Sinclair Community College women’s basketball coach Jeff Dillon earned his 100th career win on Dec. 1 against Cedarville University, a win that Dillon said was years in the making.
“One-hundred wins is great,” Dillon said. “I owe a lot of people for that.”
Dillon credits the players he’s gotten to work with, the administration and his wife for his success. Looking back he said it was his basketball coach at Fairmont West High School that initially got him interested in coaching in the first place.
“I never was a player of any magnitude at all. Maybe he saw what a horrible player I was and looked at me and said, ‘Hey why don’t you try coaching since you love it so much,’” Dillon said jokingly on Dec. 3.
After high school, Dillon attended Sinclair and then transferred to Wright State University, where he earned his master’s degree in Education. At Wright State, Dillon got the chance to work under coach Ralph Underhill.
“(Underhill) is really the one that lit my fire as far as getting into coaching,” Dillon said “He really gave me the passion for recruiting that I think I have. He went at recruiting hard and taught me that if you’re going to be a successful coach you better surround yourself with successful people.”
Dillon became the head coach of the Lady Pride in the fall of 2002 when coach of 26 years, Linda O’Keefe, became ill with cancer.
“It’s kind of a blur the way things came about. I got a call from (the athletic director at the time) coach (Norma) Dycus and came down to interview on a Monday. By the following Wednesday they offered me the job and then the following Monday practiced started,” Dillon said. “Coach O’Keefe had the program for 26 years, so I basically got a program that was already in place and already doing great things. I was very fortunate; I was able to piggyback off a lot of her hard work.”
Dillon said that he can’t put into words what it means to win his 100th game as head coach, but said it was very satisfying. When asked what he enjoys most about coaching, Dillon turned his head and pointed to his team.
“Working with these girls,” Dillon said. “This team is sitting 6-1 (as of Dec. 3). They have an overall team GPA of 3.27. I’m actually more proud of what these girls accomplished in the classroom than I am of 100 wins.”