This interview originally aired on "In the Moment" on SDPB Radio.
Jimmy Rogers says he always knew football would be a big part of his life. That's his reality as head coach at the South Dakota State University.
We ask what's ahead now that his program has won a second national title.
We also talk with Rogers about the culture of Jackrabbits football, his main goal for his student-athletes and what he learned from former coach John Stiegelmeier.
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The following transcript was auto-generated.
Lori Walsh:
SDSU recently won their second straight FCS title beating Montana 23 to three. The team charged into last season with high expectations, all of which they matched or exceeded under the leadership of rookie head coach, Jimmy Rogers.
Well, 2024 marks a new year and new expectations for perfection maybe, or at least for dominance on the field. Coach Rogers joins us now with a look at the team in the culture of SDSU football and he is with us from SDPB's Jeanine Basinger Studio at SDSU in Brookings.
Coach Rogers, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Lori Walsh:
Congratulations to you, the coaching staff, the athletes, the families to the community of Brookings. Tell me a little bit about how the win has been received. What sorts of things have people been telling you?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, it was really exciting. I think it's really hard to do it, especially the way we did it, but a lot was expected of this season, both internally and externally and we were able to exceed expectations and have an unbelievable season. And I know the standard of what we expect isn't going to change and even on the outside what people expect, but replacing a lot of talent, replacing a lot of senior veterans, and we're excited for the challenge of moving forward into this next season and improving as a football team.
Lori Walsh:
So you have a young coaching staff, you have a community with those expectations, and by the nature of college ball itself, you have an ever-changing roster of players. So let's talk about your approach to recruitment and retention.
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, I think it's important to bring student-athletes in that really fit what you're looking for and they fit the culture of South Dakota State from we have what they want to go to school for to their local. They know what the Midwest is like. They understand the values that we're about as a football program. All those things are really important and at times we recruit the kid that's maybe underrecruited.
And because of that, these players that come into our program and feel like we're devoted to them and there's a sense of loyalty behind that. They're not always looking to see if the grass is greener elsewhere and jumping into the portal. And I think we've been able to treat people with respect, hold people accountable, understand that we want what's best for them, and we push them to get to the point in their career where they're satisfied.
In an era that everybody's looking to jump into the transfer portal, I think what we've been able to do as far as sustain a roster and also have success and continue to develop high-caliber players, players that have the opportunity to go to the NFL. I think it's impressive with what we've been able to do and we'll have a tall task set ahead for next season, but we're excited for that.
Lori Walsh:
Do you remember being recruited as a player? Do you remember some of the thought process that you had to making decisions?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, I wasn't highly recruited, so my thought process was go to South Dakota State and play division one football or potentially walk on at Arizona State. South Dakota State was one of my only division one opportunities, much like this entire roster. I think we did a study of the 85 guys that are on scholarships, seven of them had more than just one division one opportunity.
And I think it shows that we recruit maybe the not highly-touted player and we take time and we're patient, we show grace and we develop and throughout their four to five years that we have them.
Lori Walsh:
All right, so talk a little bit about what's going on in your mind as someone who was not highly recruited, as you said, to being the dominant player that you were. And then a coach, did you know that you were capable of being a standout on a winning team? Did you have to learn that and learn confidence in that? What was your journey like that to go from, hey, these are the options I have to, we're on a pretty big stage here.
Jimmy Rogers:
I think every player that comes out of high school that isn't highly recruited, you feel like you should have been. I was one of those guys. I had the opportunity to come to South Dakota State and earn my way on, but I was lucky enough to be developed at a really good high school program at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona, where the football is some of the best in the entire country. And we had a great coaching staff there that when I came here, the knowledge and how you're developed wasn't so drastically different from a high school player to a college program because a lot of my high school was ran like a college.
