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For Jeff and Dawn Dittman, Head Coach and Assistant Coach for the HC Women's Basketball Team, working together has shaped their relationship from the start.
He played football in college and her choice sport was always basketball. But today, their passions have converged into a coaching co-op, leading the Bronco women's basketball team through the top standings of the GPAC and to the national tournament for the second consecutive year.
Mr. Dittman served as the head women's basketball coach and athletic director at Dakota State University from 1993 to 2008, accumulating the most wins by a head coach at DSU. With an already-extensive coaching career under his belt, he began coaching at Hastings in fall 2008.
Ms. Dittman was an assistant coach at DSU for five years, her first coaching position, before she marred Dittman. After finishing her doctorate degree, she joined her husband at Hastings in spring 2009.
Being a female in her position is an integral part of the team community, helping to ease communication and coach-player understanding.
"She has a female perspective, and a young female perspective, and I can't relate to either of those at times," Dittman said. "So she is a great liaison between me and the players. It's huge for us."
Ms. Dittman enjoys her relationship with the players as much as she loves the game. A player herself since the 4th grade and through her college years, she knows what the girls are going through.
"I don't think I could pick my single favorite part of coaching," she said. "I love the girls on the team and getting to interact with them. Plus, I get to spend a lot of time with my husband, and the success we have is really fun."
Both agree that coaching together helps their relationship and allows them to spend more time as a family than they would otherwise be able to.
"We have a lot of potential because our passions are the same," Mr. Dittman said. "Couples that don't work together don't understand the hours coaches have to put in. For us, though, we have great communication."
"The hardest thing when only one spouse coaches is that you loose a lot of time together," Ms. Dittman said. "The husband goes to work during the day, then straight to practice and recruiting events and so on. Therefore, you don't get to spend a lot of time together. But for us, we get to share that time. A big part of both of our lives is something we have in common."
The couple's 2-year-old daughter Taylor can also be seen at practices and games, making basketball a true family event. At only 5 months old, she accompanied her parents to the Women's National Tournament in Sioux City, IA.
Experiencing things like the national tournament alongside the action, rather than from the outside, is a great experience, Ms. Dittman said.
Together for six and a half years now, the couple has now made the dynamic coaching world into a norm.
"We have both been in the system for so long, we know how to work together. I trust her implicitly," Dittman said.
