The University of South Dakota officially introduced Todd Lee as its new men's basketball coach on Friday afternoon.
Lee is a USD alumnus who returns to Vermillion after coaching in the college and professional ranks. He comes to Vermillion after serving for five years as an associate head coach at Grand Canyon University in Arizona.
He says Coyote fans will cheer on a team driven to succeed.
"I cannot tell you how excited I am to be your basketball coach. And, when you come to games, you're going to see passion, you're going to see energy, you're going to see the team caring for each other. And, we're going to fight and do whatever we can to reach our goals of winning a championship, winning the tournament championship, and reaching the N-C-A-A Tournament. And, in a dream of mine, I would be the first coach in USD history to get the team to the N-C-A-A tournament, and that's what we're going to do," Lee says.
Lee won an NCAA Division Two Championship at California State University-Bakersfield in 1997 as an assistant and was a head coach for eight years at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
He replaces Craig Smith, who left USD to take the head coaching job at Utah State University. The Coyotes finished second in the Summit League regular season and tournament this year and earned a bid to the College Basketball Invitational.