Happy Hour with John Gaskins

Tis the season for not just anticipating the upcoming football season, but enjoying the lighter side of the personalities we'll be watching on the gridiron and sidelines.
 
Few personas shine brighter than former South Dakota State offensive coordinator Jason Eck, a rising head coaching star in the profession who has ignited an instant revival at New Mexico.

A former offensive lineman and OL coach, Eck's larger-than-life yet every man vibe can be felt in his 1-on-1 chat during Mountain West Conference Media Days on "Hot Mic with Dom Izzo" last week. The Lobos are picked to finish second in the league that now includes North Dakota State.

Yes, Eck has a colorful past with the Bison from his days in Brookings, when he displayed a precursor of viral moments to come in tweets directed at NDSU... and Izzo, a fixture in Fargo for 20 years, was more than happy to bring that up.

That enjoyable and engaging chat is part of this week's "South Dakota Sports Lounge," a weekly show providing some of the best conversations on Forum Communications' daily shows in South Dakota and North Dakota.
 
Also this week:
 
* South Dakota State legendary receiver Cade Johnson joined Happy Hour with John Gaskins to tell stories about his three decorated seasons (2017-19) around other SDSU icons like John Stiegelmeier, Taryn Christion, Dallas Goedert, and Jake Weineke. 
 
* Youngstown State quarterback Beau Brungard, the reigning Walter Payton Award winner as the FCS' most outstanding player, describes his childhood as the son of the only YSU quarterback to lead the Penguins to two national championships.
 
* The dean of MVFC coaches Brock Spack is well-liked and universally respected by other conference coaches... and so is his mustache. Midwest Sports+ correspondent Zach Borg focuses in on an uber-ballyhooed upper lip.

The Jackrabbit and Coyote football teams both start official practices next week. Who are the players Zim is most anticipating watching, and what storylines loom the largest for both squads?
 
* The Minnesota Twins continue to live in the lingering limbo of "buyer or seller" as the Aug. 3 trade deadline nears... but why does Zim think they should act like a team going places?
 
* The Sioux Falls Canaries have ripped out of the All-Star break on a five-game heater. Why? And why should there be belief they'll be title contenders again?
 
* After Happy Hour spent some time on the legacy of T. Denny Sanford earlier in the week with Patrick Lalley, Zim offers his own perspective on what Sanford (specifically, his money) had done for the sports landscape in Sioux Falls and South Dakota.

Until Kalen DeBoer wins a national championship at Alabama, some Crimson Tide fans and national media will never be satisfied.
 
And until Kalen DeBoer wins a national championship at Alabama, what he says on a microphone about trying to win a national championship at Alabama will also likely not satisfy those folks.
 
South Dakota's most famous football son took his turn at the mighty podium at SEC Media Days on Wednesday and, as usual, kept his statements classy and concise and not much astray from how he publicly communicated about NAIA national championships when he was University of Sioux Falls head football coach (and winning three national championships). 
 
Yet, it is what he didn't say that had eternally-parsing ESPN pundit Paul Finebaum pontificating on how DeBoer did himself no favors.
 
Happy Hour host John Gaskins and Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer pick apart the pick-aparting from the Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls in the latest weekly "Nobody's Listening Anyway" show.

Until Kalen DeBoer wins a national championship at Alabama, some Crimson Tide fans and national media will never be satisfied.
 
And until Kalen DeBoer wins a national championship at Alabama, what he says on a microphone about trying to win a national championship at Alabama will also likely not satisfy those folks.
 
South Dakota's most famous football son took his turn at the mighty podium at SEC Media Days on Wednesday and, as usual, kept his statements classy and concise and not much astray from how he publicly communicated about NAIA national championships when he was University of Sioux Falls head football coach (and winning three national championships). 
 
Yet, it is what he didn't say that had eternally-parsing ESPN pundit Paul Finebaum pontificating on how DeBoer did himself no favors.
 
Happy Hour host John Gaskins and Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer pick apart the pick-aparting from the Orion Pub in downtown Sioux Falls in the latest weekly "Nobody's Listening Anyway" show.
 
