Vinatieri said the rivalry between State and the U was a strong one
back in the day.
“It was a pretty good rivalry back then,” he said. “We’d play down
there (Vermillion) and they’d talk some trash to us. They’d come up to
us and I’m sure we talked some trash to them. Those were some pretty
good games.”
Jeremy Kudera has also seen the rivalry up close.
Kudera played basketball for the Coyotes from 1997-2001.
“Those were the days when dead animals were being chucked on
the court,” Kudera said. “That was fun to be part of and to see, as long
as nobody got hurt. It’s nice to see that that rivalry and that intensity is
starting to grow yet again.”
He added that he and his teammates would be extremely supportive
of the football team when they’d take the field against the Jackrabbits.
“As a team, we’d always go and hang out,” he said. “We were friends
with many of the football players, so we wanted to support them just
as they supported us during our basketball games. We were very intune with what was going on on the football field and tried to attend
as many games as we could. … I don’t remember any one particular
football game, but I know they were all a lot of fun.”
Kudera said he loved every minute of the rivalry.
“There’s a lot of love lost between those schools,” he said. “Being
there in the trenches for five years for me — I redshirted a year — it’s a
very intense experience and there’s a lot of intense fans on both sides.
To be involved with that and to be in those arenas and the football
stadiums fighting hard and trying to win those ball games, there’s
nothing more fun than that.”
Families Divided
As with many intra-state rivalries, Kudera and Vinatieri were both
exposed from an early age.
“I certainly was exposed to the rivalry growing up in Dell Rapids
right in between the two schools,” he said. “Obviously that blossomed
and matured for me being intimately involved on the court. It’s a
much different experience when you’re living it that way, and it’s just
continued ever since then.”
He said that, at first, he had no specific side that he was rooting for.
“I didn’t have a real true loyalty until into high school,” he said. “I
became much more interested in USD, and obviously, it’s where I chose
to go. It certainly became evident very early for me that USD was my
team.”
Vinatieri said that the rivalry has led to a bit of a split in his family.
“The funny thing is my father and my brother both went to the
University of South Dakota,” he said. “Me being a State guy, it meant
that it was a little special and was kind of a family rivalry. My older
brother would call and talk trash to me. It was fun when we would beat
them and I could give him a bit of, ‘Hey, I go to the good school.’ That
added a little bit to it because amongst the family, it had a little bit more
meaning.”
Memories
There’s one basketball game against the Jackrabbits that Kudera
remembers well.
“Probably the one that stands out most to me was a game up in
Brookings,” he said. “It was a hard-fought game that came down to the
end. I hit some big shots down the stretch to help us win that ballgame.
That’s one that really stands out, because to win at Frost Arena is
always a challenge.”
Winning at Frost Arena has been such a challenge that this game
during the 1999-2000 season was the last time that the Coyote men
won at Frost Arena.
Vinatieri said that he can’t recall any particular games that stick out,
but rather a location — the DakotaDome.
“I do remember the first time playing down at the dome,” he
said. “That was my first time playing in a dome, so that was kind of
memorable.”
State-U On Ice/Reincarnation
After more than a century creating a team divide for the state, it all
ended.
Following the 2003 season, South Dakota State University left
Division II for Division I.
Kudera said it felt like somewhat of a letdown at first.
“There were a lot of mixed emotions,” he said. “The initial gut
reaction for a lot of people was, ‘What are they doing? They’re really
messing something good up that has been a big rivalry and a big thing
for a long time.’ I think it’s pretty easy to see now that it was the right
move. It was the right move for the state of South Dakota and now that
USD has made that move, it’s been a huge thing for this region, for this
state and for both universities.”
However, USD would follow its in-state rival to the promised land
of Division I in 2008 and, upon joining the Summit League and the
Missouri Valley Football Conference, would rebuild the old rivalry.
Kudera said he sees the rivalry re-intensifying after it had been put on
ice for so long.
“A lot of folks, especially the college students especially the college
students (when it was reinstated), really didn’t understand what that
rivalry meant. Finally, we can see both teams are competitive in the
league — doesn’t matter what sport you’re talking about — and that
rivalry is really getting intense and heated up again. I think everybody
involved now has a feel of what that can be like, and that’s super
exciting.”
Vinatieri said he likes seeing how the rivalry has evolved.
“The North Dakota teams have kind of been the powerhouse
schools in that conference for a long time,” he said. “Now the South
Dakota schools have gotten better and are now competing to be the
number one teams in the conference. It’s fun to see them go from
Division II to Division I and see the programs really blossom and get
much bigger.”
Keeping Tradition Alive
Kudera hasn’t abandoned the Coyotes by any stretch of the
imagination.
Today, he’s a part of the Yankton chapter of the Howling Pack and
makes it to all of the games he’s able to.
“It kind of was natural for me being a former Coyote basketball
player over at USD,” he said. “We wanted to be involved. We came back
to this area to be involved with athletics and the university, so it just
kind of was natural for us to try to get something started and get the
excitement going for Coyote athletics in Yankton.”
Vinatieri’s weekend job has made it a little difficult to make it back
to Brookings and Vermillion to indulge in the revitalized rivalry,
however, he said that he has every intention to make it back out in the
future.
“With my football schedule, we play every Sunday,” he said. “I want
to get my butt out there and watch a game at my alma mater and be
able to watch my nephew who plays for South Dakota State now. It
would be kind of fun to get back there and catch a game, I just haven’t
been back there for a while. But, my football days will be over before
you know it and I’ll probably make it back quite a bit after that.” n
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