Inside South Dakota's offseason that turned a three-win team into a contender

Nov. 30—VERMILLION — Days after the South Dakota Coyotes' disappointing 3-8 season was sealed by an embarrassing 58-14 home loss to Northern Iowa last fall, members of the team's leadership council got together for a chat.

Among the group were the upcoming seniors, such as linebackers Brock Mogensen and Stephen Hillis, offensive lineman Isaac Erbes and rush linebacker Brendan Webb, and a handful of the incoming juniors, including quarterback Aidan Bouman and offensive lineman Joey Lombard, among others.

The purpose for the meeting? To identify what needed to be done.

"We were like, how the hell do we fix what just happened and make sure we are a winning team next year?" Webb said.

The solution, the leaders concluded, was the entire roster needed to get together, and hash things out. So, over a course of several meetings throughout last winter, the team sat and deliberated until they got to the root of the problem.

What frustrated one another? Who had issues with who? What were everyone's individual concerns? The leaders wanted everyone to be heard. The starters. The backups. The scout team. The goal was doing whatever it took to mend what was broken and fortify the team's culture.

"Being vulnerable, and being accepting of those around you is what makes a team a family," Webb said. "Just because we all play with each other and we like football, doesn't mean we're a family. And a family wins championships. And that's exactly what we wanted to get done. We needed to bond closer, we needed to compete together ... and we decided that the best way for us to grow is to just talk."

If where things stand now is any indication, the group therapy session seemed to work. One year after USD's season to forget, the Coyotes have reached uncharted territory in terms of program success.

Finishing the regular season ranked third in the FCS — far and away USD's highest finish in its Division I history — the Coyotes are the third seed in the FCS tournament, and are preparing to host Sacramento State in a second-round matchup at 1 p.m. Saturday in the DakotaDome.

And the Coyotes' success roots back to an offseason that saw the team come together.

"I think it really started this winter offseason," Mogensen said. "Guys taking on new roles, guys stepping up in the winter, and then even in the summer, too. I think a lot of guys have come a long way. Each guy, each position group has a lot of guys that can be leaders and lead by both example and vocally."

Often one to downplay his team's success when chatting with the media, even coach Bob Nielson admits that 2023 had been "a special year" for his football team. And the first thing he points to is player continuity.

"In today's world of college football, the easy route is to go somewhere else. And instead of that, what they did is they said, 'Hey, we're going to stick together,'" Nielson said.

Avoiding a mass exodus to the transfer portal, the Coyotes returned eight offensive starters and 10 defensive starters. The team went to work in the spring with a new-look offensive staff. South Dakota State receivers coach Josh Davis was named offensive coordinator, and with him came several new position coaches — Jeff Nady (offensive line), Craig Bagnell (receivers), Tim Morrison (tight end) — each of whom offered expansive offensive experience from the Division II to FBS level.

The offense immediately embraced the change.

"Josh has been awesome," Bouman said in the spring. "He works with what you have, which is what the best coaches are going to do. He's going to tailor things to what we do well, and we've got a lot of weapons to work with so that's exciting."

The optimism extended to the defensive side, where players felt the effort and focus level was tangibly different. And determination from the three guys Webb called the "hardest workers on the team" — Erbes, Mogensen, and Hillis — was setting the bar for everyone.

"We knew that we could really do this, it was just about guys really buying into it," Mogensen said. "We brought in some new coaches to help out with that. But coach Nielson has always talked about it since I've been here, that we want to build a championship team. And that starts with culture. And that starts with the guys on the team leading."

But without any outside competition, change was hard to quantify. Was the team actually improving? For Webb, one moment was a personal confirmation of the team's progress.

During the summer, several players were doing an early-morning workout in the middle of the rainstorm. As the rain began to subside, a rainbow emerged from the clouds. Simultaneously, the sun rose from the horizon, its rays hitting the rainbow, and painting a gorgeous scene over the plains near Vermillion.

"When I saw how beautiful the sky looked and everything, I was like, something's changing. We are changing. Everything is actually progressing as a team," Webb said. " ... It was one of those things like, this is a sign from God or it's a sign from somebody saying hey, 'We're working our butts off.'"

A fun — and oftentimes intense — wiffle ball tournament inside the DakotaDome was the source of some team bonding throughout the summer.

When the tournament plans were discussed at the leadership council meeting, Nielson suggested they select teams at random. The idea was immediately shut down by the captains, who instead opted for a player-led draft.

"Everyone just immediately was like, 'I want this guy.' And we started trading people at the end as well. It was awesome. I was like, shoot, I'm a GM now, but it's a wiffle ball draft with your teammates," Webb said.

"It got to be pretty competitive wiffle ball, I'm telling you, particularly when we got into the final leg of the tournament," Nielson said in August.

The most impressive team, according to Webb, was Holden's group, largely due to their secret weapon: junior receiver Carter Bell.

"He's an amazing football player, but for some reason is like the best softball player you can ever play with," Webb said. "One time he caught the ball behind his back. And then the next play. He grabbed it between his legs and threw it to first base and got the guy out. And we're all just sitting there like, who is this guy? It was awesome."

For the Coyotes to compete against each other off the gridiron, away from the stakes of playing time and being forced to mingle among different position groups, was a memorable experience. And for team to enjoy the activity the way they did was a reflection of how they'd grown as a group.

That camaraderie has been carried into the season, and is a large reason why the Coyotes are hosting a second-round playoff game Saturday afternoon.

"We are a team that's together, because we are for each other. We're not trying to prove anything to anybody else," Webb said.

"To know that feeling we had last year, and to turn it around and be where we are this year, it's a really good feeling," Bouman said. "But we can't be satisfied. We're still hungry. We see our path now. And we're ready to take that path and play our best football."