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DSU Football Coach Saved from Borofsky’s Ax, Now Enjoys Deficit Spending

Nigel Duara's article on Dakota State University football includes one intriguing tidbit on DSU internal politics:

Two years ago, after nonstop losing, Dakota State's president pledged 2013 would be [head football coach Josh] Anderson's last season. Then that president resigned. His replacement, an interim president, hasn't issued any final edict. In the meantime, in an effort to win now and save his job, Anderson decided to go on a spending spree and spent double his $70,000 athletic budget. "I told my wife, I'm sick of nickel-and-diming it," he said. "If I have to hold bake sales, I'll make the cookies myself" [Nigel Duara, "An Honest Game," SBNation.com, 2014.12.17].

Former DSU president David Borofsky went on a canning spree during his two-year tenure in Madison, removing the athletic director, the VP academic, the dean of Arts and Sciences, and the dean and the assistant dean of Business and Information Systems before "retiring" last August and head to a temp job in Florida.

Borofsky apparently could get by with messing with administrators, but perhaps turning his sights on popular hometown coach Anderson broke some camels' backs and got the Regents (including Madison booster Randy Schaefer) to pay attention and bring an end to Borofsky's reign of terror.

And now with the target off his back, Coach Anderson enjoys the freedom to go 100% over budget. Hmmm... I wonder if any relieved professors are enjoying that same fiscal freedom this academic year....

16 Comments

  1. Lynn 2014.12.29

    There are two things that bother me about priorities here. 1st: The primary mission of DSU and other public universities here in our state is providing a high quality education. I realize the competitive nature of sport but there seems to be too much pressure put on this coach especially from the past president who is thankfully gone. Athletics I believe are to supplement the educational experience.

    2nd: Why not focus on regional recruits for football and those students outside the region that are there primarily because of what DSU has to offer in terms of outstanding educational programs?

    Memories of Huron college in their later years come back when the Tribe would have a team stacked with all these recruits from Florida, New York, or where ever and there would be one token kid from SD on their team. They had great teams but it was like playing a semi pro team and it was hard to get excited about. I question the quality of education those players ever received and where is Huron College these days?

  2. Jenny 2014.12.29

    Huron College went bankrupt and closed up around 10 years ago.

  3. Bill Fleming 2014.12.29

    Looks like the answer might be bake sales, Cory. Isn't that the answer for everything? Cookie capitalism. Has a nice ring to it ...like a bundt cake.

  4. grudznick 2014.12.29

    Ah yes, the Tribe and the Greyhounds. The battles they would wage, with the Hounds typically coming out on top.

  5. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.29

    Don't forget the Pointers too. My cousin attended Southern its final 2 years. That's when I learned that the nickname for their student union was the "Kennel." Should a place that serves food be called the Kennel?

    BTW, do the Lancers still exist?

  6. Wayne Pauli 2014.12.30

    Hi Deb, Yes, Mt Marty College Lancers in Yankton are alive and kicking. they also have attendance centers in Watertown and Sioux Falls.

    Southern had a very pretty campus. they turned out lots of teachers back in the day. I have not been back there since they put up the fence.

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.12.30

    Bake sales—as a coach, I refuse to do bake sales. If a school has a program worth having, the school ought to fund it. Plus, does bake sale revenue ever clear expenses? My French students in Spearfish did a bake sale, and I found that just counting time, they were earning maybe a dollar or two an hour. Subtract expenses for making supplies, and I doubt we broke even. I told the kids that if they wanted to raise money, they'd do better to just get part=time jobs at minimum wage.

    The Lake County Democrats did the same calculus a few years ago: after years of hawking baked goods at Crazy Days, they decided to have a no-bake bake sale, telling folks that instead of toiling away in their kitchens, they should just write the party a check. I could spend two hours shopping for chocolate chips, baking cookies, and cleaning, plus another hour sitting at a booth waiting for people to pay $10 for my cookies, or I could just write the party a check for $45, reflecting the $15/hour value of my time.

  8. Bill Fleming 2014.12.30

    LOL. Cory, what a party pooper. No bake sales?! You must be some kind of godless, neo-nanny non-confectionist. I know the kind. Always trying to save us from our inner cookie monsters. Banana bread forever buddy!

  9. Nick Nemec 2014.12.30

    I'm with Cory on the minimum wage job vs. bake sale argument. A kid or group of kids could earn a lot more, a lot faster, just working. Locally I see the junior high kids have a "rent-a-kid" program where they will come to your house and do all manner of yard work, snow shoveling, and house work, for a price. I'm not sure what they are earning money for they are willing to do hard work to earn it.

  10. Bill Fleming 2014.12.30

    Guys, the zucchinni bread cronies aren't going to take your anti-baking rebellion lying down. Better lock your cars at harvest time, or they'll fill your back seats with sugarless vegetables.

    If football coaches can't get moms to cook for the cause, then where's the warm contact in contact sports? Besides, we need big boys on those front defensive and offensive lines, and that takes calories my friends. Lots and lots of calories. :-)

  11. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.30

    I think part of bake sales and other sundry fundraisers is the social aspect. It's a way for the elders of the community to feel part of things, and especially when the local school is the center of the town. Since people on SS don't have much money, they need to feel like they are getting something for it.

    On the other hand, plenty of mothers would probably agree with Cory.

  12. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.12.31

    Bill is correct: I am running the risk of causing a zucchini surplus that could spark civil unrest. I'll take that risk. :-)

    I do see the social aspect of the bake sales. The first fundraiser my French students did for their trip to France was a French toast feed. It was a great team-building exercise: students had to communicate and work together. That was a valuable exercise for students getting ready to travel as a group. The event also had a positive social aspect, as the kids got to interact with community members and build awareness of the trip and our mighty French program. And it could be that an event like this, like the Kiwanis pancake feeds, if they became a local tradition, could become a moneymaker over time.

    Deb, I'm rolling with the moms. It's good to offer everyone a chance to feel involved, but if I'm rolling out high-overhead baked goods to get a few small donations from fixed-income folks, I'm probably focusing on the wrong donor base.

  13. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.31

    I once used the abundance of zucchinis as a fundraiser. It was no extra work for the parents and the kids loved it. I printed blackmail notes signed by the Zucchini Bandits. The kids taped them to the dozens of excess squash, then snuck them into the cars and on to the porches of church members in the very small town. The essence of the note was, "Pay up or you'll get more and more zucchinis!" It was fun and fairly effective.

  14. Lynn 2014.12.31

    Southern Pointers, Huron Tribe, Dakota Trojans, Yankton College Greyhounds and the other schools that were in the old legendary SDIC.

  15. grudznick 2014.12.31

    Go Hounds!

  16. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.12.31

    When Huron was General Beadle College they were the Scalpers and the mascot was an American Indian. Didn't they switch to something else for the last few years before closing?

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