Dan Weisse enters his eighth season as the head coach for the men's basketball program at Minnesota Crookston. During his six previous seasons, Weisse has built Minnesota Crookston into a contender in one of the nation's top NCAA Division II conferences.
UMN Crookston has posted their best three season stretch with 39 wins since 2017-18.
In his first season with the Golden Eagles, he moved the program in the right direction as they went 7-20 and picked up their most conference victories (5) since the 2000-01 season. He helped the Golden Eagles to wins over NSIC opponents St. Cloud State University, Wayne State College (Neb.), Bemidji State University, University of Mary and University of Sioux Falls. Seven seniors led the Golden Eagles and they all earned their Minnesota degree.
One of Weisse's biggest contributions in year one was improving the team defense. The Golden Eagles would allow 70.4 points per game in Weisse's first season, down from 79.9 points per game during the 2013-14 season.
In Coach Weisse’s second season the rebuilding process officially began as his first full recruiting class was set to begin their collegiate careers. The team featured only one senior, three juniors, two sophomores, and eight freshmen on the roster. Weisse stresses recruiting not just talent, but the importance of recruiting the right talent, and having high character people to build a program.
In his third season, the team was youth driven led by seven sophomores and six freshman with just three upperclassmen coming into the season. The Golden Eagles saw continued progress as they more than doubled their win total from the previous season with eight, finishing with four conference wins. Minnesota Crookston fell just short of the NSIC/Sanford Health quarterfinals after losing a heartbreaker at the buzzer in the first round to Upper Iowa University. The season was marked by a record-breaking year by freshman Harrison Cleary. Cleary would set school marks for points in a season, field goals in a season and free throws in a season. In addition, he set the school record with 42 points in a game against Minnesota State. All of his records surpassed U of M Crookston great Joe Hasz, who remains as a top five scorer in NSIC history. Cleary would be named NSIC Freshman of the Year, the first player in school history to earn that accolade and the first person since the 2006-07 season to earn a conference specialty award. Cleary also earned All-NSIC Second Team honors, becoming the first Minnesota Crookston player since the 2003-04 season to earn all-conference recognition. Weisse would also help Cleary to a pair of national awards as he was named to the Division II Bulletin All-Freshman Team and was selected as Hero Sports Division II Newcomer of the Year.
In Weisse's fourth season, the Golden Eagles set a program record for wins with a 10-19 mark. Minnesota Crookston was guided by Cleary, who was an All-NSIC First Team selection, the first for the program since Joe Hasz in 2002-03. Cleary also went on to become the program's first All-Region and All-America pick since Hasz. Cleary was the statistical champion for free throw percentage for NCAA Division II. In addition, Gable Smith led NCAA Division II in blocked shots for the regular-season and became the program's first-ever NSIC Defensive Player of the Year.
The Golden Eagles also had success in the classroom as their team GPA continues to rise. In addition, sophomore Aaron Hollcraft was selected following the 2016-17 season as the U of M Crookston Student-Athlete of the Year for his performance on and off of the court. Cleary was also voted as the U of M Crookston Outstanding Athlete of the Year in back-to-back seasons. The Golden Eagles also earned the ABCA Academic Excellence Award. In addition, Minnesota Crookston had five players named to the ABCA Honors Court. The Golden Eagles were one of just 59 teams across all divisions to have five or more players named to the Honors Court.
In addition to the highlights of the 2018-19 campaign, Harrison Cleary earned his second All-NSIC First Team nod, and a D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team pick. Cleary was the NCAA Division II statistical champion for free throw shooting for the second-straight season. He also helped Cleary be selected to the NABC All-Central Region Second Team and a nod as the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Player of the Year. Cleary surpassed Golden Eagle great Joe Hasz, as the all-time leading scorer in program history. In addition, he moved to No. 3 all-time in NSIC history in scoring, and became the first player in program history to surpass 2,000 points.
In the classroom, the Golden Eagles had seven student-athletes named to the NSIC All-Academic team with Chase Knickerbocker, Aaron Hollcraft, Chase Johnson, Harrison Cleary, Darin Viken, and Gable Smith earning accolades. He helped Chase Knickerbocker to his second-straight NSIC Honor Student-Athlete nod, along with his second-straight UMC Scholar-Athlete of the Year selection. Knickerbocker was also a NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction recipient.
