The University of South Carolina Upstate announced that Dave Dickerson will join the university as head coach of the men’s basketball team.
Dickerson was a scout for the NBA’s Utah Jazz this year, spent seven years at Ohio State University as the associate head men’s basketball coach.
Dickerson was an assistant coach at Ohio State for the final seven seasons of Thad Matta's tenure coaching the Buckeyes, serving as the Buckeyes' associate head coach from 2011 until this past summer, when Matta and his coaching staff were let go.
USC Upstate Chancellor Brendan Kelly will officially introduce Dickerson to the campus and community Thursday in the G.B. Hodge Center.
Dickerson takes over a program that saw first-year head coach Kyle Perry fired without cause earlier this month. Eddie Payne retired at the beginning of the season and Perry, assistant for nine years under Payne, was picked head coach less than two weeks later. He was 7-25 overall and 2-12 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
With Payne being paid the final two years of his contract and Perry owed one year, that means USC Upstate will be paying three head basketball coaches at the same time.
Athletics director Julio Freire was fired the same day as Perry. Freire was the subject of workplace harassment complaints. Freire will be paid the two years remaining on his contract which means when a new athletic is named, it will mean two ADs will be paid at the same time.
“We could not be more pleased that Coach Dickerson will return to his home state to lead the Spartans,” said Kelly. “With 12 NCAA post-season appearances, eight Sweet 16s, three Final Fours and a National Championship, he brings an all-new level of experience to the Upstate region, and we look forward to a fantastic future.”
Dickerson was head coach at Tulane University for five seasons. He guided the Wave to back-to-back winning seasons in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Dickerson spent nine years as an assistant under Gary Williams at the University of Maryland, his alma mater, and in 2004-05, was the program’s associate head coach.
A native of Olar, Dickerson graduated from the University of Maryland in 1990 with a degree in government and politics. He and his wife, Laurette, have one child, Dave III.