"I am extremely excited to welcome Coach LaKose to Dominican. He understands the values core to Dominican and brings a wealth of sucessful head coaching experience to our athletics department," said Leimbach. "His teams have demonstrated success not only on the court, but in the classroom and in the community."

A three-time Coach of the Year, LaKose's résumé sports over 20 years of collegiate head coaching experience and 350 career wins across all three levels of the NCAA. Nine times, LaKose's teams won 20 or more games and have participated in 12 post-season tournaments.

"Tim's reputation precedes him and I have no doubt that he will help us elevate our women's basketball program to a new level of competitiveness within our conference and the NCAA Division II West Region," said Leimbach.

Most recently, LaKose spent two seasons at San Jose State University, where he was named 2011-12 WAC Coach of the Year. He led the Spartans, which had won just 13 games in the previous four seasons, to 11 wins and a bid in the WAC Basketball Tournament that season.

"I want to thank President Marcy, Brandon Leimbach, and the search committee for this tremendous opportunity," said LaKose. "I was drawn to Dominican by the president's vision, strong academics, an athletics program on the rise, and one of the most beautiful campuses in the country."

Before guiding the Spartans, LaKose spent 10 seasons at the helm of Cal State Bakersfield, where he compiled a 211-89 mark. His teams competed in five NCAA Division II Championship tournaments, one NCAA Division I Independent tournament and two NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Invitationals (WBI). In 2009 and in 2010, he was voted the National Division I Independent Coach of the Year.

LaKose's first NCAA head coaching position came in 1993 at California Lutheran University. Over eight seasons, Cal Lutheran posted a 136-67 win-loss record, won five conference titles and advanced to four NCAA Division III Championship tournaments. LaKose departed as the Cal Lutheran's winningest women's basketball coach.

LaKose graduated from Cal State Northridge in 1991 and earned his master's degree from California Lutheran University in 1995. He and his wife, Ann, reside in the South Bay with their two daughters.

"My family and I are thrilled to be part of the Dominican community and we look forward to being part of dominican's growth and success in the coming years," added LaKose.

The Dominican women's basketball team last won a conference title in 2004-05 when the Penguins were a member of the NAIA Division II California Pacific Conference. This past season, in 2013-14, the Penguins won nine games and for the first time were one of six teams to advance to the Pacific West Conference Championships.

Dominican sponsors 12 intercollegiate sports and is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II. The Penguins have won the Pacific West Conference Academic Achievement Award for four consecutive years, having most recently posted a 3.34 GPA in 2012-13.