Dawn Plitzuweit Named Head Coach of Minnesota Women’s Basketball
West Virginia women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit is leaving the Mountaineers for the same position at Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers made the move official with a release on its site on Saturday. An official press conference will likely come on Monday.
Plitzuweit will replace Lindsay Whalen, a Minnesota legend as a player who led the Golden Gophers to a under-.500 record in five years as coach.
This also leaves West Virginia looking for a new coach for the second time in two offseasons. The Mountaineers hired Plitzuweit last offseason to replace Mike Carey, who retired.
The Mountaineers are coming off a 19-12 season in Plituweit’s debut, a season that saw her take them to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed, where they lost to Arizona in the first round on Friday.
Before the NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers lost to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 quarterfinals and was considered a bubble team before being selected for the 68-team field on Sunday.
During her one season, he helped the Mountaineers sweep Baylor and defeat two ranked teams in the regular season. Three holdovers from Carey’s last season — guards Madisen Smith, JJ Quinerly and Jaylan Hemingway — were critical to the Mountaineers reaching the NCAA Tournament.
This is the second women’s head-coaching opening in the Big 12. Before the end of the season, TCU’s Raegan Pebley agreed to step away from the program after nine seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Horned Frogs have not yet hired a head coach.
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