Dawson Community College adds junior varsity basketball teams for player development

Dawson Community College added junior varsity basketball teams for both its men’s and women’s programs, turning player development into a new competitive branch of the roster instead of leaving extra athletes parked in practice gear. The Glendive program said the JV teams will begin playing this coming year and are expected to face other JV squads from four-year schools in Montana and North Dakota, along with several tribal schools.

Athletic director and men’s coach Joe Peterson said Dawson has long carried several extra players who redshirted while they developed academically and athletically. His point was clear: as the college game keeps changing, those athletes need real games, not just repetitions in workouts. The new format gives Dawson a place for developmental players, late bloomers and high school prospects who need more time to grow before stepping into full varsity roles.

The timing is no accident. One day after Dawson’s announcement, the NCAA Division I Cabinet unanimously approved an age-based eligibility model that allows up to five years of eligibility if athletes enroll no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday. The NCAA said the change will be fully implemented for fall 2027 incoming classes. For a junior-college program trying to keep more players engaged, the shift signals a tighter future for roster spots and a stronger case for building a second game environment now.

Dawson is planning to carry 20 to 25 players between its varsity and JV rosters, a sign the college sees the setup as a permanent part of how it builds teams. That matters in a basketball program with recent results worth protecting: the men finished 29-4 overall and 13-1 in Mon-Dak conference play in 2024-25, then won the 2025 Mon-Dak regular season title and Region XIII tournament title before adding the Tip-Off Tournament in 2025-26. The women’s program played 29 games in 2024-25, giving Dawson another group that can benefit from deeper in-house competition.

The schedule Dawson described also fits the region. Montana has multiple tribal colleges, North Dakota has a tribal college system, and both figures into the JV slate the school outlined. For a program that already uses basketball as a recruiting and advancement platform, the new teams gave Dawson another way to keep more athletes in uniform, on the floor and in the pipeline.