Women's basketball welcomes 2 assistants

But after promoting Denise Dove, who was an assistant, to associate head coach and hiring two new assistants in Sam Dixon and Karen Caires, head coach Joan Bonvicini said she doesn't expect her team to miss a beat.

"They bring years of expertise and success, as well as new ideas and a sense of excitement, and that's great for this program," Bonvicini said.

Dixon comes to Arizona from Kennesaw, Ga., where he was a teacher and assistant varsity boys' coach at Harrison High School.

In addition to his coaching time at Harrison, Dixon was a men's assistant at New Mexico, Northern Illinois, Kent State and Eastern Michigan. He was also a head coach at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Dixon spent his collegiate career at the College of Wooster (Ohio) from 1976 to 1979, where he was All-Ohio Athletic Conference in each of his last three years and a third team All-American in 1979.

"This isn't my biggest challenge, but it is definitely my most recognizable program, along with New Mexico," Dixon said. "It's a great opportunity to come to a program that's doing very well."

He said the team's main task isn't just getting near the top, but becoming consistent enough to stay there.

"The program has reached a certain level, but there are more mountains to climb," he said. "The hardest part is staying at the top. We're knocking on the door, but we still have a lot of work to do."

Caires (pronounced KY-ress) joins the program after spending a year at Oregon State, where she served as an assistant coach to the women's basketball team. She spent the three years before that at Vermont, with the first two as an assistant and the last season as the associate head coach. She graduated from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor's degree in physical education, but her playing career was limited to one year due to a knee injury.

"Everything is going very well so far, and I'm making a smooth transition," she said. "This is a great environment - one big happy family. That was noticeable from the first interview, to the first day, to the first month, to now."

It may seem like a family to Caires because she has worked with Bonvicini before. She used to work Bonvicini's camps as a high school coach in the early 90s, and now she administers the camp.

"She's really been a mentor," Caires said of Bonvicini. "To seek professional advice, she was one of five people I called."

Bonvicini said she is pleased with the new members of her staff and believes they have put a lot of focus into their jobs.

"It's been great," she said. "They've been here since June, so they've been involved in recruiting and the camps. You can tell when things click, and they have here."

Bryan Rosenbaum can be reached via e-mail at - Bryan.Rosenbaum@wildcat.arizona.edu.