RABBIT TRACKSSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

FACILITY FLASHBACK

VOLUME 16 NO. 2 \ FALL 2011

coughlin

alumni

stadiumest. 1962

As I reflect on our ambitious goals for growth in our athletic program, I am reminded that our future success depends on our ability to continue to follow the Jackrabbit Way.

To me, this means hustle, determination, ethics, sportsmanship, commitment to academics and staying true to short- and long-term strategic plans. Recently,we’ve been hearing a lot of stories about conference re-alignments, large money television contracts and unethical conductin “big time” college athletics.

I want our supporters to know that we do things differently here and we are proud of that fact. We will not cut corners or try to be something that we are not. We understand that one game does not make a season, one season does not make a year, and one year does not make a program. We are striving for high level academic and athletic results year after yearafter year.

With your continued support of the Jackrabbit Way, we have a chance to do some special things in the years to come.

While we are in a long-term process to build success, I am very proud of the direction the program is heading. Ourcoaches continue to recruit outstanding student-athletes and do a great job of providing a high quality experience duringtheir collegiate careers and beyond.

In my opinion, we have the best student-athletes in the country! We have a 3.23 cumulative GPA, with women’sbasketball ranked number one in the nation! Wrestling and football are at the top of their conferences and eighteen out of nineteen programs carry a team GPA above a 3.0.

Our student-athletes are great role models as evidenced by our community service and winning the Summit LeagueSportsmanship Award. We have also performed very well on the fields of play, which led to our first ever Summit LeagueAll Sports Trophy!

We have reached all time highs in donations, ticket sales, and corporate sponsorships. In addition, we have developedan outstanding facility master plan, which is critical to long-term growth for Jackrabbit athletics.

Finally, I want you to know how much all of us in the athletic department appreciate being part of a something bigger.Our institution is growing, we have outstanding university leadership and we are fortunate to work with terrific faculty.But perhaps most important, we have the best fans, donors and support base that I have ever been around.

Without the vision and support of thousands of people over the past eight years, we wouldn’t have had a chance toachieve greatness in the academic and athletic arenas. On behalf of Jackrabbit athletics, I hope you take some pride inknowing how important you are in this process. We are part of a large family…one that lives by The Jackrabbit Way!

Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

JUSTIN SELLDIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Living By TheJackrabbit Way

Army ROTC cadets retire the colorsbefore the start of a game in 2007. Thisyear marks the 50th season of football at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

Rabbit Tracks is produced by University Relations incooperation with the SDSU Athletic Department at no costto the State of South Dakota. Please notify the AthleticDepartment office when you change your address.

1,400 copies printed by the SDSU Athletic Department at no cost to the State ofSouth Dakota. PE069 10/11

FACILITY FLASHBACK — A SERIESAthletic facilities then and now, and plans for the future.

PRESIDENT David L. ChicoineDIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Justin SellASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, SPORTS INFORMATION Jason HoveSDSU SPORTS INFORMATION

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Ryan SweeterSENIOR ASSOCIATE AD/EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Leon CostelloEDITOR Andrea Kieckhefer, University RelationsCONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Graves,

Dana Hess, Kyle Johnson, University RelationsDESIGNER Nina Schmidt, University RelationsPHOTOGRAPHER Eric Landwehr,

University Relations

Athletic Department South Dakota State UniversityBox 2820, Brookings, SD 570071-866-GOJACKSFax: 605-688-5999www.gojacks.com

2 THE TOP FIFTYWho are the 50 best Jackrabbits tohave played at Coughlin-AlumniStadium in its first fifty years?

4 MAKING THE GRADEW’s and L’s aren’t the only letters thatSDSU athletes are judged by. Formany, the standards are As and Bs.

6 FRESH FACES FILL OFFICESFive sports have new head coachesand three sports now have their firstfull-time assistant coaches.

8 FACILITY FLASHBACKCoughlin-Alumni Stadium has been thehome of 163 SDSU football victoriessince 1962, and many are still etchedin the minds of fans and coaches.

11 LIGHTS, CAMERA CHANGEACTION AT COUGHLIN-ALUMNI

Lighting, a scoreboard with videocapabilities, and the Dykhouse Centerhave given the stadium a new look.

12 FACILITIES OF THE FUTUREA new stadium and an indoor practicefacility and human performance facilityare in the planning stages.

13 WHERE ARE THEY NOW?For Dave Lane, Stan Opp, JeffTiefenthaler, and Audrey (Stavrum)Riggs, the answer is the JackrabbitSports Hall of Fame.

14 COACH SPOTLIGHTRod DeHaven claimed a personal andteam title in his years of running atState, but some of his biggest racesdidn’t end with him earning gold.

16 A FIRST BY FIEGEN Kelli Fiegen made SDSU history whenshe was selected to play in the U.S.Open Volleyball Championships.

17 FROM BROOKINGS TOBURLINGTON

Blake Treinen left Brookings in May.Within a few weeks he was pitching forthe Class A Burlington (Iowa) Bees.

18 SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: AVERAThe health-care provider considersitself a partner with SDSU.

19 SOME SERIOUS GOLFThe event is fun, but serious cash israised at a Miller golf tournament.

ABOUT THE COVER

CONTENTSRABBIT TRACKSSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

VOLUME 16 NO. 2 \ FALL 2011

8

2014

50 BEST

RABBIT TRACKS2

Best quarterback ever to play at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium?

Best running back to ever racedown the SDSU home field?

Such questions make great tailgatingdebates before the next Jackrabbit game. Tostimulate a few of those arguments and tocelebrate the fiftieth season of South DakotaState football at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium,a fifty-player Coughlin-Alumni StadiumAll-Time Team was announced August 11in conjunction with Fall Media Day.

The list includes the obvious—NFLHall of Famer Jim Langer, future NFL Hallof Famer Adam Vinatieri, and two-time allpro Adam Timmerman—as well as somewho are only remembered by classmatesand the most avid of Jackrabbit fans.

Players had to be an all-conferenceselection to be eligible. Twenty-four of theselections were determined by onlinevoting of fans between the spring game inApril and June 30. The other twenty-sixwere chosen by a ten-member panel ofSDSU football experts who met viaconference call and voted via e-mail.

As might be expected with onlinevoting, players from recent years faredmuch better among fan voting. Of thetwenty-four fan selections, thirteenfinished their career in the past decadeand another seven finished in the 1990s.Only four picks finished their careers inthe 1980s, ’70s or ’60s.

Sports Information Director JasonHove, who chaired the committee, sayssome selections were cut and dried, suchas Lynn Boden, the only first-round draftpick in SDSU history.

Those on the bubble were put on a list,which was e-mailed to the committee tovote on the final selections, Hove says.

NFL experience wasn’t a ticket to theCoughlin-Alumni Stadium All-TimeTeam. Eight SDSU players with NFLexperience didn’t make the team. On theother hand, twenty-three of the fiftymembers do have pro experience and thevast majority of that in the NFL.

Timmerman’s memoriesTimmerman ’94 had twelve years of NFLexperience—four seasons in Green Bayand eight years in St. Louis. The formerIowa farm boy felt at home playing atfrozen Lambeau Field. At Coughlin-Alumni, “I thought it was awesome to playoutside in the elements, sometimes theywere plowing the snow,” he says.

The offensive lineman also was afreshman on the team that split the 1989Hobo Day game into two days. Lightningand heavy rain forced the game to behalted with 9:01 remaining. The teamsreassembled the next afternoon to finishthe game, which SDSU won 13-12 thanksto a blocked extra-point attempt.

“The second day was kind of hard toget re-energized for. Warm-ups took longerthan the actual playing of the game,”Timmerman notes.

However, he was used to going to thestadium on Sundays. “When I was afreshman we had to clean up the stadiumafter the games on Sunday as part of ourmeal program,” Timmerman recalls. Theirforeman was Kevin Tetzlaf ’91, a defensiveline selection to the all-Coughlin team.

He also recalls Jerry Busick ringing thecowbell, the band playing in the stands, andpacked stands for games with Augustanaand the University of South Dakota.

But he also has attended some recentBeef Bowl games and says, “I wish we hadthe atmosphere they have now. Theatmosphere when I played was good andexciting for USD and Augie, but othergames it wasn’t too much.

“Now it’s an event with tailgating,pregame events, and bigger crowds. It makesit more exciting for the football game.”

The selections will be honored athalftime of the October 22 game againstNorth Dakota State.

From Abel to WahlFans, experts choose best 50 players tohave played at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium

Jim Langer Adam Timmerman

FALL 2011 3

Players with an asterisk (*) were selected by fan voting. Number listed represents finalseason to letter.

OFFENSEQB: *Ryan Berry ’08, Mike Busch ’85, Gary

Maffett ’79, Ron Meyer ’65, Ted Wahl ’88RB: *Kyle Minett ’10, *Josh Ranek ’01,

Darwin Gonnerman ’69, Dan Sonnek’87, Les Tuma ’72

WR: *Josh Davis ’05, *Jeff Tiefenthaler ’86,Mike Ethier ’83, Lionel Macklin ’79

TE: *Steve Heiden ’98, Colin Cochart ’10,Clyde Hagen ’69, Monte Mosiman ’77,Dennis Thomas ’86

OL: *Matt Berry ’99, *Mitch Erickson ’07,*Jim Langer ’69, *Ryan McKnight ’10,*Adam Timmerman ’94, Lynn Boden’74, Chuck Loewen ’79, Jerry Ochs ’63

DEFENSEDL: *Danny Batten ’09, *Bill Matthews ’77,

*Eric Schroeder ’08, *Kevin Tetzlaff’91, Joey Abell ’04, Zach Carter ’98,Phil Engle ’72, Tim Roth ’69

LB: *Derek Domino ’10, *Doug Miller ’92,*Jimmy Rogers ’09, Chris Coauette ’04,Bruce Klostermann ’85, Rick Reese ’78

DB: *Cole Brodie ’10, *Scott Connot ’03,*Conrad Kjerstad ’10, *WayneRasmussen ’63, Dan Dummermuth ’81,Charlie Clarksean ’73, Dave Peterson ’92

SPECIAL TEAMSK: *Adam Vinatieri ’94, Parker Douglass ’07P: *Adam Vinatieri ’94, Tom O'Brien ’98

Selections who played in the pros:Draft information and pro experience. Free agent unless otherwise noted.• Danny Batten, drafted by Buffalo in thesixth round, 2010; Buffalo 2010-present

• Lynn Boden, first round draft pick ofDetroit, 1975; Detroit, 1975-78, Chicago,1979

• Cole Brodie, Jacksonville Jaguars, 2011• Mike Busch, New York Giants, 1987• Colin Cochart, Cincinnati, 2011• Scott Connot, Kansas City, 2004-06• Derek Domino, Denver, 2011• Parker Douglas, California (UFL), 2008,Las Vegas (UFL), 2009

• Phil Engle, drafted by Green Bay in the 11thround, 1973; Birmingham (WFL), 1973

