VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota has announced its new women's basketball coach, hiring former Coyote assistant Kayla Karius as the program's new leader on Sunday.
Karius will be formally introduced on Monday, April 11 in Vermillion. She replaces Dawn Plitzuweit, who took the head coaching job at West Virginia on March 31.
Karius (formerly Tetschlag) served as an assistant to Plitzuweit for two seasons from 2016-18. In her two seasons at USD, the Coyotes compiled a 52-16 record with a pair of Women’s National Invitation Tournament berths. The Coyotes won the 2017-18 Summit League regular season title and became the first Summit champion to go undefeated in league play in 24 years. Karius received the Women's Basketball Coaches Assocation’s Thirty Under 30 award in 2018.
Karius has deep connections to the Midwest in her recruiting, including recruiting some of the current members of USD's roster. Her recruiting classes at South Dakota included 2022 Summit League Player of the Year Chloe Lamb, three-time Summit Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Sjerven, two-time all-league pick Liv Korngable, Monica Arens, Claudia Kunzer, Regan Sankey, and Allison Peplowski.
Karius spent three seasons at Wisconsin and last season on the bench at Drake, plus got her start as the top assistant at the University of Sioux Falls in 2015-16.
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A native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Karius graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2011 with a bachelor’s of business administration with a marketing emphasis. Karius, a standout on the Phoenix basketball team, was the 2011 Horizon League Player of the Year. She led Green Bay to four Horizon League titles, three NCAA Tournaments and the NCAA Sweet 16 her senior year.
