Coach RJ Dean is in his first season at Ellsworth Community College. He was born and raised in Aurora, IL and then moved to Minnesota where he attended high school at Rogers High School in Rogers, MN. He received All-Conference 2 years in high school. He then went on to play college basketball at the University of Minnesota Morris. While there he received freshman of the year, All-Conference honors twice and a 1000 point scorer. He averaged 11.1 ppg, 3 apg, 3 rpg.

In 2016-17 he was interim head coach at Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago, NE.