• Mitch Erickson, Denver, 2008-09, Seattle, 2010

• Darwin Gonnerman, Ottawa (CFL) 1969-70

• Steve Heiden, drafted by San Diego in thethird round, 1993; San Diego, 1999-2001,Cleveland, 2002-09

• Bruce Klostermann, drafted by Denver inthe eighth round, 1986; Denver, 1986-89,Los Angeles Raiders, 1990-91

• Jim Langer, Miami, 1970-79, Minnesota,1980-81

• Chuck Loewen, drafted by San Diego in theseventh round, 1980; San Diego, 1980-84

• Bill Matthews, drafted by New England inthe fifth round, 1978; New England,1978-81, New York Giants, 1982-83,Denver Gold (USFL), 1984

• Ron Meyer, drafted by Chicago in theseventh round draft, 1966; Pittsburgh, 1966

• Doug Miller, drafted by San Diego in theseventh round, 1993; San Diego, 1993-94

• Wayne Rasmussen, drafted by Detroit inthe ninth round, 1964, Detroit, 1964-74,

• Josh Ranek, Dallas, 2002, Ottawa (CFL)2002-05, Hamilton (CFL) 2006, Edmonton(CFL), 2007

• Tim Roth, drafted by Oakland in the 16thround, 1970; Saskatchewan (CFL), 1971-77,

• Adam Timmerman, drafted by Green Bayin the seventh round, 1995; 1995-98,Green Bay, St. Louis, 1999-2006

• Adam Vinatieri, Amsterdam (WFL), 1996,New England, 1996-2005, Indianapolis,2006-present

Honorable mention:Number listed represents final season to letter.• Casey Bender ’09, offensive lineman,Cleveland, 2010, Indianapolis, 2011,Detroit, 2011

• Dean Herrboldt ’94, receiver, BritishColumbia (CFL), 1995-96

• Bob Gissler ’75, defensive end, drafted byMiami in the 14th round, 1976

• Chris Johnson ’09, linebacker,Arizona/Chicago, 2010, Chicago, 2011

• Jerry Lawrence ’74, tackle, drafted in theeighth round by Houston, 1975

• Ed Maras ’65, end, drafted by Green Bayin the 20th round, 1966

• Todd Simonsen ’75, tackle, drafted byHouston in the sixth round, 1976

• Brian Sisley ’86, nose guard, New YorkGiants, 1987

SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS:• Jim Booher, athletic trainer, 1967-2009• Mike Daly, head coach, 1991-96;defensive coordinator, 1975-79

• Harry Forsyth, athletic departmentadministrator, 1955-90

• John Gregory, head coach 1972-81• Wayne Haensel, head coach 1982-1990, assistant coach 1973-82

• Steve Imming, football broadcaster,1992-2010

• Jason Hove. sports informationdirector, 2006-present

• Ron Lenz, sports information director,1977-2006

• Jerry Oster, football broadcaster, 1979-2008

• John Stiegelmeier, head coach 1997-present, assistant coach 1988-97

DAVE GRAVES

Adam Vinatieri

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

RABBIT TRACKS4

Athletic Director Justin Sell called it arare alignment of the stars thatallowed coaches from three of the

university’s top sports to take part in theSDSU On the Road Tour’s northern swingthrough the Black Hills in May.

During the tour, women’s basketball coachAaron Johnston, men’s basketball coach Scott Nagy and head football coach JohnStiegelmeier spoke to two groups of alumniand friends in Spearfish and Piedmont.

SDSU fans and friends who wereexpecting Xs and Os from the coaches wereprobably disappointed, as the recurringtheme they spoke about was academics.

Johnston’s teams have enjoyed remarkablesuccess on the basketball court and in theclassroom. His teams set a record by earningtheir way to the NCAA Women’s BasketballTournament in each of their first three years

of eligibility and they’ve distinguishedthemselves by consistently finishing amongthe top teams in the nation in team gradepoint average.

For the 2011 season, Johnston’s team led allof Division I with a 3.666 grade point averageand they finished second in the all divisionsrace. (See related story.)

Johnston credits SDSU’s faculty forattracting talented players who enjoy success inthe classroom. According to Johnston, whenprospective players visit campus, one of themost important aspects of their trip is talkingwith a member of the faculty.

High grades for basketball, footballNagy’s men’s basketball team set a record thispast year with nineteen wins, something theyaccomplished while earning a cumulative 3.0grade point average.

Nagy, who has been with SDSU for sixteenseasons, says he stays in Brookings because heenjoys the team feel of the Athletic Departmentand the University.

“It is a family atmosphere, withoutquestion,” Nagy says.

While introducing Stiegelmeier, Sell said itwas “unheard of ” for a Division I football teamto earn a 3.03 cumulative grade point averagelike the Jackrabbits did in the past year.

Stiegelmeier gave credit to the faculty,noting ideas brought to him by College ofPharmacy Dean Dennis Hedge about how thatcollege could better accommodate student-athletes and a letter he read from College ofEngineering Assistant Dean Rich Reid to aprospective student outlining in specific detailhow that student could tackle the rigors of aneducation in engineering while still competingon the football team.

“That is common at South Dakota State,”Stiegelmeier says. “The faculty at South DakotaState is unbelievable.”

Academic excellence startswith recruitingFaculty members aren’t the only ones to stressacademics. Coaches have a role in it too,according to Laurie Melum, assistant athleticdirector for academics.

The emphasis on recruiting young men andwomen who are top students as well as topathletes can be seen in the wide range of majors

in which SDSU’sstudent-athletes areenrolled.

Melum says themost popular majorsfor SDSU student-athletes are biology;economics; healthpromotions;journalism; and health,physical education and

recreation. Student-athletes can also be foundmajoring in pharmacy, nursing, and engineering.

“We have student-athletes in all of them,”Melum says. “That makes the GPA moreimpressive.”

In the last spring semester, student-athletesearned a cumulative grade point average of3.23. For the entire academic year their gradepoint average was 3.174.

Grade checks help measurestudent-athlete successNo matter what the major, arranging anacademic schedule for a student-athlete is noeasy chore.

“The student-athlete has to work hard tomake it fit with their practice and travelschedule,” Melum says. “The professors havebeen wonderful helping student-athletes getthose things done.”

To help ensure student-athletes’ success, avariety of mechanisms are used by the AthleticDepartment.

Twice each semester student-athletes havegrade checks. They visit each of theirprofessors to have a form filled out that letsthe student-athlete and their coach knowtheir grade at that point in the semester andtheir progress in the class.

“It helps us pay attention to where theyare academically,” Melum says, “and it givesthem a chance to visit with their professors.”

When a student-athlete’s sport is inseason, there are more visits with professors.They’ll meet at the beginning of the semesterto go over the student-athlete’s travelschedule and discuss any missed class timeso they can find out about tests, assignments,or labs that will need to be made up.

Student-athletes expected tobe successful in classroom

Laurie Melum

Women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnstonspeaks about his team’s commitment toacademics during a West River gathering in May.

SPRING 2011 5

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

According to Melum, the AthleticDepartment also makes sure thatstudent-athletes are all aware of SDSU’stutoring services.

Another of the department’sacademic strategies is the study table.Each sport has a study table that at thevery least requires freshmen and otherstudents who may be struggling in acourse to log significant time hitting the books.

“Each sport has their own studytable guidelines,” says Melum, whoexplains that the study tablerequirements are up to each sport’shead coach. “It gives the student-athletes a dedicated study time and ithelps show that academics are stressed.”

Time management one of the keys to successThere’s little time wasted in a student-athlete’s day during the season.

The morning and early afternoon arefor classes. Then it’s off to the gym forweight training and practice. NCAArules dictate how much time student-athletes can practice. For most sports it’stwenty hours per week during the season.

After practice, it’s an evening ofstudy. A schedule that full requirescareful time management. Time

management is important for all, notjust student-athletes, Melum says.“Students who don’t do very well incollege probably don’t do very well withtime management,” Melum says.

One student-athlete whocarries a 4.0grade pointaverage, women’sbasketball playerAshley Eide,knows theimportance of timemanagement.

“In order toget everything completed and done tothe best of my ability, I need to be veryorganized,” Eide says. “It is crucial tohave good communication withprofessors and coaches in order to planahead and stay on top of everything.”

DANA HESS

ACADEMIC SUCCESSRUNS THROUGHSDSU SPORTSThe Jackrabbits set a record by reaching theNCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in each oftheir first three years of eligibility.

However, before they started schooling ESPN’sTrey Wingo about the fact that there was anotherSDSU, they were leading Division I in academicsin the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’sAcademic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.

Since the start of SDSU’s Division I era in 2004-2005, the women’s team has led Division I inacademics four times, the latest in the 2010-2011 season with a 3.666 grade point average.During that time they have never finished lowerthan third and three times led teams from alldivisions in grade point average.

The classroom performances turned in by athletesin other SDSU sports make it clear that thechallenge to achieve academic excellence runsthroughout the Athletic Department. Other recentacademic awards include:

� Golfer Brian Wynia was one of ten student-athletes named to the Capital One AcademicAll-District VII Men’s At-Large Team. Heearned his spot on the team with a 3.93 gradepoint average while majoring in biology/pre-medicine.

� Another biology/pre-medicine major, wrestlerAaron Pickrel, earned a slot on the NationalWrestling Coaches Association Individual All-Academic team with a 3.92 grade pointaverage. His squad’s cumulative 3.23 gradepoint average placed it fourth among Division Iwrestling programs behind Harvard, American,and Columbia.

� The men’s and women’s track and fieldsquads were named to the list of Division IAll-Academic Track and Field Teams in 2011,the fifth year that both squads have receivedthat honor. Individuals earning All-Academichonors were Ben Janinski, Luke Leischner,Jennifer Mack, Kali Olson, and Mary Wirth.

� Janinski, an electrical engineering major,earned a $7,500 scholarship from the NCAAPostgraduate Scholarship Committee, one of174 postgraduate scholarships awardednationwide to student-athletes who excelacademically and athletically.

Ashley Eide

The 2010-11 women’s basketball team led Division I teams with a 3.66 grade pointaverage. It is the fourth time in seven seasons of DI play that the team has had the bestGPA in Division I.

Some arrive fresh, some move upthe chain of command, and

others return to the fold.Whatever the situation, there are

new and familiar faces dotting theSDSU coaching landscape with thestart of the 2011-2012 school year.

VOLLEYBALLAfter serving as head volleyball coach at DrakeUniversity the last three years, Phil McDanielreturns to head the Jackrabbit program. Hetakes over for Nanabah Allison-Brewer, whostepped down due to family priorities.

From 2005-07, McDaniel was an assistantvolleyball coach at SDSU, helping guide theJacks through the transition from Division II

to Division I. SDSUincreased its wintotal each seasonwith McDaniel onthe staff, improvingfrom 16-19 in 2005,to 22-12 in 2006,and 25-11 in 2007.

McDaniel tookover the program inFebruary, arrivingin Brookings just intime for the springseason. He went

right to work getting the Jackrabbits ready tomake another run in the Summit League.

“I came in at a crucial time,” he says,“because we needed that time on the court tolearn about each other. The players needed tolearn my style of coaching, my expectations foreach of them, and I needed to discover whatmakes each of them tick on the court.

