The Stony Brook men's basketball bench will have a new face on their side this season. Head coach Geno Ford announced that Mark Dixon will act as his assistant coach for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Dixon comes to Long Island by way of Marquette University, where he spent three seasons on the coaching staff.
"I am really looking forward to adding Mark to a really talented group of assistant coaches," Ford said. "He has been at the highest level of college basketball and should be able to help our players develop on and off the floor. I think he will be a rising star in the business because of his ability to develop players and his tremendous work ethic."
Dixon served as a program assistant during his first two seasons with the Golden Eagles before being elevated to assistant coach for the 2023-24 season. Marquette won a team-record 29 games and tied the league record for wins en route to the Big East Conference regular season and tournament titles in 2022-23. Dixon has been known as an instrumental piece in player development, which helped some of their biggest stars. Tyler Kolek won player of the year, and the sixth man award went to David Joplin. The team also had a pair of all-league honorees.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Ford's staff here at Stony Brook University," Dixon said. "I'm excited about helping our student-athletes develop as basketball players and as people while also contributing to a culture of winning."
Prior to his time at Marquette, Dixon spent the 2020-21 season at Texas as a graduate assistant with the men's basketball program under head coach Shaka Smart. He assisted with the day-to-day operations of the program, including his bread and butter, player development and opponent scouting.
A native of Riviera Beach, Florida, Dixon earned his graduate degree in the Master's in Management program at Marquette in 2023. He earned his bachelor's in sports management from Florida International in May of 2020 and a graduate certificate from Marquette in Sports Leadership in 2022.