Last season, Head Coach Eric Nelson entered his sixth season with the Presentation College Saints women’s basketball program in Aberdeen, SD. Under Coach Nelson’s direction, the women’s basketball program has seen success both on and off the court. During this past season, the Saints racked up the most wins since joining the NSAA with 12 – including a trip to the NSAA Final Four for the first time in program history. The Saints also led the conference in scholar-athletes with 17. Furthermore, during his six seasons with the women’s program, Coach Nelson has coached six NSAA All-Conference players and two-time NAIA All-American Honorable Mention in Haley Froelich, during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Off the court, Coach Nelson has had 59 NSAA Scholar-Athletes and 15 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes excel in the classroom. Coach Nelson’s teams have landed on the NAIA Scholar-Team award list for the past five seasons. In order to receive the team scholar award, teams must have a combined 3.0 GPA or higher.
Prior to PC, Coach Nelson was at Mount Marty College in Yankton, S.D. where he was the top assistant for the men’s basketball program. Collegiately, Nelson played for Morningside College from 2004-2007 and was an assistant coach from 2007-2010. In those six years at Morningside, they won two GPAC championships and went to the NAIA National Tournament three times.
After Morningside, Nelson accepted a full time teaching and coaching job at Westwood High School in Sloan, IA. He was the girls head basketball coach for two years and was also an assistant coach for the varsity football team.
Coach Nelson has also been a Camp Director for Midwest Elite Basketball the past 11 years and was named Midwest Elite Basketball Coach of the Year in 2016. MEB is a company that travels all over the Midwest putting on team camps for high schools. He has worked with over 1,000 athletes in that time.
A Laurel, NE native, Coach Nelson is a graduate of Morningside College in 2008 with a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education.
“We are very excited to have Eric Nelson be our women’s basketball coach at Dickinson State University. He has valuable experience in our conference as a head coach. In addition, he is well liked and respected throughout the region. We want to welcome him to our Blue Hawk family,” stated Athletic Director, Pete Stanton.
“I want to thank Athletic Director Pete Stanton and the search committee for the opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program at Dickinson State University. I’m very excited to build a program the community, alumni, and university can be proud of both on and off the floor,” stated Eric Nelson.