“I’m looking forward to working with theyoung ladies in this program. The relationshipbetween campus and the Brookings communityis incredibly supportive, and I’m ready to domy part to move that relationship forward.”

In his final season as an assistant coach in2007, the Jacks were in their first season ofSummit League play and they won the leagueregular-season title (13-3), and later defeatedIPFW in the league championship match tobecome the first SDSU team to earn a Division Ipostseason appearance.

At Drake, McDaniel directed a dramaticturnaround. Inheriting a team that won sevenmatches the previous season, he led Drake to a12-20 record in 2008. He continued to build theprogram, notching consecutive 20-win seasonsand a pair of Missouri Valley ConferenceTournament appearances, going 22-12 in 2009and 23-11 in 2010.

McDaniel’s first Division I coaching tenurewas at New Mexico State from 2002-04, wherehe was part of a program that accumulated arecord of 86-15 in three seasons and two NCAAtournament berths.

A native of Decatur, Illinois, McDaniel earneda bachelor’s degree from Culver-StocktonCollege (1996), and a master’s degree from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Platteville (1998).

BASEBALLA man only four wins shy of reaching 600 forhis career takes over the reins of the SDSUbaseball program.

In twenty-three seasons as a collegiate headcoach, Dave Schrage has averaged more thantwenty-five wins per season, including fivecampaigns with thirty-two or more. He hascoached players who have earned all-conferencehonors fifty-eight times and thirty-eight of hisformer student-athletes have gone on to playprofessionally.

“I’m very humbled and appreciative for thischance,” says Schrage.

“I was so impressed with the quality of peoplewhen I visited campus. There is so much growthand excitement happening here. My family andI are looking forward to joining the Jackrabbitfamily and getting involved in the Brookingscommunity.”

Schrage replaces Ritchie Price, whoreturned to be an assistant coach at his almamater, Kansas. Schrage tabbed Brian Grunzkeas the Jacks’ first full-time assistant coach.

The new head coach inherits a programthat has averaged thirty-eight wins during thepast two seasons, tying the school record forwins with a 39-21 mark in 2010.

The Jacks have advanced to the SummitLeague championship series three straight years.

“Coach (Reggie) Christiansen and CoachPrice did a super job building this programinto a winner,” cites Schrage. “I expect to keepthat momentum going.”

Prior to SDSU, Schrage was at Notre Damefor four years, 2007-10, leading the FightingIrish to a 119-104-1 record, including marks of33-21-1 in 2008 and 36-23 in 2009.

He had a four-year stint (2003-06) atEvansville, Indiana, where he compiled a 130-108 slate. He earned Missouri ValleyConference Coach of the Year honors in 2006as Evansville won both the regular season andtournament conference titles, earning a berthin the NCAA Tournament.

A Chicago native, Schrage led a majorturnaround during a three-year run, 2000-02,at Northern Illinois. Inheriting a team that was4-51 the year before, Schrage turned in atwenty-game improvement going 24-33 in hisfirst season, earning runnerup National Coach

of the Year honors.The next year hedirected the Huskiesto a winning seasonat 28-27.

Schrage spentnine seasons ashead coach atNorthern Iowa,where he wasnamed MissouriValley ConferenceCoach of the Yearin 1995 and 1997.His first headcoaching job was atWaldorf College,where he logged a61-66 record from1988-90.

Schrage was anall-conferenceoutfielder atCreighton,graduating in 1983with a degree infinance.

Grunzke has coached at the college level fornearly thirty years. Most recently he served asthe first baseball coach at the University ofIllinois-Springfield.

In 1990, he succeeded Schrage at WaldorfCollege. In sixteen seasons, Grunzke compileda 388-344-1 record, leading the Warriors toeight appearances in the National Junior CollegeAthletic Association region finals.

RABBIT TRACKS6

Phil McDaniel

Dave Schrage

Freshexpertisehits SDSUcoachingscene

NEW COACHES

Brian Grunzke

EQUESTRIANMegan Rossiter is the new equestrian coach,replacing Joe Humphrey (interim in 2010-11)and Megan McGee, the program’s first coach.

Prior to taking the SDSU post in June,Rossiter spent four years at Drake JohnsonReining Horses in Wray, Colorado, where sheassisted in instructing riders, training, andshowing reining horses.

She says she’s looking forward to gettingstarted. “I’m excited for the opportunity towork with the young women on the equestrianteam and be involved in a program with suchgreat support from the administration, staff,and community.”

Rossiter began her collegiate coachingcareer at Oklahoma State University, where shehelped coach the western team as a graduateassistant from 2001-2003, before accepting an

assistant coachingposition at theschool. During hertime there, theCowgirl westernteam won the 2003,2004 and 2006varsity equestriannationalchampionships.

In addition tovarsity equestrian,the Cowgirls hadsuccess in the

Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Rossiterhelped coach thirty-three individual zonechampions, eighteen regional champions, andseven national champions.

A native of DePere, Wisconsin, Rossitergraduated from Murray State in 2000 with adegree in agriculture with a concentration inequine science. She earned a master’s degree inanimal science with an emphasis in equinenutrition from Oklahoma State in 2008.

Kamerra Brown was named the program’sassistant coach. She joins the equestrian stafffull time after serving as a graduate assistantfor the Jacks last season. Prior to SDSU, shehad a successful riding career at Delaware State University.

SOFTBALLMoving from the West Coast near the PacificOcean to the Midwest is Kim Aggabao, thenew head coach of the SDSU softball program,replacing Joanna Lane.

Before arriving in Brookings, Aggabao wasan assistant coach at the University of San

Diego, where she served as the hitting coach,infield coach, and recruiting coordinator.

“It’s great to be able to lead the next chapterfor South Dakota State softball,” she says. “I’m

so grateful to bepart of thisUniversity and first-class athleticenvironment. I’malso lookingforward to workingwith the team andhelping it achievegreat things.”

A native ofWalnut, California,Aggabao played atSan Diego, whereshe earned abiology degree in2004. A four-yearstarter in themiddle infield, sheearned first-team all-CaliforniaCollegiate AthleticAssociation honorsthree times. Shewas named theconference’s mostvaluable player and

all-west region second-team as a senior.Carla Shepherd was named the program’s

full-time assistant coach. She joins the staffafter spending last season as the pitching coachat Occidental College in Los Angeles,California. Prior to that, she was the pitchingcoach at Louisiana State University at Eunice.

TENNISAfter ten years, SDSU has a new men’s andwomen’s tennis coach, following the retirementof Don Hanson.

Michael Engdahl takes over after serving as an assistant coach for the last two years. He

focused primarilyon the men’s teamand coached themto their mostsuccessful season in team history in 2009-10. Hecoached three all-Summit League players as an assistant.

In addition toSDSU, Engdahl

spent time as the director and head tennisinstructor for Michael Engdahl Tennis, whichhe founded in 2006. He also worked as thedirector and head tennis instructor at the St.Cloud, Minnesota, Country Club.

Engdahl was the head tennis coach at theBoy’s and Girl’s Club in Sartell, Minnesota, in2005-06, and was an assistant in 2004. He alsowas an instructor at Gold’s Gym in Sartell andat Set Point Tennis in St. Cloud from 2003-06.

A 2008 SDSU graduate, Engdahl playedboth No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles as asenior captain. The St. Cloud native moved toSDSU from St. Cloud State, where he competedin the NCAA Division II national tournamenttwice. He was a two-time all-conferenceselection with the Huskies.

WRESTLINGFor the first time in its history, SDSU wrestlinghas a full-time assistant coach.

Serving under Head Coach Jason Liles willbe former Iowa Lakes Community College

head coach andUniversity of Iowawrestler Ty Eustice.

A Blue Earth,Minnesota, native,Eustice hasexperience at everyNCAA level. In twoseasons at IowaLakes, the team hada 14-11 dual recordand two top-tennational tournamentplaces. Seventeen

wrestlers qualified for nationals, including atwo-time national champion, six all-Americans, and two academic all-Americans.

Before Iowa Lakes, Eustice was an assistantwrestling coach at Cornell College. He came toCornell after two years as a graduate assistantat Minnesota State University in Mankato,where he earned a master’s degree in sportsmanagement.

Eustice had a 111-29 dual record at theUniversity of Iowa, including a 28-3 mark as asenior. As a prep at Blue Earth, he won fourindividual state titles.

KYLE JOHNSON

NEW COACHES

FALL 2011 7

Megan Rossiter

Kim Aggabao

Carla Shepherd

Michael Engdahl

Ty Eustice

FACILITYFLASHBACKA

S

ER

IE

S

RABBIT TRACKS8

Roll out the birthday cake, but put a hold on theblack crepe paper.

Coughlin-Alumni Stadium is marking its fiftieth season of play this fall, but there will be a few more candles on the cake before a new facility replaces what is only the University’ssecond football stadium in its 130 years of existence.

Plans for a new stadium are still in preliminary stages, but 2011 is for celebrating and reflecting.

In the 261 games played at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium before the start of the 2011 season,South Dakota State has a .621 winning percentage, has won eight of its last ten Hobo Daygames, and has seen more than 1.5 million fans go through the turnstiles since the first gameSept. 22, 1962.

HAPPY 50TH!Gridiron memories fill

Coughlin-Alumni’s golden season

FALL 2011 9

That game pitted Ralph Ginn’s futureconference cochampions against ArkansasState and the visitors won 9-7.

The next week the Jackrabbits tried againfor their first win in the new stadium andwere beaten by Montana State 14-10. Thethird time was the charm as SDSU thenwhipped Augustana 28-7. The losses werethe only ones of the 7-2-1 season.

The following year was even better. SDSUwent 9-1 and won the first of its two conferencetitles during the Coughlin-Alumni era.

Bison beaten, title capturedAfter the 1963 North Central Conferencecrown, State wouldn’t gain a conference titleagain until 2007, when John Stiegelmeier’ssquad beat North Dakota State 29-24 in thefinal game of the year to win the Great WestFootball title and the Dakota Marker trophy.

The game is regarded among the topvictories in SDSU history, and Stiegelmeiercertainly holds it in that regard.

Top-ranked North Dakota State came inunbeaten with its 10-0 record including avictory over Minnesota. But with the GreatWest Conference title at stake, the Jackrabbitsprevailed in front of a Coughlin-AlumniStadium record crowd of 16,345, winningtheir first conference title since 1963.

Stiegelmeier recalls, “The crowd came outon the field, which is always fun. And to seethe expressions on the players’ faces is justreally satisfying.”

Superfan Keith Jensen has been going toSDSU games since 1971 and says that not a

lot of them stand out. That November 17,2007, win against NDSU does.

“Beating North Dakota State down herewas a heck of a game and a heck of crowd.The Bison helped that. They brought a lot ofpeople down. If I have any games that Iremember, that one would top the list andthe Hobo Day win over the U back in theDivision II games,” Jensen says.

The win over the University of SouthDakota that Jensen is recalling is a 26-21Hobo Day win in 1979, when senior LionelMacklin caught a game-winning pass infront of a standing-room-only crowd.

