Sam Dixon is in his second season as the head women’s basketball coach at Nebraska Wesleyan.
In his first season leading the Prairie Wolves program, Dixon guided NWU to a 14-11 overall record. It was the highest win total and first winning season since the 2000-01 season.
The Prairie Wolves averaged 77.0 points per game to lead the Iowa Conference in scoring. NWU averaged 14.72 steals a game to lead the conference and rank 9th in NCAA Division III women’s basketball.
Dixon came to NWU with over 30 years of experience as a head coach and assistant coach at the college level. Dixon was the top women’s assistant coach at Northwestern University in the Big 10 conference the four years before arriving at NWU. He helped the Wildcats to three postseason appearances, including the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Prior to his time at Northwestern, he was an assistant coach for two seasons at the University of Akron.
Dixon was the head women’s basketball coach at Furman University for eight seasons from 2001-08. His tenure was the second longest in the history of the school’s women’s basketball program. At Furman, he had one player earn SoCon Player of the Year, recruited five players that scored over 1,000 points and had five players that played professionally overseas. During his time at Furman, he also served as an assistant coach for USA Basketball U20 and U21 World Championship teams.
Before landing at Furman, Dixon served as Associate Head Coach at Clemson University and was an assistant coach at the University of Arizona. In the four years as a women’s assistant at the two schools, all four teams earned berths in the NCAA Tournament.
He has head coaching experience at the NCAA Division III level, serving as the head men’s basketball coach at Denison University from 1987-91. He also worked as an assistant men’s coach at Northern Illinois University, Kent State University, University of New Mexico, Davidson College and Northern Kentucky.
A physical education graduate of the College of Wooster, Dixon played four year for the Fighting Scots and in 197 helped the team reach the NCAA South Regional Finals. As a student-athlete he earned First-Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference accolades in 1979 and was the team’s most valuable player. A 1989 inductee into the Wooster College Hall of Fame, Dixon was also named All-Great Lakes Region and earned third-team All-America status.
Dixon went on to earn a master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1980 and a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1987.
