Happy Hour with John Gaskins

NLA: Zim on SDSU-UND, Vitzthum crushing it at USD, Jason Eck's absurd success, Mo Valley madness, marital weekend activities, and DITKA!

College basketball season tips off in only a couple of weeks, with all teams deep into their preseason practices and some already playing scrimmages.
 
This includes the South Dakota State men, who reportedly beat Gonzaga in a secret scrimmage over the weekend (Gonzaga did not play all its key players).
 
Last week, Happy Hour released our Summit League Basketball Media Day chats with Jackrabbits coach Bryan Petersen, USD men's coach Eric Peterson, SDSU women's coach Aaron Johnston, Coyote women's coach Carrie Eighmey, and Summit League commissioner Josh Fenton. You can watch these all back here or listen to them here.
 
For this episode, we are releasing three of the five other coaches' chats. Two of them are with the men who led North Dakota State to the regular season conference titles. The other is with a former Northern State and Black Hills State head coach who is fighting a good fight with the Fighting Hawks at UND.
 
All three of those men signed contract extensions, either near the end of last season or just after it ended. All three were ready to discuss issues beyond their current rosters, diving into the darker topics all mid-major coaches face—NIL, the transfer portal, and how to manage it all while still winning.
 
 
David Richman, NDSU men
The "dean" of Summit League men's coaches starts his 13th season in charge of his alma mater and 24th consecutive season on the Bison bench overall.
 
He has taken the NDSU to four NCAA Tournaments via Summit tourney titles and eight league championship games, including last year. That didn't stop several of his best players from transferring to other schools for more NIL money.
 
Richman candidly discusses his disgust (our word, not his) for the NIL/portal era and how he has changed his approach to dealing with it to his advantage. He also death stares into the camera when discussing NIL agents and his opinion of most of them.
 
Richman is also bitingly sharp and funny, like when he talks about his favorite Happy Hour beverages.
 

Jory Collins, NDSU women
It's been a long and arduous climb to the top of the Summit for the Kansas native who took over a once-proud-turned-rock-bottom Bison program in 2019.
 
Well, almost the top. While NDSU claimed the regular season title last season, SDSU—the perennial thorn-in-side of every Summit squad—beat the Bison in a heated tournament championship game for the NCAA Tournament bid.
 
The Bison are preseason Summit favorites due to Player of the Year Avery Koenen's return to Fargo for her senior year, along with several teammates. Collins walks through Koenen turning down more lucrative major conference offers to stay in her home state. 
 
That is, after we hear about his basketball upbringing in Kansas and his head coaching maiden voyage at Div. II Emporia State before NDSU called.
 
 
Paul Sather, UND men
One of the most affable coaches in the Summit League, Sather enjoyed discussing shoes, how coaching fashion has drifted from real suits to jump suits since Covid, and his favorite Happy Hour cocktail.
 
He also tackles the portal topic and how he assembles an almost entirely new roster every season.
 
Having spent 14 years coaching Div. II hoops in South Dakota before heading north for his first Div. I gig, Sather shares stories about those days.

It's been a long and arduous climb to the top of the Summit for the Kansas native who took over a once-proud-turned-rock-bottom Bison program in 2019.
 
Well, almost the top. While NDSU claimed the regular season title last season, SDSU—the perennial thorn-in-side of every Summit squad—beat the Bison in a heated tournament championship game for the NCAA Tournament bid.
 
The Bison are preseason Summit favorites due to Player of the Year Avery Koenen's return to Fargo for her senior year, along with several teammates. Collins walks through Koenen turning down more lucrative major conference offers to stay in her home state. 
 
That is, after we hear about his basketball upbringing in Kansas and his head coaching maiden voyage at Div. II Emporia State before NDSU called.

One of the most affable coaches in the Summit League, Sather enjoyed discussing shoes, how coaching fashion has drifted from real suits to jump suits since Covid, and his favorite Happy Hour cocktail.
 
He also tackles the portal topic and how he assembles an almost entirely new roster every season.
 
Having spent 14 years coaching Div. II hoops in South Dakota before heading north for his first Div. I gig, Sather shares stories about those days.

The "dean" of Summit League men's coaches starts his 13th season in charge of his alma mater and 24th consecutive season on the Bison bench overall.
 
He has taken the NDSU to four NCAA Tournaments via Summit tourney titles and eight league championship games, including last year. That didn't stop several of his best players from transferring to other schools for more NIL money.
 
Richman candidly discusses his disgust (our word, not his) for the NIL/portal era and how he has changed his approach to dealing with it to his advantage. He also death stares into the camera when discussing NIL agents and his opinion of most of them.
 
Richman is also bitingly sharp and funny, like when he talks about his favorite Happy Hour beverages.