Upsetting top-ranked USDThe most famous win over USD cameOctober 19, 1985, when the Coyotes travelednorth for Hobo Day with a No. 1 ranking inthe nation. SDSU was 3-3 and had alreadylost by fifteen to the University of SouthDakota in the second game of the year.

A record crowd of 16,193 knew thatrecords are meaningless when it comes toplaying USD.

SDSU built a 22-0 lead, before Jackrabbitreserves gave up two fourth-quartertouchdowns. SDSU ended the game with asafety when USD fumbled into the end zonewith thirty-nine seconds to play. TheJackrabbits held USD to 260 yards whilegaining 433 yards on eighty-six plays.

Game day isn’t just footballBut a trip to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium isn’tjust the game; it is the atmosphere.

It is tailgating before the game, the aromaof barbecue during the Beef Bowl, the replaysseen on a 121-foot wide scoreboard, a rowdy,face-painted student section, and the Pride ofthe Dakotas marching band bringing thecrowd to its feet with Ring the Bells.

“The band was great. They really addedto the flavor of the game,” says former coachMike Daly.

In earlier days, the band would march outto the tailgate area. “That always for me gotthings started,” Jensen says. And once Jensengets started, he’s ready to play the full sixtyminutes. His season tickets are now nine rowsfrom the top above the fifty-yard-line.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Don Huls (76) looks to flatten an Augustana defender in anOctober 6, 1962, game during the first season at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

“THOSE THAT HAVE PLAYED AT

COUGHLIN-ALUMNI AND THOSE

THAT HAVE GONE TO GAMES AT

COUGHLIN-ALUMNI KNOW IT’S A

GREAT STADIUM AND WE SHOULD

REALLY CELEBRATE THAT IT HAS

BEEN FOR FIFTY YEARS.”

COACH JOHN STIEGELMEIER

FACILITY FLASHBACK COUGHLIN-ALUMNI STADIUM

REMEMBERWHEN?1962 – Coughlin-Alumni Stadiumopens in defeat. Arkansas State beatsthe home team 9-7 on Sept. 22. Thenext week Montana State edgedSDSU 14-10. On its third try, SouthDakota State won in its new confines,beating Augustana 28-7.

1963 – In the largest margin of victoryever on Hobo Day, SDSU pastes USD61-0 during the Jackrabbits conferencechampionship season. Eight different’Rabbits find paydirt with running backReed Sanderson double dipping.SDSU outgained USD 516-74.

1968 – Conference MVP Darwin “Go-Go” Gonnerman rushes for 177yards and five touchdowns in a 47-27win against Augustana. Future SDSUcoach Mike Daly was playing safety forthe Vikings. “I made about fifteentackles. I joke I came in at 5-10- andwent out at 5-8 because he ran solow,” Daly says. Admission back thenwas $3 for reserved seat, $2 forgeneral admission, and 50 cents forgrade-school students with an adult.

1972 – Crowds shout “Tuma, Tuma,Tuma” as Les Tuma runs for what wasthen a single-season, school record of1,061 yards.

1975 – Coaches noticed somethingsparkly on the wrist of kicker DanDeLaHunt before the game’s openingkickoff. Turns out he had forgotten totake off his wristwatch.

1975 – SDSU wins a Hobo Daynailbitter over the University of SouthDakota 24-22. The Coyotes seempoised to spoil State’s homecomingafter taking a 22-21 lead with 5:35 left.USD scored a touchdown and two-point conversion after interceptingSDSU in the end zone. But DeLaHunt,known to teammates as DeLaFoot,capped a 14-play drive with a 25-yardfield goal with 18 seconds left to play.

1979 – In a memorable Hobo Daybattle, USD grabbed a 14-13 fourth-quarter lead. But SDSU answered withconsecutive touchdowns by LionelMacklin and Jerry James to take a 26-14 lead with 6:40 remaining. SDSUheld on to win 26-21, and later thatseason played in its first playoff game.

To read more highlights from fifty years ofgames at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, go togojacks.com.

“I like where I sit because a lot of parentsare above me. They’ll get up and yell withme. I don’t have to be down in the sit-in-your-seats crowd down below. I seem to bekind of the leader. They seem to get up whenI get up,” says Jensen, who also used to clangthe cowbell before it was outlawed.

While cowbells are a big part of SDSU’stradition, the NCAA has outlawed them asartificial noisemakers.

More popular than everSo that puts the burden on the lungs of thefans, and the more the better, CoachStiegelmeier says. “What’s really impactedgame day is the increase in the crowds; peoplebeing willing to buy a ticket and be part ofthe 13,000 to 15,000,” he says.

During its 8-4 2009 season, SDSUaveraged 13,265 fans per game in five gameswith each topping 10,000.

Ron Lenz, the former sports informationdirector, says, “We had a lot of years when,other than Hobo Day, we were lucky to have5,000 people here. Once Hobo Day was over,as far as fans were concerned, football seasonwas over. ‘Let’s get ready for basketball.’”

The answer to that in 2011 is to moveHobo Day to November 5, the final homegame of the season.

Athletic administrators are hoping torebound from the 2010 attendance dip (anaverage of 9,987 for five games) and have hadmade 578 additional prime seats available forseason-ticket holders by moving the band tonew aluminum bleachers beyond the southend zone.

Built in an era before luxuryAll of the 10,000 seats in the stadium arepretty generic, though season-ticket holdersdo get a portable chairback.

There are no luxury boxes. That wasn’teven a dream when former Athletic DirectorJack Frost announced a fund drive for a14,000-seat stadium in fall 1957. It was thefirst time that the University turned topublic and students to fund a building.

The Stadium for State Committee wasforced to punt a couple times during thefund-raising effort.

Three times students voted “no” toadding fees to help build the stadium. OnNovember 15, 1960, the committee opted toscale back the project. In April 1961, theBoard of Regents approved a winning bid of$180,000 for a 6,384-seat stadium.

Charles Coughlin made a $50,000 gift tothe effort and later made a “substantial gift”for a 4,000-square-foot dressing room.

The Dykhouse differenceSo while in the late 1950s, students balked atpaying an additional fee of $2.50 per quarterand entire stadium could be built for$180,000, in 2008 donations of $6 millioncame in from two men to build theDykhouse Student-Athlete Center beyondthe north end zone.

Stiegelmeier says, “The Dykhouse hasmade a huge impact on our football team, ...on our staff being able to do its job.”

The 30,000-square-foot center with aunique butterfly roof has meeting rooms,student study rooms, coaches’ offices, a first-class weight room, a customizedfootball locker room, and an upper-floor deck where guests can watch the game.

The center, the giant scoreboard, and thebigger crowds have come since SDSUbecame a Division I school.

Former Athletic Director Harry Forsethsays, “To a lot of people, there’s a magic withbeing Division I. You’re big time now, andit’s true. There’s more prestige.”

The team’s nonconference road hasincluded Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska,and Illinois in the past four seasons. It makesMankato State, St. Cloud State, andNebraska-Omaha seem like another era, onein which a massive concrete slab withwooden benches was impressive.

“At the time they built it, the press boxwas unreal. Nobody had anything like it.Now it’s obsolete,” Lenz says.

‘We need to upgrade’He adds, “We need to do something. There’sno ifs, ands, or buts about it. The stadiumhas done well for us. . . . [But] if you travelaround to the teams we’re playing, it’s obviouswe need to upgrade our facilities. SDSU’sstadium is well behind.

“There are a number of schools that havealready built new stadiums and done majorrenovations.”

Stiegelmeier also would like to see a newstadium, but adds, “I think those that haveplayed at Coughlin-Alumni and those thathave gone to games at Coughlin-Alumni,know it is a great stadium and we shouldreally celebrate that it has been for fifty years.

“Game day has obviously changed by a lotof different faces in the stadium. We want tokeep that going.”

DAVE GRAVES

RABBIT TRACKS10

FACILITYFLASHBACK

Lights, scoreboard,Dykhouse changesface of stadium

Three major improvements in the pastdecade have given Coughlin-AlumniStadium a new image.

Lighting was added in 2001, a hugescoreboard with video capabilities wasinstalled in 2005, and the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center was dedicated in 2010.

For the first forty years of the stadium’shistory, all games were played in theafternoon. The first night game was Sept. 1,2001, a 34-24 win over Ferris State ofMichigan. A fireworks display capped off theCereal Bowl victory.

It was the first night game at SDSU sinceOct. 1, 1960, when SDSU was playing atState Field (now Sexauer track).

At Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, a total offifty-eight 1,500-watt fixtures are mountedon four poles ninety feet above the ground,producing 88.5 foot-candles on the field. Afoot-candle is how bright the light is onefoot away from the source.

Typically, the lighting over a kitchen stoveor sink or in a bathroom is seventy to eightyfoot-candles. So it is brighter on the field ofCoughlin-Alumni Stadium than it is in atypical bathroom.

The work cost $235,000, but BrookingsSchool District made a $170,000 contributionso it could play high school games atCoughlin-Alumni.

Scoreboard provides feel of abig stadium

The 121-foot wide and fifty-six-foot highDaktronics scoreboard was added in thesummer of 2005 with the new Frost Arenascoreboard being erected in early fall. In thecenter of the football scoreboard is a seventeen-by twenty-nine-foot video display board.

The video and audio capacity not onlyenhance the fans’ experience during thegame, but also helps energize the crowdbefore the game and during breaks.

Combined, the scoreboards cost $3million. The projects were a combined effortof Daktronics, SDSU, and the SDSUFoundation, which made an investment inthe project through private gifts made insupport of the Athletic Department.

The south end zone scoreboard replaceda simple, twenty-eight-year-old board thatoffered little more than down, distance, timeand score.

The Dykhouse differenceThe Dykhouse Center was built primarilythrough the donations of $1 million by thefamily of alum Dana Dykhouse and $5 millionby T. Denny Sanford.

Groundbreaking was September 13, 2008,with dedication April 24, 2010, making lastfall the first year that the Jackrabbits emergedonto the Coughlin-Alumni turf from thenorth end. The original locker room was builtjust beyond the south end zone with adonation from Charles Coughlin.

That was an era when there were forty tofifty players on a team with many of themplaying offense and defense. So both SDSU

and the visitors used the 4,000-square-footlocker room.

Two-platoon football became common inthe mid- to late-1960s, so squad sizesexpanded. With the 1973 opening of FrostArena, the visitors began dressing in the HPERbuilding, which takes a few minutes to reach.

“It was always enough to make theopponents mad,” says Mike Daly, whocoached for and against the Jacks in histwenty-five-year career.

Recalling the old SDSU locker room,which is now used for officials and to sellJackrabbit apparel, Daly says, “I think I stillsmell the locker room. That was dingy in the1970s and when I came back [as head coachin 1991] it hardly looked any different. Thearoma still sticks with me. That was causedby how small it was.”

That certainly can’t be said of theDykhouse Center.

A big locker room, and much moreThe 30,000-square-foot center rises from thesame ground that previously supportedthirty-foot pine trees that were planted asseedlings by people like former AthleticDirector Harry Forsyth and former coachand intramural director Warren Williamson.

