STARKVILLE — Mississippi State practices have a familiar look this season.
A year after being part of what was the winningest senior class in the history of the women’s basketball program, Dominique Dillingham is in a new role as student assistant coach. Among the many roles Dillingham carries out, she occasionally takes part in MSU practices. When Dillingham does, she usually elicits a typical reaction from MSU coach Vic Schaefer.
“That looks familiar,” Schaefer said when asked what he tells Dillingham after he said she “dominates” a practice after not working with the team for a week.
The fact that Dillingham still can have a big impact on the Bulldogs in practice is a telling sign for someone who epitomized the hard-nosed, gritty, defensive style of play Schaefer instilled in the program when he arrived in Starkville six years ago.
Now that she is working more closely with Schaefer, associate head coach Johnnie Harris, assistant coaches Dionnah Jackson-Durrett and Carly Thibault-DuDonis, director of basketball operations Maryann Baker, and video coordinator Skylar Collins, Dillingham has been surprised by the time that goes into making a program operate at a high level.
“It has definitely taught me there is so much more to coaching than you see from the outside as a player,” Dillingham said. “You go home after practice and you get to take a nap. Coaches are still here. They’re still working. You definitely appreciate what they do a lot more and kind of see what all goes into practice and making sure we’re good. Their job doesn’t end when we go home.
“It has surprised me. There is so much more I didn’t know that goes into it — everything.”
Dillingham said the detail that goes into putting together a scouting report. She said Skylar Collins, the team’s video coordinator, spends hours cutting up film to provide video examples for the Bulldogs to watch to help them prepare.
Dillingham claimed the Miss Defense Award following a senior campaign that saw her earn SEC All-Defensive Team honors for the second-straight season. In addition to averaging 6.6 ppg., the Spring, Texas, native had 28 steals on the year. She also drew 23 charges to finish her career with 131.
Dillingham started 119 of 139 games at MSU and averaged 7.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game. She finished her career 25th at MSU with 1,013 points. She also claimed the fourth-most career steals by a Bulldog with 210. Dillingham, Ketara Chapel, Chinwe Okorie and Breanna Richardson ended their careers in Starkville with what was a program-record 111 wins by a class. The final victory was a 66-64 overtime win against four-time reigning national champion Connecticut in the national semifinals that snapped the Huskies’ NCAA record 111-game winning streak. South Carolina defeated MSU in the national championship game.
Dillingham claimed Associated Press All-SEC Honorable Mention recognition following a junior season in which she averaged 7.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. She also was a standout in the classroom, earning SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades all four years. She was also MSU’s nominee for the SEC Boyd-McWhorter Scholarship and a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Schaefer said Dillingham’s success as a player brings her “instant credibility” with the current Bulldogs. He said the players know about Dillingham’s toughness from direct experience and realize how important it is to do the little things like she did to help the team succeed. Schaefer said Dillingham’s attitude has made an impression on the players.
“She never complained about doing the little things,” Schaefer said. “Dom doesn’t say a lot, but when she does they usually listen. It is great to have someone like her because she worked harder than everybody else. That hasn’t changed. She has been a tremendous help to our staff.”
Schaefer said Dillingham provided help recruiting when Jackson-Durrett took her maternity leave. Dillingham said she went to New Jersey and Kansas among other places in an effort to help MSU find the next Bulldogs. She said she has a unique perspective when she looks for players who possess many of the intangibles she had as a Bulldog.
“I think it is easier because I did play and I know what to look for,” Dillingham said. “There are certain things to look for in a player. It is definitely hard to find players like that. It takes a lot of time, and you have to be careful who you recruit.”
Dillingham received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology (clinical exercise physiology) in May. She is working on her master’s degree in sports pedagogy, or the method and practice of coaching. She is taking three classes this semester and hopes to be finished with the two-year program next May.
Dillingham said it wasn’t a difficult decision to get into coaching because she said she realized she didn’t want to go away from basketball after she completed her eligibility. She credits basketball for helping to bring out leadership qualities in her and for assisting in her maturation. She said she wants to work with student-athletes to help them have similar experiences.
Dillingham has classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. In addition to her school work, Dillingham helps with the scouting report by doing baseline out of bounds plays. She said she has to watch plenty of film, too, so she is prepared to answer questions from players. She said that hasn’t been an adjustment because she always was tuned into scouting reports and learning everything about opponent.
Dillingham said coach Schaefer delegated the “SLOBS” to her at the beginning of the season. The acronym stands for sideline out of bounds. When Jackson-Durrett took her maternity leave, Dillingham took on additional duties to chart blockouts. The MSU coaches chart each possession to determine if the Bulldogs block out their player. They then count how many of the Bulldogs do their job on each possession.
“The biggest thing is time,” Dillingham said. “You don’t see how much their life is devoted to this team and to every individual on the team, and just making sure everyone is OK.
“Recruiting, you don’t see that piece. When you’re at home, they’re out recruiting. They’re doing home visits. One coach is usually gone. You don’t get to see that.”
A lot of people don’t see the work Dillingham puts into the program in her role, either. That’s fine, though, because Dillingham never coveted the spotlight. Instead, she did whatever she could to help the Bulldogs, from taking charges to defending the other team’s best player to scoring. These days, Dillingham is in a similar role as a student assistant coach and learning how to make the most of her time.
“To see the detail they put into the scouts, it shows they are trying to help us know every little possible thing we can know about the opponent,” Dillingham said. “They put in a lot of work. They are here after I leave working on scouts. They want to win. They want us to win, so they’re going to put us in the best possible position to win. They don’t miss anything. That is just a credit to their work ethic. They are very focused and detail oriented.
“The coaches care about basketball, but they care things other than basketball. All of the coaches have kids for academics and they care about our academics. If you make a bad grade, they are calling you and asking, ‘What happened?’ They care. They care about everything. If you come to their office wearing little shorts, they are going to ask, ‘Where are the rest of your clothes?’
“They care about every little thing. They are trying to make sure you’re representing the program, Mississippi State as well as yourself and your last name and trying to make sure you’re becoming a woman. They definitely care about everybody, and it shows. That is why we’re a successful program.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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