USD baseball still not an immediate priority

It’s been awhile since the University of South Dakota last played a sanctioned, fully-funded baseball game. In fact, it hasn’t happened since 2004.

Nine years ago, the school made the decision to drop the program for numerous reasons. Some of the main issues revolved around budget issues, as well as the influence of Title IX.

Josh Wigley, a left-handed pitcher who graduated in 1999, said the decision to cut baseball was sad, but not very surprising.

“Former players and I were told the school had to hire an assistant women’s soccer coach and a tennis coach,” Wigley said. “I couldn’t tell you if this was true, but it’s the reasons that were given to us.”

Athletic Director David Herbster, who wasn’t at USD in 2004 said he imagines the school was in a tough spot.

“It was dropped for budgetary reasons, as well as working in compliance with Title IX,” Herbster said. “It’s tough, because everyone loves the game of baseball but I know the university’s male to female student athlete ratio was lacking.”

The school ended up sacrificing a sport to comply with Title IX. The law created in 1972 enforces that schools around the nation to put an emphasis on equalizing sports for both genders as much as possible.

Bob Truhlsen, a starting pitcher who graduated in 1987, said it wasn’t an easy process for the school to go through.

“It was tough. I know several members of the team were still on scholarship,” Truhlsen said. “When baseball was cut there was more lost than the team. We lost the structure of being surrounded by friends and coaches.”

South Dakota was a member of the Division-II North Central Conference. Wigley said at the time the NCC was known for having competitive baseball.

“I was a left-handed recruited from Apple Valley, Minn. and I was very excited to play in the NCC,” Wigley said. “It was some of the best Division-II baseball out there, and all of my teammates made it a tremendous experience.”

However, Wigley said there were some bumps in the road, most notably in terms of their funding.

“We had to do everything on our own. The school never thought of us as an asset,” Wigley said. “It was embarrassing at times, because we felt our hard work was getting recognized.”

Truhlsen also agreed that it wasn’t all easy.

“We knew funding was an issue, so we were always doing fund raisers.” Truhlsen said. “We also worked on keeping the field/facility up to par and tried working with local businesses for their support.”

The school eventually gave in, dropping the program, with the funding going to other sports.

Right away the team formed a club baseball team, offering students the opportunity to continue playing America’s pastime at USD, but in a more relaxed and less competitive level. As the years have passed, the question of bringing back sanctioned baseball at USD has been asked.

Wigley said there is no doubt in his mind baseball should be brought back to Vermillion.

“The school definitely needs to bring the baseball program back,” Wigley said. “Especially since they are a D-I program now, there’s no excuse. Reinstate baseball and bring it back to campus.”

However, it isn’t quite that easy. The school is a year removed from inserting new turf into the DakotaDome, as well as still working on the details of the new basketball arena.

Herbster acknowledged baseball isn’t the most important issue at the moment.

“Unfortunately it isn’t on our radar right now,” Herbster said. “I’m focused on making sure all of our teams are receiving everything they need to be successful in the Summit League.

It would also continue to coincide with Title IX.

“We need to maintain our gender balance. If it was added we would need to add another women’s sport with the similar number of players, and that hasn’t really been discussed,” Herbster said. “It’s a bummer because baseball is a huge part of sports culture, and it’s a great game. But right now it isn’t on our radar.”

Despite the desire expressed by former players, the University will likely remain inactive on the vacancy.

The days of club baseball will continue for Coyote fans, students and alumni, with the emphasis not on adding a baseball team, but improving on what they currently have.