Dave Boots Tenure Ranks 6th

BY JEREMY HOECK
jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net

Where does Dave Boots rank among college basketball’s longest-tenured head coaches?

We now have our answer: 6.

You can view the full list here

Names like Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski rank 1-2 and need no further introduction, while Oakland’s Greg Kampe is third.

Rick Byrd of Belmont and Fang Mitchell of Coppin State both arrived at their respective schools in 1986. Then you get to Boots at No. 6.

Boots, 57, was hired at USD in April 1988 and has become a staple of Midwest college basketball ever since. He has won 503 of the 738 games he has coached with the Coyotes.

In 20 seasons at the Division II level, Boots guided the Coyotes to at least 20 wins 14 times, five North Central Conference outright titles and two NCAA region crowns.

He then took his program to the Division I level in 2008 and put together back-to-back 20-win seasons. In 2011, the Coyotes joined the Summit League and have gone 20-38 over the last two seasons.

In all, Boots’ coaching record is 618-298.

Not many names on that tenure list can boast a resume like that.

Of note: South Dakota State’s Scott Nagy is No. 12 on that list, after taking over the Jackrabbits program in May 1995.

USD & Oregon football

What had been reported as likely a few months ago became official on Friday afternoon, the University of South Dakota football team will indeed play Oregon — yes, Pac-12 Oregon — on Aug. 30, 2014.

The Coyotes, who won a 1-5 record in their previous 6 FBS “guarantee” games, will receive a check for $525,000 to make the trip to Eugene. USD has played the likes of Central Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Air Force and Northwestern, but Oregon, as you can imagine, is a completely different animal.

The Ducks were 12-1 last season and beat Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. Oregon were ranked No. 2 in the final Associated Press poll, and eventually lost its head coach Chip Kelly to the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.

But when you’re talking about guarantee games, yes, it’s mostly about the money.

The $525,000 payday USD will receive is by far the highest it’s ever gotten for an FBS game. Athletic director David Herbster said the Sept. 7 game at Kansas will net the Coyote athletic department between $420,000-$425,000, which was about the same USD received for the Minnesota game in 2010.

Herbster also said USD and Oregon officials came together on the contract amount, one side wanted more, and the other was looking at less (you can guess which side was which). Ultimately, though, there was the risk that moving on from the Oregon conversation would lead the Coyotes down the path of fewer options for an FBS game.

Plus, as you may have read over the past month, such FBS conferences are reluctant to schedule FCS games — the Big Ten being the most notable. The Pac-12, clearly, has no such qualms, as evidenced by Oregon’s announcement Friday that it will also play UC Davis in 2016 and Southern Utah in 2017 (both Big Sky Conference members).

Where USD is concerned, though, the exposure from such a game like the one in Eugene is pretty immense. The Coyotes aren’t going to win the game and aren’t likely to keep the thing within 50 points, but the financial gain can be worth the experience. A check for $525,000 can pay a lot of bills.

USD Professor Sees New Face Of Terrorism

BY RANDY DOCKENDORF

randy.dockendorf@yankton.net

First, there was Oklahoma City. Then, there was 9/11. And now, there is Boston.

Last week’s Boston Marathon bombings — and the dramatic events leading up to the death of one suspect and arrest of another — may signal a new direction for terrorism in the United States, according to University of South Dakota professor Tim Schorn.

An associate professor of political science, Schorn also directs the USD international studies program.

 Schorn has become well-versed on terrorism, but his expertise goes beyond his Vermillion classroom. The Mount Marty College graduate, who holds advanced degrees from the University of Notre Dame, brings a military background to the table. He has also traveled extensively, particularly in the Middle East.

For Schorn, the Boston bombings represent a blurring of our traditional definition of terrorism.

“There is going to be a less clear delineation between domestic and international terrorism in the future,” he said. “While we may have some that are clearly domestic, like Oklahoma City, and some that are clearly international, like 9/11, we are going to see hybrids, where there are local actors who are acting on more international impulses.” 

The Chechen background of the alleged Boston bombers represents a departure from most terrorist activity against the United States, Schorn said. Much of the previous Chechen activity has been directed against Russian targets.