The Golden Eagles had a banner year during the 2018-19 season as they set the school-record for wins in a season (17) and conference wins (9). Weisse helped Minnesota Crookston to their first-ever NSIC Tournament wins as they took down 2016 NCAA Division II National Champion Augustana University on the road. The victory made shock waves across the nation as they took down a strong Viking program and catapulted Minnesota Crookston to their first-ever NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament appearance at the Sanford Pentagon. Minnesota Crookston also had great success on their home floor at Lysaker Gymnasium with a 13-2 mark, including having over 1,100 fans on senior night. The Seniors were Weisse’s first recruiting class at UMC.
In 2019-20, Weisse coached the Golden Eagles to an 11-18 mark. The season was highlighted by Harrison Cleary, who set the NSIC scoring record with 2,107 career points. In addition, Cleary ended his career as 16th all-time in NCAA Division II scoring with 2,846 career points and is the highest-scoring player in NCAA Division II since 1992. Cleary was selected as a 2019-20 D2CCA All-America Third Team pick as a senior. He was also an All-NSIC First Team selection for the third-straight season. Cleary was selected D2CCA All-Central Region First Team, NABC All-Central District Second Team pick, and was a CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection during his final season in the maroon and gold. Cleary and Javier Nicolau both went on to sign contracts to play professional basketball in Spain.
Prior to assuming the job at Minnesota Crookston, Weisse was most recently an assistant coach at Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) school Minnesota State University Moorhead. Weisse has worked under some of the top basketball minds in the game in his promising young coaching career, as he was the first recruit at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under Bo Ryan, who recently retired as the head coach of the University of Wisconsin after 15 seasons. Weisse also played for and was recruited by Greg Gard, the current University of Wisconsin head coach. Weisse also played under current Auburn University head coach Bruce Pearl while at Milwaukee. In addition, he has served as an assistant coach under former North Dakota State University and Ohio University head coach Saul Phillips.
Weisse spent three seasons at MSU Moorhead under head coach Chad Walthall. He was the lead assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Dragons. Weisse helped an MSU Moorhead squad to an NCAA Division II tournament berth, where they picked up their first NCAA tournament win since 1965. In addition to earning a tournament berth, the Dragons hosted their first NSIC Tournament game since 1994 and achieved their first national ranking in program history.
During the 2013-14 season, Weisse helped the Dragons to a 21-8 record and a berth in the NSIC Semi-Final Game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., where they lost to Winona State University.
In his time at MSUM, Weisse helped coach five players to All-NSIC nods including all-conference first team accolades for Alex Novak and D.J. Hamilton.
Before joining MSU Moorhead, Weisse spent four seasons across the Red River at NCAA Division I North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D. Weisse served as the director of operations at NDSU under Saul Phillips, where he gained experience in recruiting, film exchange, travel preparation, video editing, running all Bison basketball camps, community service programs and academic monitoring.
While at NDSU, the Bison won their first-ever Summit League regular-season championship, their first-ever tournament championship and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
Prior to arriving in the Fargo-Moorhead metro, Weisse spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn. During his time at MTSU, Weisse was responsible for academic monitoring, video editing, on-campus recruiting efforts and community service programs.
Weisse was a graduate assistant at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for the 2004-05 season prior to making the move down south and was responsible for recruiting student-athletes from the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
While finishing up his undergraduate degree, Weisse was an assistant coach at Milwaukee Rufus King High School, where he helped the Generals capture the Wisconsin State Division I basketball championship in 2004.Weisse also assisted Ritchie Davis of the Wisconsin Playground Warriors based in Kaukauna, Wis. Weisse helped his team reach the Sweet 16 at the National AAU Tournament in Orlando, Fla.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, Weisse played at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he had the opportunity to learn under two of the nation’s most prominent basketball minds in Bruce Pearl (Auburn University) and Bo Ryan (University of Wisconsin). Under Pearl, Weisse was a part of the Panthers’ first-ever Horizon League tournament championship and NCAA tournament appearance.
Originally from Oshkosh, Wis., Weisse graduated from Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2004 with a degree in secondary education with an emphasis in broad field social studies. He earned his master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State in 2007 in sport management. Weisse was inducted into the Oshkosh West High School Hall of Fame in the Fall in 2013.
Weisse resides in Crookston with his wife Andrea and their three children Makenna, Ethan, and Addison.
| Season |
Wins |
Losses |
Pct. |
| 2020-21 |
2 |
14 |
12.5% |
| 2019-20 |
11 |
18 |
37.9% |
| 2018-19 |
17 |
16 |
51.5% |
| 2017-18 |
10 |
19 |
34.5% |
| 2016-17 |
8 |
21 |
27.6% |
| 2015-16 |
3 |
24 |
11.1% |
| 2014-15 |
7 |
20 |
25.9% |
| Totals |
56 |
118 |
32.2% |
