NCAA presence brings pride to USD community

While March Madness has come and gone — and with it, the University of South Dakota’s first NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament appearance — it is time to reflect on what the impact such appearances have on the university.

First, and perhaps most importantly, is the growth of school pride and community which surrounds these tournaments. Building USD’s fan support among students has been a slow, painstaking journey.

It’s a subject that has been talked about since USD made the transition to D-I, and the university has implemented numerous plans to get students to games, including Coyote Crazies and paw points.

However, students still leave by halftime at football games and rarely attend any other sporting events. But when the Coyote women kept winning at the Summit League Championship, conveniently held in Sioux Falls, more red and white was visible in the crowd.

Winning the Summit League title and earning a bid to the NCAA tournament only increased the level of pride on campus.

There’s no shame in the fact that the women lost their first-round game. The Coyotes were a No. 15 seed, while Stanford was a No. 2 seed.

For the university and the program, it would have been amazing to win, but really it was more about making the NCAA tournament in just the second year of eligibility for post-season play.

Aside from helping build school pride for a program a select few cared about, there were other positive side effects. As Tena Haraldson, USD’s director of marketing communications and university relations, said in this week’s Volante story about the USD brand, simply making a first appearance in the NCAA tournament has increased the university’s visibility nationwide.

Haraldson said USD’s website’s number of visitors increased by 19 percent, and it should help speed up the process of getting USD logo merchandise into larger national stores.

All of this is good news for USD, as it continues to push national tournament success, something it emphasized with the hiring of Nebraska assistant men’s basketball coach Craig Smith to lead the Coyote men’s basketball team.

The university is sending the message that the goal of its athletic programs is to win, so now it’s time for the students to stay on the bandwagon and continue supporting all the Coyote athletic programs as they strive for success.

Photo: Junior guard Nicole Seekamp drives to the hoop against Stanford in the NCAA Women’s Division I tournament in Ames, Iowa March 22. (Malachi Petersen/The Volante)