Gone too are the three modular homesthat lined up near the east bleachers to serveas meeting areas for coaches and players.

Within the Dykhouse, in addition tocoaches’ offices and meeting rooms, are a2,540-square-foot locker room with 110individual wooden lockers plus an 800-square-foot shower room. On the first floorof the two-story center is a 4,600-square-footstrength and conditioning room.

Coach John Stiegelmeier says, “TheDykhouse has made a huge impact on ourfootball team, on our staff being taken careof, and on our staff being able to do its job.”

The Dykhouse Center hasn’t really madea difference in the fans’ perception of thegame, but other improvements to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium have. One example is thisyear’s change—the addition of 1,000 seats inpermanent aluminum bleachers in front ofthe scoreboard beyond the south end zone.

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE >>

FALL 2011 11

The Jackrabbits enter the field from the northend zone after leaving the locker room in theDykhouse Student-Athlete Center in 2010, thefirst year for the facility.

FACILITYFLASHBACK

RABBIT TRACKS12

PLANS PROGRESS FORNEW STADIUM, INDOORPRACTICE CENTER

Rome wasn’t built in a day, so SDSUfans shouldn’t expect to see a new

coliseum in the next couple of seasons.But Athletic Director Justin Sell hopes

the Jackrabbit empire shares in his visionfor a new stadium and an indoor practicefacility and human performance facility.Sell, in his third season at the helm of theDivision I Athletic Department, says hetalked with President David Chicoine aboutfacility improvements early in his tenure.

In June, the Board of Regents gaveSouth Dakota State permission to plan fora new stadium and indoor facility.

While the University has some conceptsin mind, the specifics of what the new venueswill include are to be developed by anarchitectural/engineering firm. Sell says thegoal was to select a firm by early October.

He adds that there may be a differentfirm for each project, and that theirfinancing plans will be separate.

As directed by the Regents, financingwon’t include tax dollars or student fees.Even the funds for the preliminary detailedplans will come from the SDSU Foundation.

Costs, financing being studiedSDSU officials haven’t released any ballparkestimates on the Athletic Department’sproposed facilities.

That will be derived through the designprocess. Different models for financing thestadium also will be studied. Among therevenue sources will be season-ticket sales,the sale of luxury suites, and stadiumnaming rights. For the indoor facility, it willsimply be a matter of soliciting donations.

Because the projects will carry separatefunding plans, the current plan is for bothfacilities to move ahead together, he adds.The human performance center would beattached to the Dykhouse Student-AthleteCenter with the indoor facility north of it.

The projects fit within the 2025 MasterPlan for Athletics Facilities, which can beseen at gojacks.com.

DAVE GRAVES

>> CONTINUED

Built with a donation from ananonymous donor, Athletic DirectorJustin Sell says the new bleachers willprovide seating for the band andstudents. That makes an extra 578 seatsavailable for season-ticket purchases inthe main grandstand.

Brats build better boostersA change that has transformed the game-day experience is tailgating, whichdeveloped in an area north of the stadium.

Superfan Keith Jensen says, “Therewere a couple years there where eight orten vehicles would go out north of thetrees and we would tailgate. That went onthree or four years until the departmentencouraged tailgating [2001].

“Now it’s packed. That whole area ispacked. At least a thousand or 1,500 cometo the big games.”

Initially restricted to a half-milecircumference area north of the stadium,tailgating has expanded to the parking lotjust outside of the stadium as well as lotsacross the street. Tailgating begins fivehours before kickoff on night games.

“Tailgating has now made football notjust a game but a day,” Stiegelmeier says.

Other improvementsAmong smaller improvements made atCoughlin-Alumni Stadium:• East side bleachers were added, circa 1970.• Underground sprinkling was installed,circa 1990.

• Seating was upgraded. Original woodplanks were later painted blue andyellow. Blue and yellow fiberglass coverswere put on the planks in 1980. Thecovers were replaced and renumberedin 1992. About ten years ago portablechairbacks were provided for season-ticket holders.

• The parking lot west of the stadium was paved, 2000.

• The concession and restroom area andthe ticket booth were expanded, 2001.

DAVE GRAVES

THIS PAGESTILL COMING

FROM MIKE

Jeff Tiefenthaler Tiefenthaler rewrote the Jackrabbitrecord book in football and trackduring the mid-1980s.

An Armour native, he set nineschool records and seven NorthCentral Conference receivingmarks, finishing his football careerwith 173 receptions for 3,621 yardsand thirty-two touchdowns.

A two-time All-American and afinalist for the 1986 Harlon Hill Awardas the top player in Division II,Tiefenthaler set Division II records

with fourteenconsecutivegames with atouchdownreception andtwenty-five careergames with atouchdown catch.He later became

the first SDSU player selected for theSenior Bowl.

Tiefenthaler earned all-Americahonors, setting three indoor track school records that still stand: 300

meters, 400 meters, and 500 meters.He also ran on the record-setting4x800 relay team that still stands.

A 1986 graduate, Tiefenthalercoached football for twenty-oneyears and now serves as head boys’track coach, and health and physicaleducation instructor at Sioux CentralHigh School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa.He and his wife, Brenda, have fivechildren: A.J., Trevor, andstepchildren Anthony, Jessica, andPaige. Trevor is a member of theJackrabbit football team.

School records, all-America laurels, and national titles are good starting points when discussing qualifications for placement in the Jackrabbit Sports Hall of Fame.

However, those credentials and more only touch the surface of the latest to be enshrined in theelite hall. Indeed, Dave Lane, Stan Opp, Audrey (Stavrum) Riggs, and Jeff Tiefenthaler easily meetthe requirements for admission.The inductees bring Jackrabbit Sports Hall of Fame membership to fifty-nine. The new members

were recognized during on-campus ceremonies October 15 when SDSU played host to NorthernIowa in the Jackrabbits’ Hall of Fame football game.

Dave Lane Lane put together a record-settingbaseball career, starting all fouryears at shortstop. He was namedthe most valuable player of the 1984NCAA Midwest Regional, whichthe Jackrabbits won to secure theironly appearance in the CollegeWorld Series.

A two-time all-North CentralConference selection, Lane was a.339 career hitter in league play and

the conferencesoutherndivision mostvaluable playeras a senior in1986 when heled the league in runs scoredand triples.

The Shakopee, Minnesota,native set career records for hits(132), runs scored (135), walks

(123), and tied the school record fortriples (eleven)—all of which havesince been broken. However, hisseventy-five career stolen basesremain a Jackrabbit standard.

Lane is currently a partner forEdward Jones Financial and residesin Toronto, Ontario. He and hiswife, Shari (Weeks), a former SDSUvolleyball player, are the parents ofthree children: Amber Everson,David II, and Grant.

Stan Opp Opp earned All-America honorsthree times at 118 pounds, finishinghis wrestling career as SDSU’s all-time leader in wins with a 94-19-1record. The Aberdeen native wasnational runner-up in 1971 and1973, earning berths in theDivision I meet both times.

Opp went a combined 35-0-2 induals during his junior and seniorseasons. He won a conference

individual titlein 1973 en routeto being namedconference mostoutstandingwrestler inleading the Jacksto the leagueteam title.

Opp has spent most of hisprofessional career teaching andcoaching in Washington State. He

served as head wrestling coach atEastern Washington University(1978-1982) and has taughtmathematics at Wenatchee HighSchool since 1982. He was headwrestling coach at Wenatchee(1982-2004) and is now the boys’golf coach.

A resident of Malaga,Washington, Opp received theRalph Ginn Award for CoachingExcellence in 1999.

Audrey (Stavrum) Riggs Riggs holds thedistinction ofbeing the firstSDSU femalestudent-athleteto win anindividual titlewhen sheclaimed the

10,000 meters at the 1982 DivisionII outdoor track and fieldchampionships. She went on toearn All-America honors five othertimes in cross-country and track.

A native of Eden Prairie,Minnesota, Riggs won threeconference titles in the 10,000 and posted three top-five finishesat league cross-countrychampionship meets.

A 1985 graduate, Riggs residesin Portland, Oregon, with herhusband, Joel. They have twochildren: son, Tyler; daughter,Allison. After working twentyyears for the State of OregonDepartment of Human Services,she is currently employed as aregional director for Big BrothersBig Sisters Columbia Northwest.

FALL 2011 13

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Enshrined in Jacks’ Hall of Fame

RABBIT TRACKS14

EDITOR’S NOTE: Coach Spotlight is a standing feature in Rabbit Tracks.Rod DeHaven had an impressive postcollegiate career, including runningthe marathon in the 2000 Olympics, but this article focused strictly on hisSDSU running career.

Even as a 10-year-old, Rod DeHaven found success in running,covering a 15.2-mile race in two hours and forty-one minutes.

When he got into track, his promising career took off. By the timehe was in eighth grade, he was running the mile in 4:40. Four yearslater he was running the mile in 4:09. By the time he enrolled atSDSU, the Huron resident was already a known commodity.

Enrolling at State in fall 1984, the diminutive mid- and long-distance runner made an immediate impact.

“Maybe I didn’t have a really polished high school career. So whenI started doing college workouts with better runners, it seemed like itwasn’t that hard to make the next level,” says DeHaven, who hascoached the SDSU track and cross country programs since July 2004.

As a true freshman, DeHaven finished fifth in the Division IInational cross country championships and the team was fourth.

Finishing first as a freshmanIn the winter of 1985, the first Division II indoor track and fieldnational championship was held in Fargo, North Dakota. “The NCAAdidn’t fund teams to go to the national meet. There definitely wasn’tthe same level of competition you’d see outdoors,” DeHaven explains.

Nonetheless, he ran a “decent” time of 3:51 in the 1,500 meters tobecome State’s first national track champion since Garry Bentley wonthe three-mile outdoor run in 1974.

A cross country team titleThe following fall, DeHaven was in the winner’s circle again. Thistime for a team photo.

The SDSU men won its first national cross-country title since1973, easily beating top-ranked Edinboro (Pennsylvania) University60 to 108 after the Fighting Scots had topped the Jackrabbits in ameet earlier in the season at the University of Notre Dame.

Although the sophomore DeHaven lead the SDSU runners, hewas disappointed with his ninth-place finish.

DeHaven was hoping to place in the top two so he would qualifyfor the Division I championship. The two-loop course included asteep hill and DeHaven started out at an aggressive pace. “By thesecond time through the course I was dead,” he recalls.

His teammates took a more conservative approach and chippedaway at the fast-starting Edinboro runners.

Joining DeHaven in scoring points for SDSU were Jeff Massman,seventeenth; Bob Wilson, eighteenth; and Todd Stevens, twentieth;

and Rob Beyer, twenty-fourth. Their placings allowed them to earnAll-American certificates, which went to the top twenty-five Americans.

DeHaven says, “That team could run at the Division I level today.It was a very solid bunch.”

‘Twenty-nine years out of thirty’While DeHaven wouldn’t be a national champion again, he wasn’tthrough running thrilling collegiate races.

