Dixie State University Director of Athletics Dr. Jason Boothe announced Tuesday that JD Gustin has been hired as the new head women’s basketball coach. Gustin replaced Jenny Thigpin, who resigned as head coach in March.
“We are very excited to welcome JD as our next women’s basketball head coach,” Boothe said. “We enjoyed an incredible pool of exceptionally talented individuals, and JD stood out with his previous head coaching experience, and more recently, assistant coaching at the D1 level. Additionally, he will bring fantastic recruiting connections within Utah and the west region. All of his skills and experience have prepared JD, I believe, to build our program back into an annual conference contender and NCAA tournament participant.”
Gustin recently concluded his first season as an assistant coach at Weber State, where he helped lead the Wildcats to a 23-12 record and a runner-up finish in the 2016 Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament. Three WSU players garnered All-Big Sky Conference honors during Gustin’s time as assistant coach, including the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Brittney Dunbar.
“I am grateful and honored to become a member of the Dixie State University family,” Gustin said. “I wish to thank its administration, in particular Dr. Jason Boothe and [Senior Associate AD] Maureen Eckroth, for this opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program. The commitment and vision they have expressed towards women’s basketball makes me to believe we have a chance to do great things. My family and I are excited for this new adventure and feel blessed to be moving to a great place like St. George. I’m looking forward to getting to work with the student- athletes and to show what we can do.”
Prior to Weber State, Gustin spent four years at the University of Utah, serving as director of women’s basketball operations from 2011-13 and a women’s basketball assistant coach from 2013-15. He helped guide the Utes to a runner-up finish in the 2013 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).
Before his time at Utah, he served as head women’s basketball coach at Westminster College for seven seasons from 2004-11, where he compiled a 146-83 record and led the Griffins to five consecutive NAIA National Championship tournament appearances.
He led Westminster to its first-ever NAIA tournament berth in 2006-07, and guided the Griffins to the quarterfinals of the NAIA championships for the first time in school history with a school-record 28 wins in 2010-11. Gustin won three Frontier Conference championships, including a perfect 14-0 conference mark in 2008-09, and coached seven players to All-America honors. In addition, he was a three-time Frontier Conference Coach of the Year honoree.
Gustin served as an assistant coach at Rocky Mountain College in his hometown of Billings, Mont., from 2001-03. While at RMC, he also served as assistant athletic director, sports information director, and JV coach. He was also an assistant coach for the Billings RimRockers of the International Basketball Association.
He began his coaching career as an assistant women’s coach at his alma mater, University of Montana Western, in 1999-2000. During his time there, Montana Western won the Frontier Conference tournament and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time.
Gustin, who played basketball at UMW from 1995-97, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education (biology/history) in 2000. He later earned his Master’s degree in Education from Westminster in 2006.
Dixie State closed the 2015-16 season with a 9-17 overall record and an eighth-place finish in the Pacific West Conference.
Photo Courtesy Dixie State Athletics
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