“It is very odd that Chechens carried out attacks in the U.S. This is probably tied much more to a radical form of Islam and Islamism than to the Chechnyan conflict per se,” Schorn said. “The last thing the Chechen rebels want to do is to make this a case where the U.S. and Russians both are opposed to a more open and autonomous Chechnya.” 

The alleged Boston bombers also were “home grown,” in the respect that they spent most of their youth in the United States. The younger brother became an American citizen last Sept. 11, while the older brother sought U.S. citizenship.

The brothers may represent the changing face of terrorism on American soil, Schorn said.

“We have to expect that there will be more homegrown terrorism, whether of a religious or far-right kind. We have seen developments amongst both radical Islamists and the radical right in the U.S. that indicates more domestic terrorism,” the USD professor said.

“While the former will often be spurred on by events abroad, the perpetrators will probably be American citizens or legal residents. The latter events will be encouraged by the type of domestic political discourse we are increasingly seeing in the United States, with the delegitimization of the federal government, paranoia and polarization.”

Schorn saw a positive development in the authorities’ quick action on the Boston bombings.

“To a great extent, I was rather reassured by the local, state, and federal response to the Boston attacks.  However, we may find it to be an rather overzealous response in the future to shut down entire cities, regions, and transportation systems,” he said.

“While the suspects were captured or killed fairly quickly, thus allowing for a lifting of the state of siege, if this had lasted an extended period of time, Bostonians and others would have started to become a bit impatient.”

Schorn watched the media coverage with interest as it unfolded during the Boston bombings and the aftermath.

“The media needs to learn to let these things develop rather than trying to force developments,” he said. “The latter leads to misinformation, and possibly even hysteria.”

Schorn is also watching with interest the judicial handling of the remaining suspect.

“Now, we all need to step back and let our justice system work. The calling for military tribunals is incredibly irresponsible and undermines our judicial system and possibly even the rule of law. It undermines our credibility and legitimacy on both a national and international level,” the professor said.

“We are a democratic system with functioning courts; let the process work. An extended negation of the Miranda rights would have been a bit problematic as well. We need to protect our Constitutional system in our struggle against extremism.”  

Schorn disagrees with one of the charges filed against the suspect.

“(Dzhokhar) Tsarnaev is being charged with ‘use of a weapon of mass destruction,’ which I find ludicrous. It is making the pressure cooker device equivalent to a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“The notion of discussing the attacks, and charging someone for them, in the context of weapons of mass destruction is an escalation of rhetoric and response that has no merit. It undermines the use of language and terminology, and makes us look hysterical rather than measured and responsible.”

Schorn questions what the “weapons of mass destruction” charge will mean for the future.

“Where do we go if the next attack is much worse? How do we respond to that?” he asked. “It makes a mockery of attacks and the responses to attacks previously in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.”

Unfortunately, the United States must brace itself for similar attacks in the future, Schorn said.

“We will more than likely see more of these events. Look at the experience of the United Kingdom, or Western Europe, or Israel,” he said. “We need to be resilient and not adopt a fortress mentality.”

 You can follow Randy Dockendorf on Twitter at twitter.com/RDockendorf

 