COACH SPOTLIGHT

Rod DeHavenNot every triumph tooktrack star to winner’s circle

Rod DeHaven, foreground, finishes the 5K in impressive fashion at the1987 conference meet at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. DeHaven, ajunior, actually lapped his teammate, Craig Cassen, a freshman whowould become a two-time national champion in the steeplechase.

FALL 2011 15

In fact, he said his most memorable racewas at the 1987 national outdoorchampionships. Competing in the 1,500meters in 94-degree weather at humid CapeGirardeau, Missouri, DeHaven ran a schoolrecord 3:40.1 and finished third.

“Twenty-nine years out of thirty, that willwin the national meet. That converts to a3:57 mile,” he says.

But the field included a couple Kenyansrunning for Mount St. Mary’s (Maryland)that had goals beyond Division II. Thefollowing year Peter Rono won the Olympic1,500 meters and Kip Cheruiyot finishedseventh. At Cape Girardeau, DeHaven wastwo seconds behind Rono and one secondbehind Cheruiyot.

DeHaven’s time was four seconds betterthan his previous personal record, set at the1985 national meet, where he was second.

In 1987, the field realized that theKenyans were the ones to beat. “I knew I wasin decent shape and wasn’t going to letmyself be cheated to fifth or sixth by goingslow. My best chance, considering the shapeI was in, was to run as hard as I could; thatincluded the first lap,” DeHaven says.

That’s Kenyan for . . .He and the Kenyans covered the first 400-meters in fifty-six seconds. “Then those guysjumped me,” DeHaven says.

But he caught his competitors, running60-second laps the next two times aroundthe track. He covered the last 300 meters in44 seconds, but that wasn’t fast enough.

“With 300 to go they said something inKenyan and took off. I don’t think it wouldhave made a difference if they had said it inEnglish. I think it was something like ‘He’sstill with us,’” DeHaven speculates.

Never again would DeHaven run that pacein the 1,500 meters. “The fast pace helpedmost of the field to a personal best,” he says.

His most memorable mileIn 1986, DeHaven had impressive marks inthe indoor mile and the outdoor 800 meters.

He ran a 4:00.9 on a 200-meter track atthe Devaney Center at the University ofNebraska’s Husker Invite. The Division Istandard for qualifying for the national meetwas 4:03. There would be no Division II indoornational championship in 1986 because noschool wanted to host it. Therefore, DivisionII runners could compete at the Division Inationals if they met Division I standards.

That was DeHaven’s plan, and he wassoon battling South African Jean Verster,who ran for UNL, and a rabbit who woulddrop out after 1,200 meters.

It was the last event of the night. TheUNL athletes got caught up in the drama,and crowded onto the backstretch of thetrack. Soon, lane one and part of lane twowas all that was open. “I ran through a wallof noise,” says DeHaven, adding there wereonly a few Jackrabbits on hand.

DeHaven was never able to catch Verster,finishing second by three-tenths of a second.

DeHaven’s 4:00.95 remains the schoolrecord, holding a comfortable three-second

margin over 1999 national champion NickBurrow. Before DeHaven’s run, the recordwas Garry Bentley’s 4:07 set in 1974.

‘Pure luck’ places secondDeHaven’s name also remains atop the SDSUrecord book in the outdoor 800 meters. Atthe 1986 nationals at California State-LosAngeles, DeHaven dropped his personal bestfrom 1:51 to 1:48.67. His old mark had himin a virtual tie with Dean Bjerke, who hadheld the school record with 1:51.6 set in 1967.

The man to beat in 1986 was FreddyWilliams of Abilene Christian.

How good was Williams? As the 1985Division II champion, he was eligible to runin the Division I nationals. Williams did soand also won at that level. “He very muchcontrolled the race,” DeHaven says.

When Williams didn’t put away the fieldon the first lap, other runners tried to goaround him.

“All five lanes were full. I sure wasn’t goingout to lane five, so I tucked in right behindFreddy. Then Freddy had a burst of speed andI went with him. It’s almost like he carried methrough,” says DeHaven, who placed second.“It was pure luck. It might have looked likegood strategy, but it wasn’t.

“Those other guys didn’t realize Freddywas just playing with them.”

To illustrate the impressiveness ofDeHaven’s mark of 1:48.67, no other SDSUrunner has gone below 1:50. The second-place mark is 1:50.05 set by Burrow in 1998.

Stoking the fuels of passion, traditionIn summary, DeHaven set seven schoolrecords on the track, four of which remain,and won the conference cross country titlean unprecedented four times.

Now back at his alma mater as a coach,DeHaven tries to continue the traditionestablished in the generations before his era.Part of that is fueling a passion for running.

“If you’re not passionate, you’re a jogger,”DeHaven says. “You need to have the abilityto run through pain, whether it be thetemporary pain or the little nagging injuries.Waking up every morning and expecting tofeel great is not going to happen.”

Even having your name on the recordbook doesn’t make that happen.

DAVE GRAVES

Battling future Olympians, Rod DeHaven, far left, chases Kip Cheruiyot, center, and Peter Rono inthe 1,500-meter run at the Division II nationals in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1987. DeHavenfinished third to the Kenyans, who placed seventh and first, respectively, in the Olympic 1,500-meterrun in 1988.

RABBIT TRACKS16

STUDENT-ATHLETE FOCUS

Attending a USA volleyball tryout camp isn’t major news forcollege players. For SDSU’s Kelli Fiegen, though, herparticipation was history in the making.

The redshirt junior from Parkston was one of thirty-six playersfrom eighty-one colleges across the country selected for the U.S.Women’s National A2 Program.

The group held practices, May 23-27, and then competed in theU.S. Open Volleyball Championships, May 28-June 4 in Dallas.Players at the open championships are evaluated for U.S. NationalTeam consideration—in other words future Olympic looks.

Fiegen, a six-foot-three middle blocker, is believed to be the firstplayer in SDSU history chosen for the elite A2 program.

“My entire experience of trying out, being selected, and competingin the U.S. Open Championships was an honor and a blessing,” shesays. “Tryouts were an exhilarating opportunity getting to play withother athletes from some very competitive and high level of play.”

Ironically, when Fiegen left the tryout camp in Colorado Springsin February she felt that she hadn’t played particularly well. However,a statistics report showed otherwise and she received an e-mailinvitation in March that she had been picked for theprogram out of 204 players who tried out.

“After leaving Colorado Springs I was so thankfulfor the chance to be part of such a great program,” shesays. “I was so shocked weeks later to receive an e-mailinforming me that I was one of thirty-six players acrossthe nation to be on the A2 team.”

SDSU Volleyball Coach Phil McDaniel is quick topoint out that Fiegen is one of her own toughest critics.

“Kelli had a quality tryout and the selectioncommittee found that her work ethic, drive, and physicalskills ranked high enough to invite her to the camp,” hesays.

“Having Kelli represent SDSU, as well as the state ofSouth Dakota, is an honor and she made all of us proud with herplay in the tournament. She came back to South Dakota fired up andreenergized for the fall season.”

Training with the bestThe A2 players trained under coaches from Ohio State, LouisianaState, and Dayton. The players were split into three squads in theU.S. Open Championships, an event that features former collegeplayers trying to advance to the national and professional level.

The thirteen days in Texas literally “flew by” for Fiegen, whosevolleyball expertise went up a few notches after working with playersand coaches from other top-flight schools.

“The U.S. A2 training and play was one big learning experienceand getting to play in the U.S. Open Championships was a blast,” shesays. “There were so many great players. It was a great time getting totrain and play with each of them.”

Fiegen’s selection to the A2 Program shouldn’t come as a bigsurprise to SDSU fans. She was a key figure in leading the Jacks tothe Summit League Tournament in 2010. She notched the twenty-

third best attack percentage in the country hitting .377, and rankedforty-sixth in the nation with 1.21 blocks per set.

“You’re from where?”When it was all said and done, Fiegen, who was named SummitLeague Female Athlete of the Month in October 2010, was crownedSummit League Player of the Year—SDSU’s first player of the yearrecipient since 2001, when Shauna Sturm was named North CentralConference most valuable player and Division II Player of the Year.

One particular outcome of Fiegen’s selection to the A2 Programwas a lesson in geography.

“I’m hoping that it puts South Dakota and South Dakota StateUniversity on the map in volleyball,” she says. “When I first arrivedin Texas, people’s jaws kind of dropped when I told them where Iwas from and where I played. It was all pretty funny, actually. I hopethat I represented South Dakota State in a way that people will knowand remember.”

KYLE JOHNSON

Kelli Fiegen, shown competing for the Jacks in2010, was one of thirty-six players nationwidechosen to play on the U.S. Open teams.

FIEGEN FIRST JACK PICKEDfor US National Volleyball Program

FALL 2011 17

ATHLETE FOCUS

Quick, what do Baseball Hall of FamersPaul Molitor and Billy Williams havein common with Blake Treinen?

Answer: the Burlington Bees.The major league affiliate of the Oakland

Athletics, the Bees—based in Burlington,Iowa—have produced their share of majorleague stars dating back to their inception in 1889.

The twenty-three-year-old Treinen hopesto follow in the footsteps of Molitor, a 3,000-hit achiever whose last team was the MinnesotaTwins, and Williams, a home run and runs-batted-in force with the Chicago Cubs.

“I’m working hard now and I’m excitedfor the next chapter in my life,” says Treinen,a six-foot-four, 215-pound right-handedpitcher from Osage City, Kansas.

The latest chapter began in June when hewas selected by Oakland in the seventh-roundof the Major League Baseball Draft followinga stellar two-year career at SDSU.

“I was so pumped and super excited,” hesays of being drafted. “I’ve worked so hard togive myself this chance. It’s rewarding to beselected and it’s gratifying to know that peoplebelieve in me and my abilities.”

A possible rise to the big leagues is nothingnew for Treinen, who was just the secondplayer in school history to be drafted twice,joining pitcher Dick Barnes (1966, 1968).During the 2010 draft, he was taken in thetwenty-third round by the Florida Marlins,but opted to return to the Jacks for his senior season.

Treinen finished strong, going 7-3 with a3.00 earned-run-average, and consistentlythrew in the ninety-mile-per-hour range. Thetwo-time all-Summit League pick was rated asthe 190th best prospect in the three-day draft.

Much different than collegeAfter reporting to the Athletics’ springtraining facility in Arizona, where he got aphysical and pitched in three games, Treinen’stenure with the Bees of the Midwest A Leaguehas so far been a time of learning.

“It’s been a blast,” he says. “I’m enjoyingpicking the brains of these great athletes andthe things they have learned. Our pitchingcoach is a great guy. He has been both acatcher and pitcher, so he’s seen both ends of

the spectrum. It’s been great meetingdifferent people and developing as a player.”

Treinen finished the year with a 1-1record and two saves in eighteenappearances for the Bees, who went 76-62for second-place in the Western Division. In twenty-seven innings of work, he notchedtwenty-nine strikeouts while posting a 3.67earned-run-average.

When Treinen takes the mound, heindicates there is a big difference betweencollegiate hitters and those in the minorleagues.

