The Genz

With the South Dakota football team set to play Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22 in Evanston, Ill., it is worth a little time to check how the Coyotes have fared vs. the Big Ten and the Wildcats. A quick review of the 2011 South Dakota football media guide, shows USD is 2-25 vs. the Big Ten with both wins coming on the road against Minnesota, 10-0 (Northrup Field) in 1912 and 41-38 (TCF Bank Stadium) in 2010. While USD has just two wins, they nearly knocked off the Michigan Wolverines in 1912, The Wolverines team, coached by the legendary Fielding Yost (198-35-12 overall - 165-29-10 with six national titles at Michigan), defeated South Dakota, 7-6, at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor. The Coyotes led Michigan, 6-0, until the final seconds when the Wolverines scored a TD and added the extra point for the win. USD's Big Ten record does not includes games vs. Nebraska (1-14-2) or Michigan State (0-5-1) because the Huskers and Spartans were not Big Ten members when the Co...

Sadly, the days are gone when trains motored down the rails with people hanging out windows, waving their goodbyes, blowing kisses and cheering wildly as the locomotive engine and whistles blared away. Those images are only captured now in movies or TV shows, except maybe in Europe or tourists traps. Still, it is easy to romanticize about the era many decades ago when the train was the primary mode of transportation. In reflection, I believe many of us get a rush while imagining about a bygone era and what we perceive was a more innocent, less stressful time. One such era - the early 1900s - wasn't a simpler time, just different. It was a world without the Internet , cable TV, smart phones, SUVs, and airplanes, all of which has made life faster, seemingly more stressful, but clearly different. People didn't have to check their phones for a text, email or information update as they shopped for groceries or just roamed the street.  As a connoisseur of knowledge and informatio...

Derek Miles As Derek Miles makes his swan song in the Olympic Games, he does so with support close and at home. The USD alumnus and Coyote track and field assistant coach, who begins competition Wednesday (4 a.m. CST), is accompanied in London by his biggest fan, wife Tori, a one-time South Dakota hurdling standout; along with long-time friend and coach Lucky Huber. Also in London will be Huber's wife, Stacy, and their two daughters. In addition, Miles will have the support of his vaulting teammates, American fans in London, and a hoard of supporters rooting him on from South Dakota and beyond. In the hours leading up to the competition, I have to believe Miles is feeling a rush of emotions with flashes of highlights running through his mind. I also believe that all of this must be a little bittersweet for the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame inductee. It has to, right? When you have given so much time and effort to a sport, the final competitive go-around has to create ...

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.     -- American Playwright Wendy Wasserstein Expectations can be a heavy toll to carry. They can make some a shivering, quivering, stress-filled mess. The fear of failure can be an intimidating force. But don't tell that to three University of South Dakota women's track and field student-athletes, who are meeting expectations and beyond. Alexa Duling, Bethany Buell and Emily Grove stare down challenges with courage and effort and keep moving forward. All three of the Coyotes athletes have met the Olympic Trials qualifying standard in their respective events and are headed this week to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. In just its second year at Division I, USD Track and Field has three athletes in the competition and one - Buell - has already earned second team All-America honors in the pole vault. South Dakota women's head coach Lucky Huber h...

(The following blog originally appeared in the March 2012 issue of RedEye, a publication published by PrintSource of Vermillion). For many of us, field days were those blue ribbon events of our childhood, when throwing a softball; participating in a tug-of-war; and running short races occasionally provide a few joyous recollections.    No matter what really happened in the nearby city park or school playgrounds, or whether you won the hurdle race or tag-teamed to claim the potato sack race, a significant history surrounds field days. They were, in fact, the beginning of Coyote Athletics at The University of South Dakota. Cedric Cummins wrote in his book, “The University of The University of South Dakota” about those founding days of athletics in the 19 th century more than 125 years ago. Referencing C.W. Jackson (M.A. thesis, 1962, “The History of Physical Education at the State University of South Dakota”), Cummins noted that USD intercollegiate athletics d...

After the prep season ended last fall, I had the intention of posting something about all the great performances by  the players and coaches during the memorable 2011 prep football season in South Dakota.  However, I didn't get it completed. So, forgive the Genz for being a little late to the party. However, as others contemplate the closing of the spring sports season, I offer readers and fans a little prep spring football, albeit retrospective on action from last fall.  Enjoy the look back at one of the outstanding seasons in South Dakota prep history.  Class AA As the fall opened, media projections, including yours truly (through KSFY’s Gridrion Blitz and KSFY Pigskin Preview), focused on Washington and O’Gorman as the top teams in Class AA. While both schools again enjoyed success, the biggest story in 2011 was Sioux Falls Roosevelt, a team most observers projected as the fourth-best team in Sioux Falls. In fact, some (me included) thought Mi...