Head Coach
Jeff Dittman

     Coach Dittman begins his fifteenth year as head coach of the Lady T's with a new set of challenges facing his squad.  Over the past nine seasons, Dittman's teams have won 60% of their games and qualified for post-season play in ten of the past eleven seasons.  For nine of the past eleven years, the Lady T's have been ranked in the NAIA "Top Twenty" during the season. 

     Dakota State won back-to-back conference titles with 25-8 and 23-9 records respectively in 2000 and 2001.  Also in those years, the Lady T's advanced to the NAIA National Tournament and finished in the "Elite Eight" and "Sweet Sixteen" rounds.  In 2003, DSU won the DAC-10 post-season tournament and received its third trip to the National Tournament in four years with a 20-12 record. 

     The 2005-06 team captured the Dakota Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the "Elite Eight" round of the National Tournament before being beaten by the eventual national champion.  In 2006-07, the Lady T's repeated as conference champions and also won the DAC Post-Season Tournament.  Dakota State received an automatic bid to the National Tournament.  The Lady T's won their third conference championship last season and reached the Sweet Sixteen round of the National Tournament. 

     In the past three years, the Lady T's have won an average of 22 games each season while winning three Dakota Athletic Conference Championships and  one DAC Post-Season Tournament.  In each of those season, Dakota State received either the conference automatic bid or an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament.  Their post-season record during that period was 8-5.

     Dakota State has produced produced three All-Americans, five Honorable Mention All-American, and twenty-one
All-Conference players in the past nine seasons.  Besides their success on the court, the DSU Lady T's have produced eighteen Academic All-Americans.  

     But, the 2008-09 season promises a new set of challenges for Dakota State University.  The Lady T's graduated six seniors that provided over 90% of the offense points scored, rebounds, and minutes played in 07-08.  Additionally, the Dakota Athletic Conference will again feature some of the best women's basketball programs in the country.  Last year, the DAC had five teams ranked in the Top Twenty-Five national polls and three teams qualified for the National Tournament.  For the 2008-09 squad to remain in the upper echelon of the league, a very young squad will have to develop quickly.

     As always, the Lady T's will be playing one of the toughest schedules in the NAIA.  The 2007-08 schedule was ranked #2 in the Massey Rating System and next year's schedule should be just as challenging.  The non-conference schedule includes #11 ranked NCAA Division II UM-Mankato and two games against St. Cloud State.   Also on the schedule will be a number of NAIA nationally ranked programs including Hastings College, Mt. Marty, Northwestern College and Morningside College of the Great Plains Athletic Conference; and Dakota Athletic Conference foes Jamestown College, Black Hills State, S.D. Tech, Minot State and Mayville State University.  There will be little room for error on the 2007-08 schedule.  To succeed, DSU will need to keep it vaunted defensive pressure at a high level, continue to dominate the boards and get in transition opportunities whenever possible.   

      Jeff Dittman comes to Dakota State with a wealth of coaching experiences.  After four years of high school coaching in North Dakota, Jeff spent the next five years on the NCAA Division I level coaching men's basketball.   Dittman coached two years at Sam Houston State University in Texas where he was an assistant from 1987-88.  Midway into the 1988-89 season, Jeff was promoted to the head coaching position where he proceeded to guide a 2-8 Bearkat team to an 8-1 finish.   From 1984-87, Jeff learned the college basketball trade at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  In those three years, Coach Dittman was part of the coaching staff that helped guide the UALR Trojans to their first berth in the NCAA National Tournament.  In the "March Madness" classic, UALR went on to defeat 10th ranked Notre Dame in the first round before losing to North Carolina State in double overtime.  The Trojans followed that success with a trip to the Final Four of the National Invitational Tourney in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

     In addition to his college experience, Jeff has worked NBA basketball camps in Detroit, Michigan, for six summers.  He was a coach and an administrator for the Isiah Thomas camp for four summers and the Rick Mahorn camp for three.  He has had an opportunity to work with a number of NBA All-Stars ranging from Isiah Thomas to Charles Barkley.

     In his twenty-six years of coaching on the high school and collegiate level, Coach Dittman's teams have won eleven conference titles and reached post-season all but four times.  In addition to successful teams, Dittman's athletes have had individual success as well.  Besides numerous All-Conference, All-American, and Academic All-American honors, nine of Jeff's former athletes have played professional ball in the United States or overseas.  Two players were drafted and played in the NBA while one, Peter Meyers, spent a season as the starting shooting guard for the Chicago Bulls, replacing Michael Jordan when he retired to play baseball.  Pete is currently an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls while Rodney Heard is the head of scouting for the Atlanta Hawks.

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