Former Dike-New Hartford Girls Basketball coach Bruce Dall recently accepted a position as the head girls basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie. A mainstay in the area, Dall was the coach at Dike-New Hartford for 13 seasons, and previously served in the same role for AGWSR, Allison-Bristow and Janesville.
Dall says after he stepped down at Dike-New Hartford, the opportunity to coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie proved to be the right fit.
“I was put through a three-hour interview,” Dall says. “I resigned on Wednesday, had the interview on a Friday. No guarantee that I’d have taken the job, but just made me have to really reflect and think about the last 30 years of my life coaching, all the places that I’ve been, the things that I’ve done and my philosophies. And the more and more I thought about it, Cedar Rapids Prairie really felt good to me. And you know, a 5A basketball team, that’s gonna be different for me, and the travel is going to be different. But I’m just looking forward to the next chapter and seeing where it takes me.”
While Dall says it was a difficult decision, he feels he accomplished his goal of giving back to the community that raised him. Dall was a graduate of Dike High School.
“This community raised me as a kid. I got my education through this area. I got to experience athletics as a player in this area. And then just finally getting my degree. So, just being able to come back and giving back to the community that raised me was very special to me. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted. I just wanted to be a part of a team and help my community. And it’s always something special when it’s your team versus another team. And in this case, it’s my community versus other communities. It’s very sentimental. It was very hard. You can’t spend 12 years of your growing up life and another 13, 14 years of your career at a place and it not be hard.”
Dall says he’s thankful to have been part of a historic run of seven straight state tournament appearances and four straight championships.
“It’s not about the wins or losses. For me, it’s always been being part of a team. When you do the things that you’re supposed to do, do them right, do them correctly, take your studies, your academics seriously. You come to practice, you work hard, you work hard on the court. You do all that stuff the right way, the wins take care of itself, it really does.”
“I look back on the four state championships, that is historic, but you look at the girls that have done this, they just do things the right way. And I’m just happy to be along for the ride, to be honest with you, and to experience what they were able to accomplish. All the credit goes to them and how hard they worked. It’s just been a heck of a run.”
Dall on some of the differences he anticipates at the Class 5A level.
“The seven girls that I have returning off the varsity roster all play club basketball. And I think there’s a lot more club basketball and a lot more specialization going on. So there are a lot of basketball players that will be on the court. Like a starting five for Prairie all play club basketball. And so I think there’s going to be a lot more identifying shooters, and a lot more tendencies that a person needs to scout and pay attention to at that level. I kind of think that you’re going to have three, four, even five shooters out on the court at a time. And so you’re just going to have to be quick to make adjustments, just like, we do with that. And also just getting a feel for that level of basketball.”
Dall boasts a career record of 543-144, including 269-53 at Dike-New Hartford. He’ll inherit a Prairie team that has four starters returning from last season’s 16-5 team that reached a regional final.
Former assistant Matt Dove will take over head coaching duties at Dike-New Hartford.
Interview with Dall:
