Happy Hour with John Gaskins

How do we even begin to describe how big of a gargantuan, monster, mondo, monumental, mammoth, seismic whopper of a deal Monday was for Sioux Falls?
 
The city's fourth-largest employer and one of the largest meat packing plants in the nation is moving its 117-year-old operation from the precipice of downtown Sioux Falls and next to the city's namesake and No. 1 tourist attraction — where, frankly, it has been an eye sore and on northeast wind-blowing days a nose sore — to free up 120 acres of land for new development that will impact generations to come.
 
It is made possible by a $50 million donation from the wealthiest person in the state. The governor, mayor, every city councilor, and all of the heavy hitting business titans of Sioux Falls were there to marvel in the moment.


Other than that, no big deal. 
 
But, a big enough deal to turn Happy Hour with John Gaskins — for a day — from a local sports show to a local city show. Sioux Falls Live editor/reporter Patrick Lalley, a Sioux Falls native, joins the host from Orion Pub downtown to break down one of the most significant announcements in the city's history.
 
Let's go Lally-gagging.
 
In case you really live under a pink quartzite rock, here are the major details about the big deal from our Sioux Falls Live and Dakota Scout story from earlier Monday: 
Smithfield Foods will vacate the site of its pork processing plant near downtown Sioux Falls and build a new slaughterhouse, following a $50 million donation from billionaire banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford.
Smithfield, which purchased John Morrell and Co. in 1995, will build a new modern processing plant in northeast Sioux Falls, clearing the way for the current site next to the city's iconic Falls Park to be redeveloped. The Smithfield plant occupies more than 80 acres of land, according to city records.
The new facility will open in Foundation Park near Interstates 90 and 29. Smith said the announcement was a major development for agriculture in South Dakota and the United States.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," for Sioux Falls, Smithfield employees and agriculture, he said.
Hundreds turned out for the announcement including Gov. Larry Rhoden and Mayor Paul TenHaken, as well as Sanford. The deal had been under negotiation for more than a year.
So, what do we make of all this? What are the most important angles to hit and details to tackle?
In the history of the city, what news events or announcements can even compare?
Lalley was born and raised in Sioux Falls, just up the hill from the Orion Pub near St. Joseph's Cathedral. He has lived here for all but three of his 60 years. He has seen — and for almost four decades covered as a journalist — the titanic transformations that have taken Sioux Falls from a "cow town" of under 100,000 people just 40 years ago to a booming, burgeoning, robust corporate and economic hub of nearly 225,000 and ever-growing.
It didn't happen overnight, but land deals like this can thrust a city into another dimension.
What will that dimension be? There will be 120 acres to play with, and rest assured some political jockeying to stake claim to that land has already started behind some curtains.
It's a juicy conversation happening in pubs all over town.
Ours was recorded for your information and, maybe, your entertainment. It's what Happy Hour is all about.
Enjoy.

Matt Vitzthum called his shot early in his "Hello, World" press conference introducing and celebrating him as South Dakota's new head football coach.
 
He called it and he immediately delivered.
 
"If you don't like to see a grown man cry," Vitzthum said, "you might want to leave the room."
 
Laughter ensued. Nobody left. And Vitzthum cried, almost on cue. 

Looking at his wife Alyssa and two young children — son Hayden and daughter Emery — Vitzthum's eyes welled and voice cracked as he began to thank them for their support.
 
"Vitz," as most people in USD circles call him, choked up a few more times throughout his speech as he thanked his predecessor Travis Johansen, Bob Nielson — the retired Coyote head coach who hired Vitzthum to be the wide receivers coach two years ago — the school's administration, athletic department leaders, his football staff, the Vermillion and USD communities, and his players.
 
Oh, the players. At least a dozen of them in the packed DakotaDome Club conference room that sits between the DakotaDome and the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. 
 
Zoom back to last Friday. Athletic director Jon Schemmel said "the room exploded" when he told the entire team that Vitzthum was the new man in charge. 
 
The words "player-driven" and "relationships" were uttered a lot by Vitzthum and Schemmel several times on Friday. 
 
The same rhetoric was abundant from former USD quarterback Aidan Bouman in his Monday "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" interview about "Vitz" and in Sioux Falls Live profile about the coach earlier this week. 
 
The connection the Algona, Iowa, native has made with his players is as strong a reason as any why Schemmel had Vitzthum's name atop his list as potential Johansen replacements well before Johansen told Schemmel he was departing to take the defensive coordinator job at Rutgers.
 
