MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s hire for its sixth women’s basketball coach in the program’s history comes with the experience of already beating Baylor.
The school announced Thursday it hired Dawn Plitzuweit, who guided South Dakota to a 29-6 record this season, including a trip to the Sweet 16 after upsetting Baylor, 61-47, in the second round.
Plitzuweit has a five-year contract worth a total of $3 million. Her starting salary in the first year will be $550,000, plus incentives.
“Dawn is a proven winner everywhere she has been, and her track record for sustained success is impressive,” WVU athletic director Shane Lyons said. “When we started our search, it was quite obvious that her reputation as a program builder and championship coach put her at the top of our list. Watching her lead her team to the Sweet 16 this year with wins over Ole Miss and Baylor brought her program a lot of new national attention, but those in the know about women’s basketball were not surprised by her success.”
The Coyotes, a 10th seed in this year’s tournament, were defeated by Michigan, 52-49, in the Sweet 16.
She replaces Mike Carey, who announced his retirement on March 16 after 21 seasons as the Mountaineers’ head coach. Carey is the school’s winningest coach in women’s hoops with 447 victories.
Her starting salary is $195,000 less than the school was set to pay Carey for the 2022-23 season if he hadn’t retired.
“I am so incredibly excited and humbled to be your women’s basketball coach at West Virginia University,” Plitzuweit said. “Thank you to President Gordon Gee, Shane Lyons, Keli Zinn and Matt Wells for this great opportunity, their confidence in me, and for their tremendous support of our program. Also, a very special thank you to coach Mike Carey and the tremendous foundation which he built and congratulations on his retirement. I am absolutely thrilled to lead our Mountaineers program at the flagship Institution in West Virginia.”
Plitzuweit’s credentials go much further than just one season. In six seasons at South Dakota, Plitzuweit won 158 games and took the Coyotes to three NCAA tournaments.
South Dakota won three Summit League titles under Plitzuweit and the Coyotes won 89% of their conference games in her six seasons.
Her 2019-20 team finished 30-2 and ranked as high as No. 17 in the AP Top 25 poll, but the NCAA tournament was canceled that season due to COVID-19.
The West Bend, Wis., native will make WVU her fourth stop in her coaching career.
Her head-coaching career began at Division II Grand Valley State, which won the 2006 national championship under Plitzuweit. She spent five seasons at Grand Valley State, winning 117 games and three conference championships.
Her first stop at the Division I level was at Northern Kentucky, where the Norse won 71 games over her four seasons, before Plitzuweit was hired at South Dakota.
Overall, Plitzuweit’s 15 seasons as a head coach has seen her programs win six conference titles and make seven trips to the NCAA tournament.
Under Plitzuweit, the Coyotes were generally tough to score on. In only one of her six seasons there did South Dakota give up more than 60 points per game.
Plitzuweit’s career record is 346-128 heading into her first season with the Mountaineers, and this will be her first experience coaching at the Power Five level.
WVU finished 15-15 in Carey’s final season and has already seen three players enter the transfer portal since his retirement, leaving the Mountaineers with just eight scholarship players remaining.
“I just cannot wait to get to Morgantown to meet with our team and to connect with them,” Plitzuweit said. “Our mission will be to assist our young ladies in their development on the court, while also helping them become more confident young women off the court, as well. I am so excited to grow our program within the Morgantown community and the entire Mountain State.”
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