RALEIGH – NC State men’s basketball head coach Kevin Keatts announced Wednesday that Larry Dixon has joined his staff as an assistant coach.
Dixon comes to NC State after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach at South Florida.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted in January to allow two more assistant coaches on men’s basketball staffs. Dixon, will serve as one of the Pack’s two new assistant coaches that can engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus.
“I think Larry is a great addition to our staff,” Keatts said. “He’s a North Carolina native that has dedicated himself to a coaching career since graduating from college. He started at the high school level in North Carolina and eventually moved up to college and now has been a Division I assistant coach for almost 20 years. I think his experience is going to be a great asset for me and our coaching staff, as well as the young men in our program as we develop them on and off the court.”
Larry Dixon joined the USF coaching staff as assistant coach on May 12, 2018.
In just his second season with the team in 2018-19, Dixon helped USF to the top win turnaround in the NCAA during the 2018-19 season, as the Bulls won 14 more games than the previous season. In addition, USF turned in a 24-14 overall record to set a new single-season school record for wins. The Bulls would go on to win the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) championship and claim the program’s first postseason title since 1990.
Dixon also played an instrumental role in the development of 2019 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Laquincy Rideau and 2019 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Alexis Yetna.
Dixon helped USF become one of the top defensive teams in the NCAA during the 2019-20 season, finishing the year ranked 20th in scoring defense by allowing only 62.7 points per game. The Bulls limited eight teams to fewer than 60 points during the season and held 27 of their 31 opponents under their scoring average at the time of play. The Bulls also ranked 44th in the nation in turnovers forced with 15.6 per game, and stood 65th in the NCAA in steals with 7.5 thefts per game.
In 2021-22, Dixon helped develop Russel Tchewa and Corey Walker Jr. into one of the best frontcourt tandems in the league. The Bulls were again among the top defensive teams in the country, ranking 45th in the NCAA in scoring defense (64.9 ppg).
Dixon came to Tampa after five seasons as an assistant at Georgia Southern under head coach Mark Byington. Prior to his stint with the Eagles, Dixon had collegiate assistant coaching jobs at Winthrop (2007-12), East Carolina (2005-07), South Carolina State (2003-05) and St. Andrews College (2002-03).
In his final season at Georgia Southern, Dixon helped lead the Eagles to a 21-12 record, including an 11-7 mark in the Sun Belt. In 2016-17, he helped Georgia Southern reach the postseason for the first time since 2006, playing in the College Basketball Invitational.
Prior to arriving at Georgia Southern, Dixon spent the 2012-13 season as head coach at York Comprehensive High School in York, S.C.
During his five seasons (2007-12) on the coaching staff at Winthrop under head coach Randy Peele, Dixon was recognized as the top assistant coach in the Big South by Fox Sports.
Before entering the college game, Dixon served as the head coach at Garinger High School in Charlotte, N.C. for three seasons. In 2001, he led Garinger to a North Carolina High School sectional championship and earned Mecklenburg County Coach of the Year honors from the Charlotte Observer. Dixon also spent one season as an assistant at Carver High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. and one season at South Rowan High School in his hometown of Salisbury, N.C.
Dixon graduated from Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, N.C) in 1996, where he was a four-year letterman as a player. He was named the team’s most improved player following his junior season and the top defensive player after his senior season. He helped the Golden Bulls to a pair of CIAA Southern Division titles and a championship game appearance as a sophomore.
A native of Salisbury, N.C., Dixon has two children, Devin and Leah.
Giglio got it right. He said, “Clemson is mad at the wrong Wolfpack. Nevada’s Wolf Pack got into the play-in games because the committee always saves one of those four spots for a non P5 team.”
However, I do agree Clemson was tournament worthy. And if we went into the ACCT thinking “it’s us or them” for a spot and then beat that team as badly as they beat us, we’d be out of our minds just like they are. The fallacy was, it wasn’t ‘us or them.’
On another topic, did anyone see GT’s new coach press conference. I’ve seen low key coaches before, but Stoudamire sounded like he just woke up from a coma. Not very confidence inspiring. But you never know.
To me, that’s an odd hire, especially compared to who he replaces.
Pastner had a great track record, he was the CUSA COY one year, won their tournament a couple of times, and won the league a couple of times. He was a hot property in the college coaching world. Stoudamire only has 5 years experience as HC, and only had one winning season. A career losing record both in the WCC league and overall.
It’s a weird coincidence that both Pastner and Stoudamire played at Arizona.
The NET is seriously flawed. My best example…. If you beat a team, no matter if they are ranked higher or lower than you, the loss hurts the other team’s NET and can result in hurting your own NET ranking. I personally think the Duke and UNC not living up to expectations hurts the reputation of the entire ACC unfairly. And like it or not, there really is not enough OOC play in the mega conferences to justify comparing the power 5 teams..agreeing with Dof87.
On a totally different note, Shakeel Moore missed a wide open 3 that would have beat Pitt. Pitt even missed a gimme tip of the missed shot. Heartbreaker. Prolly lots more (no pun) drama to come. PS Clemson can pound sand.
I was torn between pulling for Shakeel and wanting Pitt to win and help prove the ACC was slighted in selections.
I hate he had to go out missing that shot, but he was a big reason they were in position to win.
I hate I can’t edit mistakes. Of course I meant Miss St missed a tip of Moore’s missed three. They were only down one. Crazy game. I think I read there were 21 lead changes. Hope Pitt can win another one. Not as much as I hope the Pack wins Friday!
I agree Clemson should have been in the tournament, along wit NC State. Yes, the argument that it should be either Clemson or NC State flies in the face of the ‘body of work’ and selection criteria they claim to use. Tell Dicky there are other teams in the field below NC State. Clemson would need to displace those teams before they would displace us. Like you said, Did Arizona State really deserve to be in over Clemson? THAT is the question they should be asking first. I think its clear that State deserved to be in over Arizona State.… Read more »