“Everybody here has the ability to put itout if you make a mistake. It’s fun andchallenging, because you are forced to be apitcher, reading the batter, and hitting your spots.

“College teams have two or maybe fiveguys who are studs and can pitch aroundthem. At this level everybody here is good.You just have to push yourself as a playerand compete.”

Leaves marks at StateIn two seasons with the Jackrabbits, Treinenposted a 14-4 career record with 166 strikeoutsin 159 innings. In addition to his won-lostrecord in 2011, his eighty-four strikeoutswas the third-best single-season total and his166 career strikeouts is fourth all-time.

Treinen’s seventh-round selection was thehighest by an SDSU player since WadeAdamson was taken in the fourth-round bythe Minnesota Twins in 1978.

Originally arriving at SDSU as a walk-on,Treinen intends to give the school that gavehim a chance something to cheer about.

“I hope I can continue to make themproud and bring a name back to SouthDakota State the best that I can,” he says.“I’m excited to have played for South DakotaState. They gave me a great opportunity, andit’s paid off in so many ways.”

KYLE JOHNSON

TREINEN LOOKS FOR NEXT CHAPTERafter starring for Jacks

Blake Treinen, shown competing for theBurlington Bees this summer, pitched his juniorand senior seasons at SDSU before beingdrafted by the Oakland A’s.

“I HOPE I CAN CONTINUE TO

MAKE THEM PROUD AND BRING

A NAME BACK TO SOUTH DAKOTA

STATE THE BEST THAT I CAN. I’M

EXCITED TO HAVE PLAYED FOR

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE. THEY

GAVE ME A GREAT OPPORTUNITY,

AND IT’S PAID OFF IN SO MANY

WAYS.” BLAKE TREINEN

A NEW WORLD OF SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIESAsk Leon Costello about SDSU’s relationship with Avera McKennan,and he calls it a partnership.

Costello, senior associate athletic director for external affairs, isalways on the lookout for the next great SDSU partner as each yearthe Athletic Department has to meet the challenge of funding sportsfor at least 450 student-athletes and administering 225 scholarships.

“We need to raise more revenue to support the growing needs ofthe department,” Costello says.

A new partnership of a different sort is allowing SDSU to offermore sponsorship opportunities.

In January, SDSU entered a ten-year agreement with LearfieldSports to offer sponsorship opportunities to the business

community. Operating on campus as Jackrabbit Sports Properties,the new partnership has resulted in a modification of sponsorshipopportunities.

“Now we’re able to customize those opportunities,” Costellosays. “Now anybody will be able to get involved with the AthleticDepartment.”

The ability to customize a sponsorship for a specific business hasadded flexibility to the department’s fund-raising approach.

“This new arrangement has helped us do that,” Costello says.Anyone interested in exploring sponsorship opportunities should

contact Costello at (605) 688-6294 or Brad Poe, general manager ofJackrabbit Sports Properties, at (605) 691-0023.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT AVERA

Officially, the relationship betweenAvera McKennan and SDSU is asponsorship. Unofficially, it’s apartnership.

“Sponsoring a team, event, or organizationimplies that Avera would write a check andhave our logo printed on posters orpromotional materials,” according toMichelle Lavallee, senior vice president ofstrategic marketing and communication at

Avera McKennan. “Partnership, on the otherhand, implies involvement.”

The involvement between AveraMcKennan and SDSU takes many forms.

As an example, Leon Costello, seniorassociate athletic director for external affairs,notes Avera McKennan’s help with theannual Paint the Falls Blue event held inAugust in Sioux Falls. During the event,student-athletes visit local schools, nursinghomes, and hospitals.

“Avera has always graciously set asidetime for our student-athletes,” Costello says,noting that Avera McKennan helps directthem toward patients to visit and places inthe community where they can volunteertheir services.

“When asked for help on these types ofendeavors,” Costello says, “they’ve alwaysbeen willing to step up and help us.”

As Lavallee explains, for AveraMcKennan, the sponsorship is far more thanjust writing a check.

“We like to partner with SDSU and thecommunity in promoting health andprevention,” Lavallee says. “We involvemembers of our Avera family at the locallevel. For example, staff from Avera MedicalGroup Brookings provide medical care forSDSU athletes. Avera and SDSU partner inmany ways—in academics, clinicalexperiences for health science students,internships, research, and more.”

Lavallee and Avera McKennan are wellaware of the benefits of being a sponsor ofSDSU athletics.

“This association provides the Averabrand increased visibility in the Brookingscommunity,” Lavallee says. “It also gives ourstaff at Avera Medical Group Brookings theopportunity to get involved.

And, there are also workforce developmentbenefits as we hope that SDSU graduates willremember the Avera name when they applyfor career positions and internships.”

DANA HESS

RABBIT TRACKS18

AVERA MCKENNAN SEES BENEFITto ‘partnership’ with SDSU

Brad Poe, far right, general manager of Jackrabbit Sports Properties, presents the sponsorshipgame ball to Brookings medical doctor Merritt Warren, center, and Chuck McCullough, physicaltherapist at Avera Brookings Medical Clinic, September 3.

DONOR SPOTLIGHT GOLF AT MILLER

As alumni gatherings go, the one they used to have in Miller waspretty typical.

Alumni and friends of the University would gather for somegolf. SDSU coaches would talk some football. At the end of a finesummer day, everyone could agree that they couldn’t wait for fall sothe Jacks could get back on the gridiron.

Then SDSU athletics went Division I and folks in Miller thoughtit was time for their event to go to the next level, too.

Former Jackrabbitfootball player GregNiederauer checkedafter one of the golfgatherings and foundthat no fund-raisingmechanism was inplace for the University.

“The Universitywould lose money,”Niederauer says. “Wethought that was kindof messed up.”

The formerJackrabbit captain andhis father, Miller businessman John Niederauer, decided that ifSDSU athletes could take their game to the next level, so could thegolf tournament. Major changes turned the event into a fund-raising mechanism for student-athlete scholarships.

After two years, the event has endowed one scholarship andmore are certainly on the way.

“With a very passionate group, a very committed group, theyreally transformed that event to what it is today,” says MikeBurgers, associate athletic director for development. “It’s like theytook their event from Division II to Division I.”

So far, organizers have managed to make a significantcontribution to SDSU with just a small group.

Big bottom line despite small fieldThe 2011 tourney on July 15 had twenty golfers and six coaches.But what the group lacks in size, it makes up for in generosity.

It costs $1,000 to play, but there are ways to share that price tag.Bring a guest who’s never golfed in the tournament before and itcosts $500 each. Bring three newcomers and it’s $250 each.

With those prices, the money for scholarships adds up fast. But,according to one the golfers, that’s just part of the event’s allure.

“The money is secondary,” says head football coach JohnStiegelmeier. “It’s really about the heartbeat, the spirit of the peoplethat are there. The power of that outcome far outweighs a perpetualscholarship, but both will endure.”

If organizers have their way, the tournament will not onlyendure, but grow.

Niederauer says the tournament field is bound to increase onceword gets out about the fun that’s to be had that weekend. With thegolf tournament traditionally on a Friday, the weekend is open foreven more events. This summer fourteen of the tournament’s golfersspent the weekend in Pierre for more golf and some walleye fishing.

Jackrabbit bonds overcome distanceIt’s no surprise to Niederauer that the Miller Country Club is thehome of a golf tournament that raises so much money for SDSU.He notes that although Hand County is 118 miles from Brookings,it has produced its share of Jackrabbit football players and that areafarmers have a keen interest in SDSU’s role as a land-grant school.

“We’ve got pretty strong ties, actually,” Niederauer says.Developing more ties like those that have formed in Miller would

be good for SDSU athletics, especially if other alumni groups workto emulate what’s happening there.

DANA HESS

FALL 2011 19

Miller group takes fund-raising TO THE NEXT LEVEL

“WITH A VERY PASSIONATE

GROUP, A VERY COMMITTED

GROUP, THEY REALLY

TRANSFORMED THAT EVENT

TO WHAT IT IS TODAY. IT’S LIKE

THEY TOOK THEIR EVENT FROM

DIVISION II TO DIVISION I.” MIKEBURGERS, ASSOCIATE ATHLETICDIRECTOR FOR DEVELOPMENT

Showing off the “Stein,” the trophy for the Miller golf tournament are,from left, quarterback coach Eric Eidsness, former Jacks safety andgraduate assistant Jason Melcher, Rhonda Rowen, Erik Dahl, formerJacks cornerback Casey Hillman, wide receiver coach Josh Davis, andhead coach John Stiegelmeier.

John "Stein" Niederauer, one of the organizers of the Miller golftournament, gets chauffeured around the course by head footballcoach John Stiegelmeier.

RABBIT TRACKS20

When a busload of SDSU athletes rolled into Pierre on June2, the scene that greeted them was described by one coachas “very eerie.”

“You just hardly saw anybody on the streets except for the NationalGuard on every corner,” says assistant women’s basketball coachEmilee Thiesse. “It was like a war zone.”

At the time that war was only about a week old as the citizens ofPierre and Fort Pierre battled what could best be described as a slow-motion flood that threatened communities on both sides of theMissouri River.

Having the river spill over its banks was a regular springtimeoccurrence prior to the creation of the Oahe Dam. Dedicated in1962, the dam seemed to tame the river, and residents of Pierre andFort Pierre came to see it as a source of recreation. In the summer of2011, they were reminded that the river was also a force of nature.

Fed by double the usual snowpack in the Rockies of Montana andWyoming and torrential spring rain along its tributaries, the usuallycomplacent river turned surly. With the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers releasing water through the dam in record increments thatgrew each day, residents of Pierre and Fort Pierre watched the riverslowly spill out of its banks.

Levees seemed to spring up overnight along the river, andhomeowners turned to creating walls of sandbags around theirhouses. That’s where the SDSU athletes came in, helping with thesandbagging effort.

A simple assignmentWhen they got to town about 11:30 a.m., the Jacks got their marchingorders. Half went to Fort Pierre to help build a sandbag wall aroundthe post office and then on to help homeowners sandbag in theMarion’s Garden neighborhood along the river. Half went to therecycling center in Pierre that was the hub of sandbagging activity.

“We filled sandbags pretty much that whole afternoon,” Thiesse says. Among the athletes who made the trip was the entire women’s

basketball team, helping out the hometown of two teammates fromPierre, Steph Paluch and Katie Lingle.

Basketball team members, from left, Rachel Walters, Leah Dietel, Hannah Strop, and Jill Young load sandbags in Pierre in the hometown of teammatesSteph Paluch and Katie Lingle. A total of thirty-five athletes and four adults joined in the June 2 activity. (Photo courtesy of Chris Mangan, Pierre Capital Journal)

Community service by the bagStudent-athletes do their part for flood relief

FALL 2011 21

“I was just overwhelmed with pride,” Paluch says about herteammates’ efforts. “They all genuinely cared about the situation athand and the people affected and worked hard to provide protection.”

For their part, community members were happy to see collegeathletes ready to lend a helping hand.

