The 2015-16 season will be the second for Shawn Dirden as an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota. In his role as an assistant coach, Dirden works primarily with player development of both the team’s guards and post players as well as recruit both the high school and junior college levels.
He was named to his new post during the spring of 2014 and brings both Big Sky coaching and playing experience to his position.
A coaching veteran at both the collegiate and prep ranks, Dirden most recently served in a similar capacity at current league rival Montana State for the past two seasons.
Dirden’s Big Sky background also includes two seasons as a standout guard at Idaho (1995-97). The Vandals are returning to the league for the 2014-15 season.
Following his playing career with the Vandals, Dirden played professionally overseas through the 2002 season before embarking on his coaching career as the head coach at George Washington High School in Denver, Colo.
His professional basketball career included stops in Venezuela, Lebanon, China, Sweden, Korea and Holland. Dirden also participated in the Phoenix Suns ‘ rookie and veterans camp in 1997 before playing for the Idaho Stampede in the Continental Basketball Association. He also spent time with the Columbus Cagerz of the United States Basketball League before his five-year stint overseas.
Dirden moved into the collegiate ranks prior to the 2006-07 season at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa before moving onto his initial stint in Bozeman under Huse. After two seasons with the Bobcats, Dirden returned to prep basketball for three seasons, leading the Cherokee Trail High School program in Aurora, Colo., for three seasons. Dirden’s next job was back in Division I basketball as an assistant coach at South Dakota (2011-12).
Dirden was with the Coyotes, who were Great West rivals of UND at the time, for one season before returning to Bozeman and the Big Sky for the 2012-13 season. That first campaign was also UND’s first in the league.
Dirden and his wife, Sierra, have two children and his father, Johnnie, played professional football, which included three seasons in the NFL.
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