Random Articles from the Past: Dawn Plitzuweit Edition

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Former Michigan assistant Dawn Plitzuweit will lead Northern Kentucky into Division I

Dawn Plitzuweit, an assistant coach for the Michigan women's basketball team for the past five seasons, was named the head coach at Northern Kentucky on ...

www.annarbor.com

Plitzuweit has certainly toured the Mid-West and it's extremes. From Houghton, Michigan, to Cincinnati, ro Ann Arbor, to Grand Rapids, to Madison, to West Bend, to Green Bay to Vermillion and MInneapolis, I'm not sure there's a mid-west senseability to be found in that journey. But there it is surely a basketball passion

From the old Ann Arbor News: her hiring at Nothern Kentucky:

Former Michigan assistant Dawn Plitzuweit will lead Northern Kentucky into Division I​

By Rich Rezler
Dawn Plitzuweit, an assistant coach for the Michigan women's basketball team for the past five seasons, was named the head coach at Northern Kentucky on Thursday.

Dawn Plitzuweit
AnnArbor.com file photo
She takes over as the school is on the verge of moving up to the NCAA Division I level. The Norse will officially join the Atlantic Sun Conference on July 1 and begin competition in the conference in all sports in the 2012-13 seasons.

Plitzuweit, 39, also replaces a legendary coach in Nancy Winstel. She built Northern Kentucky into a Division II powerhouse over 29 seasons before announcing her retirement on March 28.

"I am extremely thrilled and honored to be named the fourth coach in the rich history of Northern Kentucky women's basketball,” Plitzuweit said in a statement.

“I would also like to thank coach Nancy Winstel for all of her dedication in building this championship-caliber program at NKU. I am eager to get started and am looking forward to building relationships with the current players, our incoming freshmen, the coaches in the area, our future recruits, our alumni, the fans, and the entire NKU community."

Plitzuweit was an associate head coach for former Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth, who resigned that position in April to return to Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Borseth was replaced former St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico.

Before arriving in Ann Arbor, Plitzuweit led Grand Valley State to four postseason berths in five years and won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2006. That postseason run included a 91-70 win over Northern Kentucky in a Great Lakes Regional semifinal.

“We were very familiar with Dawn and her ability to get the best and the most out of her players,” said Northern Kentucky athletic director Scott Eaton. “She knows the game, is an outstanding recruiter and a great person. Her players have excelled in the classroom as well as on the court, and she is a great fit for NKU as we make the transition to Division I.”

According to a Cincinnati.com report, Eaton's coaching search was narrowed to four candidates who were brought on-campus for final interviews, where Eaton said Plitzuweit stood apart.

“We wanted someone with significant Division I experience but we also needed successful head coaching experience. And she had that,” Eaton said. “We needed someone that had been in charge of a program, that had offered scholarships before, that had been successful. And what she did at Grand Valley was incredible for the time period she was there. Everywhere she’s been, she’s been successful.”

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Sweet 16: South Dakota coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s ties to Michigan run deep

Plitzuweit was a Wolverines assistant from from 2007-12.

www.mlive.com

“Certainly Kevin Borseth is a great mentor for me, someone who recruited me and actually got me into the coaching profession,” Plitzuweit said. “I thought I was going to be a kindergarten teacher; somehow I ended up as a college basketball coach.

[Grand Valley head coach Mike] Williams said Plitzuweit’s program embodies the type of player she was when she starred at Michigan Tech in the 1990s.

The Coyotes (29-5) ranks eighth nationally in scoring defense at 53.1 points per game. Only two teams have eclipsed 60 points during their 11-game win streak.

“If you ever watched her play, a two-time All-American, it was an absolute relentless style of basketball,” said Williams, who was the coach at nearby Hancock High when Plitzuweit was at MTU. “Kind of the way her teams play. I think her teams mirror how she played. I think she was a defensive player, a grinder. Obviously has evolved into an excellent offensive coach too as you can see with their efficiency.”

 

[rwlarson]

Former Michigan assistant Dawn Plitzuweit will lead Northern Kentucky into Division I

Dawn Plitzuweit, an assistant coach for the Michigan women's basketball team for the past five seasons, was named the head coach at Northern Kentucky on ...

www.annarbor.com

Plitzuweit has certainly toured the Mid-West and it's extremes. From Houghton, Michigan, to Cincinnati, ro Ann Arbor, to Grand Rapids, to Madison, to West Bend, to Green Bay to Vermillion and MInneapolis, I'm not sure there's a mid-west senseability to be found in that journey. But there it is surely a basketball passion

From the old Ann Arbor News: her hiring at Nothern Kentucky:

Thanks for digging these up, Ignatius!

Some of the Michigan fans thought she was ready to take over the Wolverines 11 years ago. I’m sure those same fans are delighted with what Barnes Arico has done there since.

Could Plitzuweit have done as well there had she been given the chance?

We will never know the answer to that for sure. But now she finally gets her chance to prove herself in this conference. I’m sure she is determined to prove she can win and win big. And absolutely nothing in her track record suggests she can’t.

In any event, now we get to see these two coaches who were intertwined 11 years ago in that Michigan coaching hire go head-to-head on the court, and just as importantly — in the living rooms of prospective recruits.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

What brings them to Michigan

The challenge Jessica Boullion The choice – Carly Benson (SHAY SPANIOLA/Daily) Jessica Boullion The challenge – John Beilein (RODRIGO GAYA/Daily) Jessica Boullion The comfort – Kevin Borseth (AP PHOTO) It seems as if Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein could have just as easily gone...

www.michigandaily.com

The jump from Grand Valley State

Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin cited the program’s ability to hire Dawn Plitzuweit, Division II Grand Valley State women’s basketball coach for the previous five years, as an example of someone choosing Michigan despite having another glowing option available.

Before coming to Ann Arbor to take a job as an associate head coach, Plitzuweit had to resign her post. Though it may seem like a common-sense decision to take an associate head coaching position at a more visible program, keep in mind that the 36-year-old had won a National Championship at Grand Valley.

And Plitzuweit was in the running for numerous Division I head coaching positions after leading her team to the title in 2006.

“Her (taking a less authoritative job) says a lot about Michigan,” Martin said. “The block ‘M’ as a brand is so powerful that she just wanted to be at this program.”

Plitzuweit herself said that Michigan was “absolutely” the only school where she would have taken a lesser position than the one she held at Grand Valley.

 

[SHGopher]

Mountaineer women undergoing a major makeover

A new women’s basketball season brings a great deal of change to West Virginia’s program.

www.wvnews.com