With the goal of boosting the ULM women’s basketball program back to the top of the Sun Belt Conference, Director of Athletics Brian Wickstrom announced Tuesday the hiring of Jeff Dow as the sixth women’s head coach in school history.
“I am excited to have Jeff take over our women’s basketball program. His track record of high academic success and winning percentage as a coach will help us deliver the best student-athlete experience possible,” Wickstrom said. “During the process, we spoke with a lot of administrators, student-athletes and community members about Jeff. He received high marks from all groups.”
Dow, who holds an all-time head coaching record of 221-109 (.670), was one of the most successful coaches in Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) history. He compiled a five-year record of 108-40 (.729) from 2008-13 at the helm.
"We are excited to welcome aboard a proven winner with a history of success in new head coach Jeff Dow. He is highly thought of in the coaching community. Coach Dow really stood out in our process for his experience at the Division I and II levels. We look forward to benefiting from his vision and energy," said Kevin Price, Senior Associate Athletics Director and Chairman of the search committee.
Dow guided the Crimson Hawks to the NCAA Tournament three times and won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship in 2009. His last team posted a 23-9 record in 2012-13.
In 2010-11, Dow led the IUP to a record of 19-8, 11-3 in the PSAC West and an appearance in the PSAC Quarterfinals. IUP ranked first in the PSAC in scoring defense at 56.0 points per game and was ranked 19th in the country in that category. The Crimson Hawks also led the PSAC in turnover margin and finished 4th nationally for that statistic.
Dow coached the Crimson Hawks to a No. 7 ranking in the WBCA Coaches Poll in 2008-09. He also got them to No. 19 in 2009-10, No. 17 in 2011-12 and No. 12 in 2012-13.
In the postseason, Dow garnered first round victories in the 2009, 2012 and 2013 NCAA Division II tournaments. He was also the first head coach in school history to win 20 games in his debut season and to win 10 or more games in the PSAC West Division in five consecutive seasons.
Off the court, Dow had a combined 63 student-athletes earn IUP Dean’s List honors and 33 were named PSAC Scholar Athletes.
Dow went to IUP from Anderson University (S.C.) where he tallied a record of 79-17 and his teams earned trips to the East Region tournament each season. In his three years at the helm (2005-08), Dow was one of just eight head coaches to lead his program to at least one NCAA Division II tournament victory in three consecutive years.
He led Anderson to two Conference Carolinas regular season titles and one postseason championship. Dow held an astounding 52-8 record in conference play and also posted a 40-2 home record in three seasons.
In his final season at Anderson in 2007-08, the program finished top-10 in the country in win-loss percentage, scoring defense, rebound margin and scoring margin and was ranked as high as No. 12 in the WBCA national poll before finishing the year at No. 19. For his team’s accomplishments, Dow was selected the Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year.
Prior to Anderson, Dow held the No. 1 assistant coaching positions at Colorado State (2002-05), Santa Clara (2000-02), UC-Irvine (1996-99) and New Mexico State (1992-96). He was also the interim head women’s basketball coach at Texas-San Antonio in 1999-2000.
Dow’s first head coaching job came at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 1990-92. His team was picked to finish last in the preseason poll in his first year, but Dow propelled them to a third-place showing and reached the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
Dow started his career as a graduate assistant at Oregon in 1989-90. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and physical education in 1988 and his Master’s in physical education 1991 from Oregon.