MMC Baseball Looks To Finish Strong

Unlike last season, no miraculous late surge will be needed to get the Mount Marty baseball team into the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament.
MMC enters the final weekend of GPAC play at 8-8 (16-22 overall), tied for fourth with Nebraska Wesleyan. The ninth place team, Briar Cliff, sits three games back in the win column (two back overall), and third place Morningside is two games up.
But MMC still has to take care of business, with Briar Cliff coming to town on Thursday and the Lancers traveling to Dakota Wesleyan on Saturday.
Without all-conference infielder Derrik Nelson, hurt before the Lancers made their Arizona trip, the Lancers have struggled defensively.
As a team, MMC ranks eighth in the GPAC in fielding (.941) after leading the league in that category a year ago. The Lancers also rank sixth in team ERA (5.03), but third in team batting average (.287).
Some of the team’s leaders have done their best to help steady the ship.
Junior first baseman Jared Miller ranks third in the GPAC in batting average (.386), third in slugging percentage (.606) and fourth in RBI per game (0.87). He also leads the league in on-base percentage (.470) and ranks second in hits per game (1.29), fourth in doubles (13) and third in home runs (5).
Sophomore Zac Hollenback ranks fourth in hits per game (1.25) and seventh in batting average at .351, but leads the league in both runs scored (37) and runs per game (0.97).
Junior Tyler Edler ranks 10th in RBI per game (0.66), with senior Mathias Godsil ranking 18th (0.58).
Senior Cassidy Key-Darlington has averaged 6.44 innings per outing — with an inning of relief thrown in the mix — and ranks second in the GPAC with 58 total innings pitched. He also ranks third with 48 strikeouts. His 2.33 walks per nine innings ranks eighth, with juniors Dominic Wieseler (13th, 2.74) and A.J. Griffith (14th, 2.76) also ranking in the top 15.
Wieseler ranks fifth in the league in earned-run average (2.93), with Griffith ranking 17th (4.22). Wieseler also ranks fourth in the league with 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings, and is tied for fifth with 45 total strikeouts.
Thursday’s start with Briar Cliff is scheduled for 5 p.m. The DWU-MMC game is set for a 4 p.m. start on Saturday.
The 2013 GPAC Tournament will be played in Hastings May 2-4.

W-L Per GB
Northwestern (23-14) 13-1 .929 —
Doane (26-16) 11-5 .688 3
Morningside (20-21) 10-6 .625 4
Neb. Wesleyan (13-16) 8-8 .500 6
Mount Marty (16-22) 8-8 .500 6
Midland (25-18) 7-7 .500 6
Dakota Wesleyan (20-21) 7-9 .438 7
Hastings (11-24) 7-9 .438 7
Briar Cliff (9-27) 5-9 .357 8
Concordia (12-23) 5-11 .313 9
Dordt (5-20) 3-11 .214 10

Herbster is the guy

BY JEREMY HOECK
jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net

There are developments — such as the firing of a coach, the hiring of another, play-calling, roster management, etc — that can naturally draw differing viewpoints from those on the ‘inside.’
And there is Thursday’s news about David Herbster.
It would be far from official, but if you were to take an informal, anonymous poll of every athletic department staff member at USD, I’d bet you good money at least 98 percent would say they wanted Herbster to be their boss on a permanent basis.
Well, they got their wish.
Word started coming out Thursday afternoon that USD president Jim Abbott was meeting with the athletic department at 2:30 p.m. My first reaction was: Herbster? Turns out, yes. Abbott informed the staff that he had given the job to Herbster — who had been serving in an interim role since last December.
The news, Abbott told me, was met with massive elation.
“I think everyone was really pleased. He is clearly very popular with the coaches and staff, and with the folks in Vermillion, not to mention with our alums. It’s a good, solid choice.”
Among those coaches is football coach Joe Glenn, who said Thursday that Herbster’s promotion — in essence, what it was — has rippling effects beyond just the DakotaDome.
“It’s a tremendous shot in the arm for our department, for our university, for Vermillion, and even for our state.”
When you consider the impact it could have outside of just USD, it’s easy to see where Abbott’s decision makes sense.
Herbster has been the point man on fundraising for the basketball/volleyball arena and track/soccer complex. Especially since previous A.D. David Sayler left for Ohio last December, Herbster — along with Jon Schemmel — has been criss-crossing the country to meet with alums and other potential donors. USD simply couldn’t afford to take a step back by hiring a brand new A.D. who would have to develop those contacts, learn the ropes, assure donors of stability, etc.
It hasn’t been easy, as you can imagine, with his day-to-day internal responsibilities. I sat down with him a few months ago before a home basketball game, and he was busy signing a stack of papers while at the same time answering questions about football scheduling.
He was a man doing two jobs.
And said Abbott, “He’s done a great job with all of those.”
The next step for USD, beyond making the official announcement Friday, is to eventually hire a senior associate athletic director. I would imagine that will be something they will look to fill as soon as possible, although Herbster will continue tackling different responsibilities within the athletic department.
With Herbster in charge, you can bet it’ll be a good hire.