Monday, June 16, 2014

Where are they now?

What's the phrase...it's a small world after all. Well, it's an even smaller world if you work in some capacity in college athletics. Spending the current baseball season in Sioux City, Iowa afforded me the opportunity to pay a visit to the University of South Dakota. It sits in a beautiful hamlet about 35 miles northwest of Sioux City called Vermillion. That's where former RSU women's coach Amy Williams is making waves and reaching postseason tournaments. In fact, in just her second year at the helm for the Yotes, USD reached its first-ever NCAA tournament as members of Division 1. It was a fun afternoon of lunch with Amy, her husband Lloyd, and her assistants Chuck Love and Tandem Mays. Lloyd was the RSU men's coach at one time, and Chuck and Tandem are former RSU assistants. I also received a tour of the USD campus and it's highly acclaimed Dakota Dome. The dome houses all the sports teams and athletic offices. The university is set to break ground on a new basketball and volleyball arena shortly, which will give Amy and her coaches a brand-spanking new facility to show recruits. Amy's parents were in town as well, so it made for a wonderful Hillcat reunion of sorts.