University of Minnesota Crookston Director of Athletics Stephanie Helgeson announced the hiring of Dan Weisse as head men’s basketball coach. Weisse, most recently an assistant coach at Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) school Minnesota State University Moorhead, is no stranger to the conference and the region as he takes over the helm of the Golden Eagle program. In addition he has worked under some of the top basketball minds in the game in his promising young coaching career.

"We are excited to have Dan join UMC as the head men’s basketball coach," Helgeson said. "We are happy to bring in someone with familiarity with the NSIC and the region having coached at MSU Moorhead and North Dakota State over the past seven seasons. We believe Dan will have a significant impact on our program and look forward to working with him."

Weisse, who has been coaching in the Red River Valley for the past seven seasons, spent the past three seasons at MSU Moorhead under head coach Chad Walthall. He was the lead assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Dragons. Weisse helped an MSU Moorhead squad to an NCAA Division II tournament berth, where they picked up their first NCAA tournament win since 1965. In addition to earning a tournament berth, the Dragons hosted their first NSIC Tournament game since 1994 and achieved their first national ranking in program history.

Last season, Weisse helped the Dragons to a 21-8 record and a berth in the NSIC Championship Game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., where they lost to Winona State University.

In his time at MSUM, Weisse helped coach five players to All-NSIC nods including all-conference first team accolades for Alex Novak and D.J. Hamilton.

Before joining MSU Moorhead, Weisse spent four seasons across the Red River at NCAA Division I North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D. Weisse served as the director of operations at NDSU under Saul Phillips, where he gained experience in recruiting, film exchange, travel preparation, video editing, running all Bison basketball camps, community service programs and academic monitoring.

While at NDSU, the Bison won their first-ever Summit League regular-season championship, their first-ever tournament championship and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.

Prior to arriving in the Fargo-Moorhead metro, Weisse spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn. During his time at MTSU, Weisse was responsible for academic monitoring, video editing, on-campus recruiting efforts and community service programs.

Weisse was a graduate assistant at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for the 2004-05 season prior to making the move down south and was responsible for recruiting student-athletes from the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

While finishing up his undergraduate degree, Weisse was an assistant coach at Milwaukee Rufus King High School, where he helped the Generals capture the Wisconsin State Division I basketball championship in 2004.Weisse also assisted Ritchie Davis of the Wisconsin Playground Warriors based in Kaukauna, Wis. Weisse helped his team reach the Sweet 16 at the National AAU Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

Prior to beginning his coaching career, Weisse played at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he had the opportunity to learn under two of the nation’s most prominent basketball minds in Bruce Pearl, currently the head coach Auburn University, and Bo Ryan, currently the head coach at the University of Wisconsin. Under Pearl, Weisse was a part of the Panthers’ first-ever Horizon League tournament championship and NCAA tournament appearance.

Originally from Oshkosh, Wis., Weisse graduated from Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2004 with a degree in secondary education with an emphasis in broad field social studies. He earned his master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State in 2007 in sport management. Wiesse was inducted into the Oshkosh West Hall of Fame in the Fall of 2013.

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