Dwayne Olinger, who has helped lead five teams into postseason tournaments in 11 seasons as a major college assistant coach at Southwestern Louisiana and South Florida, is in his first year at Northwestern State.
Most of Olinger's collegiate coaching experience came as an assistant to highly-successful coach Bobby Paschal at USL (1982-86) and South Florida (1986-88, 1991-96).
During Olinger's tenure at USL, the Ragin' Cajuns reached the 1983 NCAA Tournament and two successive National Invitational Tournaments, including teh 1984 NIT Final Four.
At South Florida, Olinger was on a staff that guided the Bulls to the 1992 NCAA Tournament and the 1995 NIT Elite Eight quarterfinal round, where USF dropped an overtime decision at Marquette.
"Dwayne comes highly recommended by not only Coach Paschal, but many other people I respect in college basketball," said Demon head coach J.D. Barnett. "I've been impressed by him. I believe Dwayne will have a very positive impact on our program.
"He has strong ties to Louisiana and also knows what it takes to win at a high level of college basketball," said Barnett. "And just as important, he's got the kind of character and personality which will be well received by everyone he comes into contact with as a part of our basketball program."Â
Olinger also led Thibodaux High School to consecutive state quarterfinal playoff appearances and a 45-20 record from 1988-90. He became an assistant coach at Nicholls State under another former Paschal assistant, Rickey Broussard, for the 1990-91 season before rejoining Paschal at South Florida.
"Dwayne been involved at the college level since he was 18, coming out of high school to join our program at USL," said Paschal. "Since that time, except for his two years at Thibodaux High, he's been involved in every facet of operating a major college program and that experience would make him a tremendous asset in any situation,
"He's worked as an assistant in the Southland Conference at USL and Nicholls, and also in programs that competed as an independent, in the Sun Belt Conference, the Metro Conference and in Conference USA," said Paschal. "He's been a special person to me over a number of years. Above and beyond his experience, he's an extremely hard worker, a dedicated and loyal assistant and a very, very good person with tremendous character and integrity."
Olinger's college basketball career began as a student manager and administrative assistant from 1978-82 at USL, where future NBA All-Star Andrew Toney led the Ragin' Cajuns to the 1980 NIT. After Toney graduated and was a first-round NBA Draft pic, Olinger was part of ULS's 1981-82 team which won the 1981 Great Alaska Shootout championship -- highlighted by a win over a top-ranked Georgetown team led by all time star Patrick Ewing. That USL club reached the 1982 NCAA Tournament.
His coaching career began during the latter stages of his undergraduate days at USL. In 1982, Olinger was had coach of a Florida AAU team which won the state 15-and-under age group championship and finished fourth nationally. He was also an assistant coach for Florida's 18-and-under AAU team which finished second nationally.
A summer later, after graduating from USL, he worked as a head coach in the Panamanian Professional League and served as an administrative assistant for the AAU-USA Junior Olympic Team that was the first American team to tour the Soviet Union since 1979.
Hometown: Bartow, Fla.
Family: Wife Danna; daughters Ansley, Brittny, Lindsey, and Sydney
Education: BS in Physical Education from USL, 1982; MA in Education from USL, 1984
Previous Coaching Experience:
    USL, student assistant, 1981-82
    USL, graduate assistant, 1982-84
    USL, assistant coach, 1984-86
    South Florida, assistant coach, 1986-88
  Thibodaux HS, head coach, 1988-90
  Nicholls State, assistant coach, 1990-91
  South Florida, assistant coach, 1991-96