In his nearly half-hour one-on-one Happy Hour conversation following the press conference, Schemmel also dug into how Vitzthum takes instant command of a room and is a natural leader of young men.
 
Emotional player-driven leader of men.
 
So, where does it come from? 

Like most humans, parents played a major role. His mother, a teacher. His father, a farmer.
 
In his first 15-minute Happy Hour conversation, Vitzthum sat down with the host for a flashback to growing up in Algona — two hours north of Des Moines and with a population of 5,487. He walks through when and how it dawned on him he'd pursue a career in coaching.
 
Then, there's Vitzthum's affinity for Nielson and how Vitzthum landed the wide receivers coach position under Nielson two years ago. If it weren't for Nielson, Vitzthum is likely not in Vermillion. Why? What makes Nielson a "legend" in the coaching circles of this region?
 
Vitzthum walked through this past season as Johansen's co-offensive coordinator and how Johansen showed him some head coaching ropes during the season.
 
Also, does Vitzthum plan on having a different offensive approach and holistic philosophy from Johansen, a defensive coordinator by trade and unapologetically a "defensive-minded coach?"

Schemmel goes deep in walking through the 72 hours after Johansen broke Schemmel the news of his new job.
 
This included turning his basement into a head coaching search bunker, but it wasn't much of a search. Schemmel's account includes the emotional meetings with Johansen, Vitzthum, and both together before Johansen took off for New Jersey. 
 
Both of the head coaches Schemmel has hired in the last 13 months are young up-and-comers (Johansen is in his early 40's and Vitzthum is 39) who have had offers from schools at higher levels for much higher salaries the last couple years. 
 
Did Johansen's leaving after one season make Schemmel pause to hire another "rising star" and make him consider more of a "Bob Nielson type" — older and more likely to spend several seasons in Vermillion (Nielson spent nine before retiring)?
 
How much did the swift hiring of a USD assistant to replace Johansen have to do with the special 15-day transfer portal window that is now open for Coyotes players due to Johansen's departure?
 
And what about the football program, in general? Since arriving at USD in December 2023, the Madison native has aggressively worked to bring that operation's budget to as close to the top of the FCS as possible. 
 
The Coyotes have reached the FCS quarterfinals three seasons in a row — the only team in the nation to do so. But they have yet to play in an FCS Championship game, and both Schemmel and Vitzthum were not shy to use the words "national championship" multiple times both in front of the masses and in their Happy Hour chats.
 
So, what goes into that? And how big is USD thinking for football? Schemmel has remarked that the $17.5 million North Dakota State paid to leave the FCS and join the Mountain West Conference in the FBS is a pill that USD would not be ready to swallow today.
 
Of course, to join the FBS, a program needs an invitation from a conference. Before their MWC invite, NDSU's administration spent a decade full of tireless research and plenty of resources just to determine if the program was ready to take the leap. 

Is USD doing that digging, or planning for it? While Schemmel's current stance of USD's status is continuing to work to be an FCS national champion, what is his sense of what lies ahead for the future of the Coyotes and the three remaining FCS schools in the Dakotas — USD, North Dakota, and South Dakota State.
 
Oh, the Jackrabbits. Schemmel is not shy in talking about them, either — in the most respectful of ways. SDSU overtook NDSU as the premier program in the FCS when the Jacks won national titles in 2022 and 2023. 

How much does SDSU's football and overall athletic success — championships and game attendance — have to do with how Schemmel and his department operates? 
 
And what kind of efforts are Schemmel and staff making to close the gap in those areas with the only other Div. I program in the state? 
 
We had questions. Schemmel has plenty of thoughtful answers. '
 
Enjoy.

Matt Vitzthum called his shot early in his "Hello, World" press conference introducing and celebrating him as South Dakota's new head football coach.
 
He called it and he immediately delivered.
 
"If you don't like to see a grown man cry," Vitzthum said, "you might want to leave the room."
 
Laughter ensued. Nobody left. And Vitzthum cried, almost on cue. 

Looking at his wife Alyssa and two young children — son Hayden and daughter Emery — Vitzthum's eyes welled and voice cracked as he began to thank them for their support.
 
"Vitz," as most people in USD circles call him, choked up a few more times throughout his speech as he thanked his predecessor Travis Johansen, Bob Nielson — the retired Coyote head coach who hired Vitzthum to be the wide receivers coach two years ago — the school's administration, athletic department leaders, his football staff, the Vermillion and USD communities, and his players.
 
