Birthplace: Mt.Victory, Ohio
High School: Ridgemont High School
College: Morehead State (KY) (1981)
Year Inducted: 2007
When people talk Capital University women’s basketball one name comes immediately to mind Dixie Jeffers. One of the nation’s all-time winningest coaches, she has won an astounding 80% of the games she has coached and is only one of eight NCAA Division III coaches with 400 or more wins. Jeffers, who spent three seasons as the coach at Rio Grande University before coming to Capital. She became the seventh coach in NCAA Division III history to reach 600 wins, and the 14th-fastest to reach the milestone in any division, with a 67-56 victory at Ohio Wesleyan on Jan. 2, 2012. Jeffers was the sixth coach in Division III to join the 500-win club.
With Jeffers at the helm, Capital University women’s basketball programs became one of the nation’s best and most respected programs. From 1990-2000, no NCAA Division III women’s basketball team has had a higher winning percentage. Also during that span, Jeffers led Capital to the Final Four an incredible four times in five years. The Crusaders finished second in 1993, became the first Division III school to win back-to-back national championships in 1994-1995 and finished third in 1997. With all this success, Jeffers had the distinction of being the first Division III coach to win National Coach of the Year honors in successive years (1994 – 1995).
Capital has won 20 or more games in 11 seasons and twice the Crusaders crossed the 30 win plateau. Through Jeffers’ tenure, Capital has won the OAC regular season title seven times. They have also won the OAC post-season tournament seven times, including a run of six in a row from ’92-’97 with ten NCAA Tournament appearances.
As impressive as Jeffers’ numbers are on the bench, her off-the-court accomplishments are equally impressive. For 14 straight seasons a Crusader has been named Academic All-OAC and she has coached numerous All-Americans and NACD post-graduate scholarship recipients. In 1997 Crusader Carrie Ferguson was honored nationally as an NCAA Elite VIII selection. Jeffers and her teams also have been active in the community by giving free basketball clinics, helping the homeless, visiting Children’s Hospital and being active in the Special Wish Foundation. Aside from her coaching duties, Jeffers serves as associate athletic director. She and her husband John live in Canal Winchester and have a daughter Cara, and son Jansen.
Dixie Jeffers retired from coaching on December 31, 2021 after 36 seasons with Capital University. Jeffers’ 741 total career wins make her one of just 13 coaches in NCAA Division III history – male or female – to reach the 700-win plateau. She was the first Division III coach named National Coach of the Year in consecutive years.
