ASHVILLE, N.C. (WVDN) – When the best sporting event in the country, the NCAA tournament, begins this week, there will be a familiar face gracing the sidelines for one school.
Neil Dixon, a 2001 Greenbrier East graduate and the son of Mike and Susan Dixon, is an assistant coach for the University of North Carolina Asheville Bulldogs. UNC Asheville punched their official ticket to the big dance on Sunday, March 5, with a win over Campbell in the Big South conference championship game.
The Bulldogs trailed by 14 points with 7:37 left in the second half. Taijon Jones went on a tear and scored 16 points over that span to lead UNC Asheville to the come-from-behind 77-73 victory.
Dixon played baseball and basketball at Greenbrier East and attended West Virginia University after graduation. He was an assistant for the Spartans for three seasons, then served as an assistant with Fairmont State and West Virginia Tech. Dixon then trekked to Louisburg junior college in North Carolina where for the last four seasons he was the head coach and had major success at that stop.
Dixon, in his fourth season with the Bulldogs, says the high points of his career so far and childhood memories have shaped the success he is having currently.
“I have had many exciting moments along the way, in 2017 at Louisburg College we played for a National Championship, but the buzz around the NCAA tournament makes it different. I remember when I was a kid, we had one of the giant satellite dishes and for whatever reason we could get all the regional CBS feeds during the NCAA tournament. I remember Perry Hickman and Adam Merritt being at my house and us flipping back and forth between games. Now being a part of that is pretty cool. Everything is a whirlwind right now with preparation. I’m sure it will really hit me when we jump on a jet and fly out to wherever we are going,” Dixon said.
During Dixon’s coaching stint with the Spartans, he made a commitment to himself and his players to get better and learn all he could from his mentors at the time.
“When I was home coaching, I was just trying to soak it all in. I learned a ton from coach (Jerry) Bradley, coach Bimbo (Coles), coach (James) Keys, and coach Jackie Joe (Robinson). I was young and green in many ways, but my commitment to the kids and to the game was the driving force. Coaching at the college level can be very challenging just to get your foot in the door. I didn’t play college basketball and wasn’t a manager in college, so I knew I would need to catch some breaks along the way. I didn’t know how far this could go, but I knew I was all-in, and had support from my family and my wife. Their support and belief allowed me to have a chance,” Dixon explained.
And that family support has never wavered; it has only gotten stronger.
“The support I get from my family is incredible. The life of a coach’s wife is challenging; I am gone a lot, and that means a lot falls on Gabrielle. I simply couldn’t or wouldn’t do this without her love and support. My kids love our players and the other coaches on staff. It’s incredible to see how our players treat my kids. That makes things easier for my wife as well. Now that my kids (Rhett and Wells) are getting older, they are at the arena and offices all the time,” Dixon said.
However, all the love, support and good wishes along the way does not come without its challenges, and for Dixon, there are many of those as well. Fortunately, there are still positives to be taken from it all.
“Without question the hardest part is the time commitment,” Dixon said.
“We work a lot and there really isn’t an off-season. Not being able to get away any time of the year to celebrate holidays, birthdays, weddings, and the list goes on and on, is tough. From time to time, I have to miss events my kids are in. I just convince myself that the experiences they are having and will have, being around the game and our team make it worth it,” he said.
After clinching an NCAA tournament berth, this will be Dixon’s most memorable season yet.
As of Sunday, March 12, at 11:11 a.m., it is not yet known who the Bulldogs will play. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has predicted they will face 2-seed Texas in the first round. He predicts UNC Asheville as a 15-seed.