I had the opportunity to compete right away and was able to get on the field and fought my way on to maintaining to be a starter. But I have high expectations for myself as a person. And so yeah, I had the expectations that I would succeed at South Dakota State and when I got into coaching, I had the expectations that I would succeed as a coach. It's not always pretty, but there's a way to continue to work towards getting what you want.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. All right. So when sports reporters write about you, they use words like obsessed, focused, competitive, do whatever it takes to win on the field. How do you describe yourself? Are those words that resonate with you or are there other words that you would use to describe how you are as a head coach?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, I think I'm a passionate person that loves the game of football. I love trying to take a student-athlete farther than what he could on his own. I think that's the challenge or charge for all of us as head coaches or just a coach in general, is that you're pushing people farther than that they could on their own. And I'm a very intense, serious person when it comes to the game of football, but more so I'm intense to my intentions of trying to get the most out of the players. And when players come to South Dakota State and they have high expectations and they have these goals, my job is to try to make sure that they obtain their goals. And at times that's not always easy because nobody likes to be told how they could do things different or to try to push harder or work harder on a constant basis.
But I think that's all of our jobs as coaches is when a student-athlete walks into your facilities and he sets out challenging goals for himself, that you hold them to those goals and at times you're not the most well-liked in the moment of trying to get them there, but it's what they signed up for and we constantly bring it full circle back to the number one reason why they came to South Dakota State and our job is to hold them accountable.
Lori Walsh:
You answered it a little bit here, but go deeper because I'm very curious to know when an athlete disappoints you, when a player lets you down either in a performance on the field with something they really should know how to do, or in the kind of person that they're being and their behavior or the way they're talking in the locker room. When somebody disappoints you, what kind of language do you bring to that situation to hold them accountable but also let them know you expect more?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, I think it's having a one-on-one conversation with the players when they fail in a certain area. As far as failing on the football field, those things happen. You make physical mistakes all the time. It's just are you taking the time to learn what you just failed on and are you willing to continuously work so they don't happen again? And if the charge and the purpose behind the individual is that it's just a mistake, but if it's someone, there's a different conversation when it's due to a lack of effort or a lack of care, them not following through with what they said.
That's a personal conversation that we have and we try to find a solution to try to get them to be at their best because there's stuff going on in everybody's lives. It takes grace to do this job because you're still dealing with 18- to 23-year-olds. They're going to have learning curves as they go, and you need to be there and you need to be stable. I can't be emotional with every decision or a reaction when they make a mistake because that's part of the process.
Lori Walsh:
I don't like mistakes, I don't like it when people see me make mistakes. I mean, these are public mistakes, these are mistakes that are often on the replay, for example. It's hard to get used to I bet sometimes when the mistake is so obvious and public.
Jimmy Rogers:
For us, I try to take out the outside world. If I concern myself with everybody's opinion, I would please nobody. I told my wife when I took this job, I got to be myself and be confident in what I do and what I decide that we're going to do as a football program. But if I try to appease everybody, I'll appease nobody, including myself. I'm a fairly confident person, confident in my skin and taking on this job in itself, that's a lot to be criticized on. Luckily, I've had a team that there has been very little criticism because we haven't lost in how we've done it, so we've got to stay on their approach. But I can't be concerned what the outside world thinks of me.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. What things about SDSU football culture do you particularly think, hey, that needs to be maintained? I like this tradition. I like how our culture functions. And then are there areas that you think there's room for growth in here, in how we do this? How do you approach culture, what's worth keeping and what's worth developing?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, I think culture is really an overused word in sports. And so trying to narrow down what is culture to you. For me, culture is how you feel when you come to the place of work, how you feel when you step into the room. Are the players comfortable? Do they want to be there? Do they want to grow?
I think that's all of our jobs as coaches to make our facility and our home base really feel like that. Feel like they can come in and be themselves and grow and accept everybody's personality, but it's under one scope and that scope is doing what they can to be their very best for the football team because that's what they showed up for. And not just football, but understanding that they represent South Dakota State and to do it with class and take education very seriously. And we've been able to do that.
We've been able to do it from a student-athlete recognition as far as the awards that our players have earned. We've done that a really high level. That as well as our team GPA is a 3.19. And I think that's extremely high for college athletics, especially the way we're competing right now on the national landscape of football wise. So we're proud of those things. As far as things that need to change as far as the program, it's always trying to find new ways in which you can influence and impact student athletes. And maybe it's outside of football with doing things like the last summer, we brought in financial advisors and they speak to the players about the basics of money and trying to understand that there is going to be a step that they need to take when they leave college. And really more so leaving them with an opportunity to grow and have success when they leave South Dakota State.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. What kind of mentor was Coach Stiegelmeier to you personally?
