MADISON, S.D. – Jeff Dittman, Dakota State University Athletics Director, will be retiring effective April 2.
Dittman has over 40 years’ experience working in college athletics at NCAA DI and NAIA schools. He has been named Conference Coach of the Year three times and the South Dakota College Coach of the Year twice.
He has spent the majority of his career at Dakota State, beginning as an assistant with the women’s basketball program. After 17 years with DSU, he spent four years at Hastings College in Nebraska, returning to Madison in 2012 to coach women’s basketball and serve as athletics director. In 2018, he gave up coaching duties to serve exclusively as AD. This gave him the ability to concentrate on fundraising for the new Trojans Unite – Athletics Complex campaign.
“Jeff has had a distinctive impact on athletics at Dakota State, both as a coach and as athletics director,” said José-Marie Griffiths, President of DSU.
“We have seen growth in the number of student athletes, the number of programs offered, and major upgrades to the facility,” she stated. During the last few years alone, DSU has added esports and added development teams. The University is also beginning a women’s soccer program this fall, and is exploring the addition of drone racing.
“I’m excited to have been a part of this growth, and I look forward to watching the first football game in the new stadium and the opening event at the new dome,” Dittman stated.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported DSU Athletics while I served as coach and Athletics Director of Trojan sports! That support allowed us to grow and become competitive in conference and in national play,” he said.
Dittman will take some time off but plans to return in the fall on a part-time basis to contribute to Dakota State’s athletics fundraising efforts.
“There is still work to be done to complete the athletics complex and to strengthen the athletics scholarship program and I look forward to helping with both,” he said.
The University will begin looking for a new athletics director. In the interim, AD duties will be split between Amy Veenhof, head volleyball coach, and Anthony Drealan, head track and cross-country coach.
