After working for Hall of Fame coach at Morton, Neisen following another Hall of Fame coach at CSE

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Dakota Neisen is no stranger to high expectations, which gives promise to the belief that his transition into his first full-time head coaching job will be a seamless one.

Neisen, a Liberty High School graduate, has spent the last five seasons as an assistant for Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame girls basketball coach Bob Becker at Morton. He was announced as the new Central-Southeastern girls basketball head coach on Friday. Neisen replaces another Hall of Famer in Matt Long, who retired after 32 seasons at the helm of the program.

“I’ve been following along with Coach Long and Central sports since I graduated from high school,” Neisen said. “I’m not here to replace him. I’m simply here to follow him.”

Long won 641 games in his time in Camp Point, just 12 more than Becker, who also retired after the 2024-25 season. Becker’s teams reached the state finals eight times and won four Class 3A state championships in 26 seasons at Morton. Long’s teams won 15 regional titles and five sectional championships. CSE reached back-to-back final fours in 2016 and 2017.

Having coached alongside a legendary coach for a half decade, Neisen is not intimidated he standard of excellence at CSE. 

“(Becker) is in a similar boat — 600-plus wins, multiple state trophies — so that’s something I’m prepared for and looking forward to,” Neisen said. “There’s a legacy here, and we intend to live up to that legacy and to build upon it. That’s really what I’m aiming to do.

“Filling in behind Coach Long, that could intimidate some people, but working with Coach Becker these last five years has been an absolute blessing. I might be a little biased, but he’s one of the best, if not the best, coaches ever in Illinois girls basketball. Having that mentorship has been truly invaluable. I just can’t express the words for what he meant to me.”

As for what the Neisen era will look like in terms of playing style, he said he intends to lean on what has made Morton and CSE consistently successful programs while putting his own stamp on it.

“When you’re working with one of the best to ever do it, that stuff is ingrained in you,” Neisen said. “I’m looking to keep the offense up-tempo, defense in your face. That’s one of the best parts about coming in and watching some of the film from last year and years prior. Stylistically, it aligns with what I want to do. It might look a little different in terms of shot selection, player freedom, but we’re going to be up-tempo, no doubt about it.”

Neisen has never been a full-time head basketball coach, but he filled in for Becker at the 2021-22 State Farm Holiday Classic when Becker came down with COVID-19 the day before the tournament.

“I coached the entirety of that tournament, did just about everything that a head coach needed to do,” Neisen said. “We came away with third place that year. That’s my head coaching experience, but I’ve been a head track coach before, so I know the administrative side that needs to get taken care of.”

Neisen learned valuable lessons in that brief stint as a “head coach.”

“We can make the decisions, we can make the play calls, but ultimately, it does come down to the players being able to make the plays at the end of the day,” Neisen said. “Thankfully, during that time, I had a coachable group that rallied around us to make sure, ‘Hey, we’re not going to let things drop just because Coach Becker isn’t here.’ 

“I’ve learned that there’s a lot that goes into making sure that on a game-by-game basis, the kids are prepared to face the opponent. To be able to prepare game in, game out over a 24-hour period to attack the next opponent, it takes some skill and finesse to make that job successful.”

The graduation of all-state players Lauren Miller and Karly Peters has depleted some of the talent pool with which Neisen has to work, but he assured Panthers fans that “the cupboard is not bare.”

“There’s talent coming back,” Neisen said. “I’m super excited to coach these girls. I understand the expectations and what the standard is. Like I told the girls earlier, that’s not going to change. How we go about it might look a little different, but we’re going to put our head down starting in June, and we’re going to get ready to make a run at Redbrid. I know it’s CEFCU Arena, but it’s always going to be Redbird to me, and that’s the ultimate goal.”