit at Grand Valley State and Michigan. "I can't emphasize the energy enough. She's a person of great energy and great character."

Prior to Northern Kentucky, Plitzuweit spent five seasons as associate head coach at Michigan. She was head coach at Grand Valley State for five years, winning a national title at the school in 2005-06. Plitzuweit compiled a 117-39 record with the Lakers, including a 68-22 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

She was named the Women’s College Coach of the Year by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan in 2006 after taking the national title, as well as the Molten/Women’s Division II Bulletin Coach of the Year.

As an assistant she's also had stops at Michigan Tech, her alma mater, as well as Green Bay and Wisconsin.

As a player, Plitzuweit was a four-year starter (1990-91, 1992-95) at NCAA Division II Michigan Tech and led the Huskies to a 99-22 overall record. She was MTU’s all-time leader in rebounds (866), assists (439), and steals (331), while ranking second in points (1,398) and games played (121).

Plitzuweit was a Division II Bulletin second team All-America selection in 1995 in addition to being a two-time Kodak All-America honorable mention (1994-95).  She also earned WBCA All-Academic honors in 1993-94 and was named Michigan’s NCAA Woman of the Year in 1995. She graduated from Michigan Tech in 1995 with a degree in biological sciences.

A native of West Bend, Wis., Plitzuweit and her husband, Jay, have a son, A.J., and a daughter, Lexi.

Follow Mick Garry on Twitter @MickGarry