“It was almost a sense of relief we were there,” Paluch says of thewelcome the athletes received. “The community had beensandbagging for about a week at this time and to see fresh, young,strong bodies was like a breath of fresh air. They were all verygracious for our work and couldn’t thank us enough.”

There were thirty-five athletes on the bus as well as Thiesse, men’s assistant basketballcoach Austin Hansen,head football coach JohnStiegelmeier, and his son.

It turns out that after a week of nonstop sand-bagging, most folks wereready to talk about sports.

“They wanted to talkabout the season,” Thiessesays. “It’s great that thestudent-athletes built a connection to the people who had beenfollowing them.”

Building those personal connections is only one of the benefits of community service.

Community service lets athletes give back to communityThiesse, who also serves as the recruiting coordinator for the women’sbasketball team, explains that in addition to talent on the court andin the classroom, she wants to recruit student-athletes who see theimportance of giving of themselves as members of a team and asmembers of a community.

It doesn’t take an historic flood to get athletes involved incommunity service. The women’s basketball team gives back in avariety of ways including work with Habitat for Humanity, visitingpatients at the children’s hospital in Sioux Falls, packaging meals forHaiti relief, and conducting a free basketball clinic.

“We feel that community service is an important piece to thestudent-athlete experience,” Thiesse says. “We provide an avenue forthem to give back, but ultimately it is up to them to volunteer theirtime. I think the players have a sense of pride in giving back andbuilding relationships with the members of the community and thatmakes their experience more valuable.”

Student-athletes who spent half a day hauling and filling sandbagsmight disagree with his assessment, but Stiegelmeier says, “It’s easy togive back.”

All student-athletes need to bring with them for community service istheir work ethic, and, according to Stiegelmeier, “That’s their deal.”

A character building experienceIn exchange for their work and the personal connections that growout of it, community service gives student-athletes an opportunityfor personal growth.

“The thank yous, the high fives don’t last,” Stiegelmeier says.“Helping someone else marks you and has the chance to change you permanently.”

That lesson isn’t lost on the student-athletes. Paluch sayscommunity service has given her a chance to grow as a person.

“We are fortunate to have different volunteer opportunitiespresented to us, and it’s a chance for us to see a different aspect oflife,” Paluch says. “It keeps you humble and reminds us how lucky wetruly are.”

Lasting memoriesWith a mountain of sand still waiting to be bagged, at 5 p.m. theJackrabbit contingent had to get back on the bus for the ride home.

“The hardest part was leaving,” Thiesse says. “This job isn’t done,and we have to leave.”

For many who made the trip, the memories will linger.Stiegelmeier recalls the lady of the house at a home where he

and the student-athletes helped her build a wall of sandbags.“She had duct tape on her fingers because they were blistered,”

Stiegelmeier recalls. “I’ll remember that for a long time.”DANA HESS

COMMUNITY SERVICE

“THE THANK YOUS, THE HIGH

FIVES DON’T LAST. HELPING

SOMEONE ELSE MARKS YOU

AND HAS THE CHANCE TO

CHANGE YOU PERMANENTLY.”

HEAD FOOTBALL COACH JOHN STIEGELMEIER

SDSU head football coach John Stiegelmeier assists with sandbaggingin Pierre as a part of a group of athletes and coaches that made the tripJune 2 during historic flooding there. (Photo courtesy of Chris Mangan, PierreCapital Journal)

Nate Moe doesn’t claim to be a cowboy,but he’s willing to saddle up to helpout the SDSU equestrian program.

In April, in a nearly vacant riding arena,Moe and full-time assistant, Brad Schmidt,mounted horses for forty-five minutes ofbasic equestrian rides. When they were done,the muscular weightlifters were sorer andsmarter than when they started.

“It’d been probably twenty years since I’d been on a horse,” says Moe, the SDSUstrength and conditioning coach since 2005.

He didn’t finish the ride wanting to tradehis sweat pants for chaps, but he learnedwhich muscles the Jackrabbit equestrianriders use.

Kamerra Brown, a graduate assistant onthe team then, says, “I can guarantee youonce Nate was done riding, he was a littlesore himself. You can really tell the musclesyou’re using.” The current assistant coachsays Moe’s time on a horse proves hiscommitment to his job.

21 sports, 480 athletes, 2 weightroomsAs head strength and conditioning coach,Moe is responsible for seeing that players onall twenty-one sports are physically prepared.

That includes equestrian, where thephysical demands aren’t as great as someother sports, but still put a demand on thelegs and core muscles to stay in properposition and keep the horse in control.

So the women riders train twice a week under his staff ’s supervision.

Training a coed to ride a horse iscompletely different from training alinebacker to make a tackle.

But that’s part of the challenge for Moe,Schmidt and two part-time assistants. Theywork with 480 athletes. Whether they’re along-distance runner or a lug of a lineman,they each have workouts that are overseen inone of two University weightrooms.

“They’re coached on the field, on thecourt. We’re going to coach them in here,” he says from his office in the Dykhouseweight room.

BEHIND THE SCENES NATE MOE

RABBIT TRACKS22

Nate Moe works out football captain JakeSteffen, a senior defensive end, during amorning session in the top floor of theDykhouse Student-Athlete Center.

A look behind the scenes

Nate Moe – strength andconditioning coach

FALL 2011 23

An unseen contributorWhile Jackrabbit fans may be able to quote acoach’s win-loss record or a player’s stats, fewknow Moe. His behind-the-scenes workcomes out on Saturday when the line controlsthe line of scrimmage in the fourth quarterand when a center is still outjumping hisopponent late in the game.

Sometimes the evidence of Moe’s work isseen by what is not seen—like a lengthyinjury list.

An aspect of the SDSU program that Moesays he is particularly pleased with is the lowrate of knee injuries. Women athletes are upto eight times more likely to suffer ACL(anterior cruciate ligament) injuries than theirmale peers in sports requiring jumps orquick turns.

In Moe’s six years at SDSU, there havebeen two soccer players, one basketballplayer, and no volleyball players sufferingACL injuries.

Injury prevention—there’s ascience to itAaron Johnston, entering his twelfth seasonas women’s basketball coach, says, “Ourstrength and conditioning staff is top notch.They have done a great job of incorporatinginjury prevention exercises into the workoutplan for our team.

“It is impossible to prevent all injuries,but their efforts have helped to greatly reducethe occurrence of preventable injuries.”

Moe doesn’t claim to have written thebook on ACL injury prevention, but he doeshave a good formula.

It involves proper warm-ups, strengthtraining, landing mechanics, and properjump training. “Jumping and agility drillshelp with their muscle response times sothey can stabilize their joint with the muscle.

That means the force never gets to an end range, putting stress on the ligament,”Moe explains.

The other part of the formula involvesdeveloping lower-body strength, particularlythe hamstring and glutes.

Strength training and injury preventioncertainly require a lot of science—Moe has amaster’s in exercise science—but there’s also

a need for psychology. That’s what’s behind theIron Jacks and lifter-of-the-month awards.

Iron Jacks—It’s more thanjust the T-shirtThe monthly awards are based on work ethicand attitude. Iron Jacks is performance based.

For most sports, the four measures forIron Jacks are power cleans, squats, bench,and vertical jump. Standards are set in eachsport and based on a player’s weight. Forexample, a volleyball player must squat 1.35times her weight while an offensive linemanmust squat 1.65 times and a linebacker twotimes his weight.

“We want it to be very difficult to get into.Typically, 10 percent of the student-athletesachieve it,” he says.

Iron Jacks is an annual award, but Moe sayshe tries to bring competition and motivationinto the weight room on a daily basis.

“If I say you’re going to run five thirty-yard sprints, they’re going to moan. But if Isay, you’re racing this guy, it tricks them towork harder and I think they enjoy it more,”says Moe, who also creates teams and thenawards team points for motivation.

“It’s competitive. They’re athletes. You’ve got them trying to one up each other,”Moe explains.

Hard work, fun not mutuallyexclusiveAmidst the hard work, there’s room forfun—whether that be a verbal jab at one ofthe athletes or wearing 1980s clothing for aworkout during retro days. During thevolleyball team’s fall camp, the staff createdflannel Friday and flamboyant Friday.

In addition, the strength andconditioning coaches will ask a question ofthe day, such as, “If you wrote anautobiography of your life, what would thetitle be?”

Were Moe to answer that question, itmight be, “Unplanned Opportunity.”

When Moe was a senior exercise sciencemajor at Moorhead (Minnesota) StateUniversity in 1996-97, he was being trainedfor a career in corporate fitness or personaltraining. He liked the idea of coaching, buthe didn’t want to teach.

Then he went to hear a lecture by RockGullickson, a Moorhead alumnus who hadbecome strength coach at the University ofTexas.

Moe wasn’t previously aware that therewere such jobs. “As soon as I heard himspeak, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,”says Moe, who followed Gullickson toAustin, serving two years as a graduateassistant. From there it was Rice and EasternIllinois Universities.

Feels like homeHe arrived at State in August 2005, replacingLee Munger, the first full-time strengthcoach at SDSU.

“When I took the job, I thought it was alevel I really liked,” Moe says. “Thecommunity is a great place to raise a family...The work ethic of the student-athlete makesmy job easier, and the support from thecommunity and the administration makes itfeel like home.”

In fact, Moe says although he may saddleup again, don’t expect him to ride off intothe sunset anytime soon.

DAVE GRAVES

“THEY’RE COACHED ON THE

FIELD, ON THE COURT. WE’RE

GOING TO COACH THEM IN HERE.”

NATE MOE, STRENGTH ANDCONDITIONING COACH

RABBIT TRACKS24

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS!

®

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SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU Battle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerSASATURDAReunion TReunion TReunion TKickofKickofKickof

2011 SDSU LETTER2011 SDSU LETTER2011 SDSU LETTER2011 SDSU LETTER2011 SDSU LETTER2011 SDSU LETTERWINNERS WINNERS WINNERS REUNIONREUNIONREUNION

SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU SDSU vs. NDSU Battle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota Marker

TURDATURDATURDATURDATURDA , OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22YY, OCTOBER 22Y, OCTOBER 22Reunion TReunion TReunion TReunion TReunion TReunion Tailgate, ailgate, ailgate, ailgate, ailgate, ailgate, ailgate, ailgate, Reunion Tailgate, Reunion Tailgate, 11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pmKickofKickoff, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmKickofKickoff, 2pm

WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS REUNIONREUNIONREUNIONREUNIONREUNION

Battle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota MarkerBattle for the Dakota Marker, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22, OCTOBER 22

11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm11am - 1:30pm

KickofKickofKickofKickof

KickofKickofKickoff, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmf, 2pmKickoff, 2pm

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FALL 2011 25

NON-PROFITUS POSTAGE PAIDBROOKINGS SDPERMIT 24

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITYAthletics DepartmentBox 2820Brookings, SD 57007-1497

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South Dakota State captains John Stone (45), Roger Eischens (15) and Dean Koster (88) lead the team onto the field for the October 13, 1962, HoboDay game against North Dakota University during the first season of play at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium. See stories Page 8-12 marking fifty years ofplay at the field.