MORGANTOWN — Dawn Plitzuweit knows she wasn’t brought to West Virginia to tear down foundations and rebuild.
She knows she wasn’t brought to Morgantown to put WVU women’s basketball on the map.
“I really feel blessed for this opportunity,” she says. “What I mean by that is we’ve inherited a program with great tradition and we’ve inherited players who have already sort of been there and are used to competing at a high level. Our job is to build on that rather than having to start over.”
Plitzuweit has been on the job now for three months and little of that time has been wasted in not only introducing herself to a new program, but also introducing herself to the people she hopes will support that same program.
That second part may not seem all that easy.
Plitzuweit is an outsider to the state of West Virginia, a state built of small communities where outsiders have to work to find their footing.
The coach she replaced — Mike Carey — was born in Clarksburg. Her men’s counterpart — Bob Huggins — was born in Morgantown, and his Hall-of-Fame success would likely carry him into the governor’s mansion if he one day decided to enter politics.
None of this is lost on Plitzuweit, but it seems of little concern.
See, there are things you need to know about Coach P, with the first being she grew up in a small farming community herself in Wisconsin, where days rarely began at 9 a.m.
In traveling around the state during WVU Coaches Caravans this summer, Plitzuweit said some of her early impressions of the state were its people had that same type of work ethic.
“The individuals I met were so genuine,” Plitzuweit said. “They were so passionate about the Mountaineers and it was so exciting to get to know who those people are. These people around the state are Mountaineers through and through. For me, it’s comforting to come into this new environment and know that people really care about what you’re trying to do. It’s energizing.”
The second thing is nothing in the coaching ranks has been handed to her and Plitzuweit’s journey to WVU was a steady climb of the ladder, beginning at the Division II level, where she won a national championship in 2006 at Grand Valley (Mich.) State.
That’s the work ethic and energy she brings with her to WVU.
“I believe there are two types of people in this world. There are givers and there are takers,” she said. “Givers have enthusiasm and passion in what they do. They’re excited about new challenges, and I believe it’s our role as coaches to pass that along to our athletes on a daily basis.”
Those around the program speak of Plitzuweit’s impact on the program using words such as vision and preparation.
Plitzuweit uses words like family and fun, and this is where she’s put an early stamp on the program.
A couple of weeks ago, Plitzuweit was asked to give a presentation to the Rotary Club of Morgantown. She brought the entire team with her to mingle and meet members of the community.
When Chestnut Mountain Ranch needed volunteers to paint new homes, Plitzuweit made sure her players were armed with paintbrushes.
There is also now an official WVU women’s basketball book club, where players and coaches get together to discuss the latest readings.
“We want to get after it,” Plitzuweit said. “If that means being involved in community service or whatever may come up, we want to get after it.
“We want to have a lot of fun with it, but we also want to put them in positions where they’re being challenged. That’s how you grow. That’s how you find out who you can become.”
There is a meaning behind it all. Sure, some of it is to help build a cohesive unit in what will be Plitzuweit’s first-ever team at WVU.
She wants that team — a mixture of seven returners from last season along with six new recruits — to have success, but she also realizes there is a bigger picture involved.
“The challenge is new for everybody,” she says. “Normally, you have players who have already been through what you’re trying to teach. We don’t have that. It’s like everyone is a freshman all over again.
“So, the things we’re working on now is a different approach. Our goal is to introduce players to a picture and it may not all make sense at the moment, but when we get down the road, they’ll have a better sense of the why. They’ll be able to think back to what we’re doing now and say, ‘OK, it’s all starting to make sense.’ ”
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