TicketsCoaching veteran Surina Dixon was added to Michelle Clark-Heard’s University of Cincinnati women’s basketball staff on June 26, 2018. Dixon was promoted to full-time assistant coach in April of 2019.
A seasoned basketball coach with nearly two decades of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and II levels, Dixon came to UC following spending the past six seasons as head coach at Jackson State (JSU).
The 2020-21 season was unlike any other due to COVID-19, but a highlight of the season was coaching AAC Player of the Year IImar’I Thomas, who received all 50 voting points from the league's coaches to be the only conference player to earn unanimous First Team All-AAC honors for the second consecutive season. Thomas also earned national player of the week honors from the Unites States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) after she set the UC women's basketball record and the AAC record for most points in a game when she poured in 51 points to go with 12 rebounds at East Carolina on Feb. 24. The effort still stands as the most points in a Division I men's or women's basketball game this season. She joined Oscar Robertson as the only two player in UC history to score 50 or points in a game.
Her first season coaching the Bearcats (2019-20) produced many big moments for the program, including a 22-10 record overall and 11-5 record in the American. The team finished tied for second, UC’s best league finish in its seven-year membership in the AAC. Seeded third in the tournament, the Bearcats reached the final for the first time in the AAC as well as their first final appearance since the 2003 Conference USA Championship game. Additionally, the Bearcats finished the year 14-3 at home with a 12-game winning streak at Fifth Third Arena as well.
Prior to posting 82 wins at JSU – including 55 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) victories – Dixon compiled a 67-20 overall record in three seasons as head basketball coach at Southwind High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier, from 2005 to 2007, Dixon was the head coach at Division II Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. Under her leadership, Lane’s Lady Dragons achieved a school record by scoring 119 points in a single game while holding the opponent to only 36 points.
Before her time at Lane, Dixon spent four seasons (2000-04) as the head coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). While at UMES, she recorded three-straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament first round wins and graduated her student-athletes at a 99-percent rate.
Previously, in 1999, Dixon served as the head assistant coach at Arkansas State University where she helped lead the Lady Indians to their best start in school history and their first top-25 national ranking. Dixon also worked as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University where she helped guide the Lady Tigers to their best finish in over a decade in 1998.
Before joining the collegiate ranks, Dixon was a successful youth coach in Memphis. At Germantown Middle School, she won eight district and six county championships with a run of five undefeated seasons, posting a 165-29 overall record.
While in transition from coaching middle school to college, Dixon had the opportunity to both play and coach two seasons of professional basketball with the WNBA Memphis Blues. She was known as a crafty and intelligent player with a keen understanding of the game. Her court vision, along with her drive and determination, made her one of the best point guards in the league. She also worked as a coach and instructor at numerous camps, including the 1998 WNBA Utah Starzz’s free agent camp and the 2000 WNBA Houston Comets training camp.
A 1983 Mississippi Valley State graduate who was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, Dixon also earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Mississippi in 1997.
She is a member of several professional and national organizations, including the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the Black Coaches Association, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the National Education Association.
A seasoned basketball coach with nearly two decades of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and II levels, Dixon came to UC following spending the past six seasons as head coach at Jackson State (JSU).
The 2020-21 season was unlike any other due to COVID-19, but a highlight of the season was coaching AAC Player of the Year IImar’I Thomas, who received all 50 voting points from the league's coaches to be the only conference player to earn unanimous First Team All-AAC honors for the second consecutive season. Thomas also earned national player of the week honors from the Unites States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) after she set the UC women's basketball record and the AAC record for most points in a game when she poured in 51 points to go with 12 rebounds at East Carolina on Feb. 24. The effort still stands as the most points in a Division I men's or women's basketball game this season. She joined Oscar Robertson as the only two player in UC history to score 50 or points in a game.
Her first season coaching the Bearcats (2019-20) produced many big moments for the program, including a 22-10 record overall and 11-5 record in the American. The team finished tied for second, UC’s best league finish in its seven-year membership in the AAC. Seeded third in the tournament, the Bearcats reached the final for the first time in the AAC as well as their first final appearance since the 2003 Conference USA Championship game. Additionally, the Bearcats finished the year 14-3 at home with a 12-game winning streak at Fifth Third Arena as well.
Prior to posting 82 wins at JSU – including 55 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) victories – Dixon compiled a 67-20 overall record in three seasons as head basketball coach at Southwind High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier, from 2005 to 2007, Dixon was the head coach at Division II Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. Under her leadership, Lane’s Lady Dragons achieved a school record by scoring 119 points in a single game while holding the opponent to only 36 points.
Before her time at Lane, Dixon spent four seasons (2000-04) as the head coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). While at UMES, she recorded three-straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament first round wins and graduated her student-athletes at a 99-percent rate.
Previously, in 1999, Dixon served as the head assistant coach at Arkansas State University where she helped lead the Lady Indians to their best start in school history and their first top-25 national ranking. Dixon also worked as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University where she helped guide the Lady Tigers to their best finish in over a decade in 1998.
Before joining the collegiate ranks, Dixon was a successful youth coach in Memphis. At Germantown Middle School, she won eight district and six county championships with a run of five undefeated seasons, posting a 165-29 overall record.
While in transition from coaching middle school to college, Dixon had the opportunity to both play and coach two seasons of professional basketball with the WNBA Memphis Blues. She was known as a crafty and intelligent player with a keen understanding of the game. Her court vision, along with her drive and determination, made her one of the best point guards in the league. She also worked as a coach and instructor at numerous camps, including the 1998 WNBA Utah Starzz’s free agent camp and the 2000 WNBA Houston Comets training camp.
A 1983 Mississippi Valley State graduate who was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, Dixon also earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Mississippi in 1997.
She is a member of several professional and national organizations, including the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the Black Coaches Association, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the National Education Association.