There’s a theme that’s seemed to develop in the young career of newly-promoted North Dakota State associate head coach Dylan Geissert.
When Jory Collins asks for something, it’s usually worth hearing him out.
That started nearly a decade ago in the physical education classroom building at Emporia State University when Collins, then Emporia State’s head coach, was poking around, trying to sell male students on signing on as practice players to help his program. That offer caught Geissert’s ears at the right time. The then-freshman was a former three-sport high school athlete looking to find some way to occupy his free time, and Collins’ offer sounded fun.
That chance encounter saw Geissert grow from practice player to student assistant at Emporia State, and ultimately landed him a graduate manager role at Kansas. Then, Collins came calling again. This time he wanted Geissert to join his staff as an assistant as he took the reins at NDSU in 2019. Geissert accepted, without ever having set foot in Fargo or the state of North Dakota itself.
Sight unseen, he believed in Collins.
“It was a no-brainer because I trust Jory,” Geissert said. “He told me this would be a great spot to start my career and make a name for myself.”
That faith in Collins is likely shared by Bison fans everywhere. Over the past five years, Collins has built NDSU to the point the Bison are coming off their best season to date in Division I, which featured 18 wins and a WNIT appearance. Geissert has been an important part of that growth as an assistant, and he’ll now look to help take the Bison to the next level in his elevated role as associate head coach.
Strolling the college sidelines, however, wasn’t always his plan.
As Geissert got to his junior year at Emporia State, he realized the business classes he was taking weren’t resonating. He wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted to do. Coaching was in his bloodlines, as his mom – a former college basketball player – was a high school coach, and to him, any coaching route would have to start with teaching and coaching at the prep level. But as his involvement and responsibilities increased as a student assistant for the Hornets, another path opened up.
The Herington, Kan. native would end up in that graduate manager role with the Jayhawks for two years before reuniting with Collins in Fargo. Since then he’s been an integral part of the NDSU resurgence, primarily responsible for developing the program’s post players.
With his new role, Geissert is looking to be more vocal.
“I’m not a huge outgoing personality, those sorts of things were a little uncomfortable for me, but in the past few years I’ve grown in that area and made that a focus,” he said. “When I have something to say, when I see something, it’ll be about stopping practice and pointing that out, where I know Jory wants that and expects that.”
This upcoming season, those practices will include a team that Geissert is especially excited about.
The Bison’s guard depth jumps off the page. All-league first team guard Heaven Hamling, the conference’s fourth-leading returning scorer, will be back along with Elle Evans, who herself gobbled up awards (Freshman of the Year, all-defensive team) in an impressive debut season. The rotation also includes returning starter Abby Schulte (6.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and the first player off last year’s bench, Abby Graham (6.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg), who herself enjoyed a great freshman campaign.
Geissert’s bread-and-butter, the frontcourt, is a different story. Last year’s top two contributors in the post, Emily Behnke and Taylor Brown, exhausted their eligibility, leaving minutes available. Some of that production could be seized by Kristina Ekofo Yomane, who Geissert feels is primed for a big season. The senior forward and former Belgian youth national team player had a steady role throughout last year (3.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg) after transferring in from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. But she finished strongly, averaging 5.5 points and 5.1 rebounds over the season’s final six games, a stretch in which NDSU went 4-2.
With a season under belt, Ekofo Yomane could be ready to step up.
“Coming from a [Junior College] her first year is maybe a little bit of a transition year, you get your feet wet and feel things out,” Geissert said. “This second year, being comfortable in what we want and expect, I think you’ll see a big jump from her.”
Regardless of the position, Geissert feels the biggest difference between where the program is now from when he and Collins stepped in five years ago is simple: talent.
“It’s just our athleticism on the floor, our size, speed, strength,” he said. “We really have got to the point where we envisioned. This year we’ll have 13 girls and all 13 will be capable of contributing at a high level. We think we’ve got the type of athletes that can compete at the top of the Summit League.”
Nothing that Collins, his former practice player-turned-second-in-command and the rest of the staff have done thus far in Fargo should have anyone doubting that.