Oh, the players. At least a dozen of them in the packed DakotaDome Club conference room that sits between the DakotaDome and the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. 
 
Zoom back to last Friday. Athletic director Jon Schemmel said "the room exploded" when he told the entire team that Vitzthum was the new man in charge. 
 
The words "player-driven" and "relationships" were uttered a lot by Vitzthum and Schemmel several times on Friday. 
 
The same rhetoric was abundant from former USD quarterback Aidan Bouman in his Monday "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" interview about "Vitz" and in Sioux Falls Live profile about the coach earlier this week. 
 
The connection the Algona, Iowa, native has made with his players is as strong a reason as any why Schemmel had Vitzthum's name atop his list as potential Johansen replacements well before Johansen told Schemmel he was departing to take the defensive coordinator job at Rutgers.
 
In his nearly half-hour one-on-one Happy Hour conversation following the press conference, Schemmel also dug into how Vitzthum takes instant command of a room and is a natural leader of young men.
 
Emotional player-driven leader of men.
 
So, where does it come from? 

Like most humans, parents played a major role. His mother, a teacher. His father, a farmer.
 
In his first 15-minute Happy Hour conversation, Vitzthum sat down with the host for a flashback to growing up in Algona — two hours north of Des Moines and with a population of 5,487. He walks through when and how it dawned on him he'd pursue a career in coaching.
 
Then, there's Vitzthum's affinity for Nielson and how Vitzthum landed the wide receivers coach position under Nielson two years ago. If it weren't for Nielson, Vitzthum is likely not in Vermillion. Why? What makes Nielson a "legend" in the coaching circles of this region?
 
Vitzthum walked through this past season as Johansen's co-offensive coordinator and how Johansen showed him some head coaching ropes during the season.
 
Also, does Vitzthum plan on having a different offensive approach and holistic philosophy from Johansen, a defensive coordinator by trade and unapologetically a "defensive-minded coach?" 

Jon Schemmel 
Meanwhile, in his Happy Hour chat, Schemmel goes deep in walking through the 72 hours after Johansen broke Schemmel the news of his new job.
 
This included turning his basement into a head coaching search bunker, but it wasn't much of a search. Schemmel's account includes the emotional meetings with Johansen, Vitzthum, and both together before Johansen took off for New Jersey. 
 
Both of the head coaches Schemmel has hired in the last 13 months are young up-and-comers (Johansen is in his early 40's and Vitzthum is 39) who have had offers from schools at higher levels for much higher salaries the last couple years. 
 
Did Johansen's leaving after one season make Schemmel pause to hire another "rising star" and make him consider more of a "Bob Nielson type" — older and more likely to spend several seasons in Vermillion (Nielson spent nine before retiring)?
 
How much did the swift hiring of a USD assistant to replace Johansen have to do with the special 15-day transfer portal window that is now open for Coyotes players due to Johansen's departure?
 
And what about the football program, in general? Since arriving at USD in December 2023, the Madison native has aggressively worked to bring that operation's budget to as close to the top of the FCS as possible. 
 
The Coyotes have reached the FCS quarterfinals three seasons in a row — the only team in the nation to do so. But they have yet to play in an FCS Championship game, and both Schemmel and Vitzthum were not shy to use the words "national championship" multiple times both in front of the masses and in their Happy Hour chats.
 
So, what goes into that? And how big is USD thinking for football? Schemmel has remarked that the $17.5 million North Dakota State paid to leave the FCS and join the Mountain West Conference in the FBS is a pill that USD would not be ready to swallow today.
 
Of course, to join the FBS, a program needs an invitation from a conference. Before their MWC invite, NDSU's administration spent a decade full of tireless research and plenty of resources just to determine if the program was ready to take the leap. 

Is USD doing that digging, or planning for it? While Schemmel's current stance of USD's status is continuing to work to be an FCS national champion, what is his sense of what lies ahead for the future of the Coyotes and the three remaining FCS schools in the Dakotas — USD, North Dakota, and South Dakota State.
 
Oh, the Jackrabbits. Schemmel is not shy in talking about them, either — in the most respectful of ways. SDSU overtook NDSU as the premier program in the FCS when the Jacks won national titles in 2022 and 2023. 

How much does SDSU's football and overall athletic success — championships and game attendance — have to do with how Schemmel and his department operates? 
 
And what kind of efforts are Schemmel and staff making to close the gap in those areas with the only other Div. I program in the state? 
 
We had questions. Schemmel has plenty of thoughtful answers. '
 
Enjoy.