A four-decade relationship with a former high school player has led Rick Dillinger to leave his Adel-Desoto-Minburn Community Schools varsity coaching positions for a collegiate job at the University of Iowa. Dillinger, a 42-year high school softball coach, accepted an assistant coaching job with the Hawkeye Women’s Softball program on Monday. Dillinger, the Tigers softball coach the previous five season and the girl’s basketball coach at ADM the last two years, started his high school softball coaching career in the southeast Iowa town of Danville in 1976. One of the first varsity players on his Bears softball squad was new Hawkeye head softball coach Renee Gillispie. Dillinger said his relationship with Gillispie has continued over the years. “We probably phone each other about two to three times a week,” Dillinger said, “She’d give me ideas that were helping her at the collegiate level, and she would run things by me. We’d basically talked softball. We’ve been good friends for quite a few years.”

Gillispie helped Dillinger build the Danville softball program from scratch, making a 28 win improvement from her freshman to senior season. Now, Dillinger says his role on the Iowa softball team will be to help Gillispie recruit high school players from inside the Hawkeye state. “We’d really like to recruit the state of Iowa very hard since there’s been so many great players and we want them playing for us.” Dillinger said, “That’s one of our main goals.”

Dillinger coached softball at three school districts, Danville, North Polk, and ADM, taking 12 teams to the state tournament in Fort Dodge. He won three state championships as the coach of the Comets softball team in 2000, 2006, and 2008. Dillinger’s most recent season was his best at ADM Community Schools, leading the Tigers back to the state tournament for the first time since 2008. The trip rendered a runner-up trophy in the Class 4A state bracket. His career varsity softball coaching record stands at 1,174 wins and 555 losses. Dillinger is a member of the Iowa Girls Coaches Associations Softball Hall of Fame, the 2016 Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Gold Plaque Award Winner, and has won multiple conferences and district coach of the year honors. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network will have more about Dillinger’s move from ADM to Iowa City in the coming days.