Also on the docket:
 
* The Jackrabbit and Coyote football teams both start official practices next week. Who are the players Zim is most anticipating watching, and what storylines loom the largest for both squads?
 
* The Minnesota Twins continue to live in the lingering limbo of "buyer or seller" as the Aug. 3 trade deadline nears... but why does Zim think they should act like a team going places?
 
* The Sioux Falls Canaries have ripped out of the All-Star break on a five-game heater. Why? And why should there be belief they'll be title contenders again?
 
* After Happy Hour spent some time on the legacy of T. Denny Sanford earlier in the week with Patrick Lalley, Zim offers his own perspective on what Sanford (specifically, his money) had done for the sports landscape in Sioux Falls and South Dakota.

Some things have changed drastically at Augustana in the eight years Josh Morton took the reins as athletic director in 2018.
 
Other things have remained the same at the private Lutheran liberal arts university in the middle of Sioux Falls.  
 
In both cases, it's been a pretty good thing.
 
The Vikings applied to move up from Div. II and into the Summit League, where they would join old North Central Conference rivals SDSU and USD, but the application was denied.
 
Instead of just doing nothing, Morton, Augie president Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and other university leaders decided to pivot.
 
Oh, what a pivot it was.
 
Augustana created a Div. I hockey program — which in three years has exploded into a Top 20 operation — and raised money to build a $74 million state-of-the-art hockey arena while remaining in Div. II in all other sports. Most of those teams continued to perform at or near the top of the Northern Sun conference. 
 
But you knew that. What you may not know is how Morton and company accomplished it.
 
It starts with being able to raise money. Lots and lots and lots of money from wealthy individuals and companies. 
 
Augie hired Morton from Michigan State, where he was assistant athletic director and raised $23 million in major gift commitments in his five years there, according to his Augustana website bio.
 
Before that, as associate athletic director at North Dakota — a long-time Div. I hockey powerhouse — Morton had a front row seat to that school's transition from Div. II to Div. I in all sports besides hockey, a process that required — you guessed it — raising a lot of money.
 
Surprisingly, Morton had zero fundraising experience prior to that UND job, his first in athletic administration. He had spent over a decade as a local TV sports anchor and reporter in Fargo and Charleston, South Carolina.
 
But what Morton did have is a background since birth of the life and "language" of college athletics as the son of a head football coach who won a Div. II national championship at North Dakota State (1979-83), bolted through a couple of winning seasons at Div. I Tulsa (1985-86), then got swallowed in the quicksand of Big Ten football from 1987-89 at Wisconsin.
 
Don Morton made his own pivot before age 50. He transitioned into the business world and became the chief of staff the CEO of a Fargo software company that Microsoft eventually bought in 2001. That CEO is Doug Burgum, former North Dakota governor and current U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
 
By age 16, Morton saw first-hand the peaks and one valley Don had navigated in high-stakes college sports. And he witnessed his father's successful pivot firsthand.
 
Hear all about how all this played out in Happy Hour's 76-minute conversation with the former walk-on quarterback at UND.
 
Plus, plenty of updates and views of major happenings in Augie athletics over the last few years:
 
* Hockey coach Garrett Raboin's decision to eschew interest (if not an offer) from blue blood Minnesota and stay at Augie
 
* 20-year national championship softball coach Gretta Melsted's recent departure to coach the Gophers and the hiring of replacement Colleen Powers from Div. III St. Catherine
 
* Why did Augie hire as its new volleyball head coach Erika Bute, a 25-year-old who was playing for the school just three years ago?
 
* The Elmen Center's $3 million renovation and the pivot of basketball games back to campus from the Sanford Pentagon
 
* The 2024 departure of 21-year men's basketball coach and 2016 national champion Tom Billeter and the decision to replace him with assistant and former player Cody Schilling
 
* The hiring of women's basketball coach Nate Vogel, which came after the decision to fire Jillian Flores Bennett after just one season (7-20). The latter replaced legend Dave Krauth, whose teams produced 33 winning records in his 34 seasons