Jimmy Rogers:
He was always like a father figure to me, very patient with me, allowed me to grow, failed constantly, checked on who I was as a player. I think he's just an unbelievable person. He was probably a better person than he ever was a coach, and that's saying a lot because he was a great football coach. But yeah, he cared about everybody, loved everybody. And he created such an energy in the building that everybody felt like they were not being judged and that they could be themselves. And that's one thing that I've always tried to keep the same is we're all in this together. We all need to work extremely hard, but I do want everybody to feel comfortable in their own skin at the facility and in the work environment.
Lori Walsh:
So you want your coaches, you want your athletes to show up. Football is everything. Winning this game is everything. We want you to be all invested, all in. That's what makes a successful program. And yet there has to be for most of these athletes life after football. Even if that's in the professional leagues, there will be life after football. Did you struggle with that as your time in uniform on the field came to a close and you decided to move into coaching?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, there was a point there where I was unsure what I wanted to do. My mom asked me when I chose South Dakota State, what are you going to major in? And I have two older brothers that were recruited that played at a high level. And so my mom knew that majoring in football wasn't an answer. I had to have a major and I was always unsure of what I wanted to do professionally. And I always knew that football was a big part of my life.
And so as I went through the process of my undergrad, and I realized at the end of my career that if I couldn't play football, I'd want to coach it. I was able to be a graduate assistant. But yeah, there was a couple months there when football was done that I had no idea what I was going to do. And it's kind of scary. It's something that you've done at an early age has been maybe a consistent foundation of how you've went about your day-to-day at a really young age all the way into you're an adult. And then when you don't have that, you wonder what do you have? And luckily, I've found a place in coaching. I've really enjoyed it. I really have loved my relationships that I've had the opportunity to create over my time here with the student athletes that have been through here, and it's been nothing but a blessing.
Lori Walsh:
So what does winning give you as a person? I mean, there's a lot of winning. You're going to lose too. And sometimes I think what does a loss teach you is almost easier to answer. But when you stack up a bunch of wins, undefeated, second national championship, what does winning give you as a person?
Jimmy Rogers:
I don't know about if it's as much about winning as it is, as much about giving yourself up to others and doing everything that you can to make the most out of the opportunities that are in front of you. I just truly believe that if you're going to say something that it's your job to take action and live out what you said that you were going to do, and everybody needs to be on the same page with that and put forth the same energy and effort and focus that it requires to have that success. As far as what the win does, I don't necessarily think it's the result. It's more the action and enjoying the process of what you're doing and who you're doing it with. I'm a believer in how you do anything is how you do everything. And yeah, it's the consistency and joy you can find doing it day in and day out that is the separator. Everybody just sees the end result, but a lot of what happens day in and day out is why you have the result that you have.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. All right. Is it fun for you? Do you have fun when you show up? Is that the wrong word?
Jimmy Rogers:
Yeah, there's definitely joy in this. The joy is in the work itself. It's in the daily grind. It's honestly, when it doesn't feel so joyous is that when you work extremely hard at something, you have something gratifying behind it. And that's maybe what the win represents more than anything else, is that the work is paying off, but it's doing what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it the way it's supposed to be done. It's the level of discipline that you need to carry on in your life day in and day out and not get caught up with the outside world and the opinion of that.
I've been on teams where you've won games and you haven't played your best. And I've been on teams where you've lost games and I don't know if we could have played any better. And although nobody wants to hear that, that is the reality of sports. The game of football is fickle, and I cannot measure our success off of wins and losses, but more so how we go about the process of trying to get to the win is what matters most to me.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. All right, Coach Jimmy Rogers from South Dakota State Football, congratulations again. It's nice getting to know you. We look forward to talking to you in the future as well.
Jimmy Rogers:
Awesome. Thanks for having me.
