Q: What were the biggest problems that hindered the success of your team this year?

SDSU head volleyball coach Phil McDaniel

A: Well for us, I think it was our team chemistry and just getting up to speed with the pace of play and how it all came together. I think we had a good start to the season, I think we came together very well especially on the road those first two weeks. Once we got into conference play it got a little tougher as the teams became more familiar with what they had to do to stop us.

Q: It was your first season back at SDSU after three seasons at Drake and your first season as head coach for the Jacks. Do you think there were any first-year transition problems?

A: I certainly think so. I think there always is whenever there is a coaching change, you’re going to have some things that go well and others that just take some time. I think, for us, it’s a matter of getting through that first year. I certainly expect us to bounce back and develop and progress through the spring.

Q: With only two seniors departing, you’re going to be bringing back the majority of your team next year. Do you believe that a challenging year like this provides a learning experience that your returning players can grow from?

A: I certainly hope so. It’s one of the things we talked about when we went through our rough stretch and wins were hard to come by. After each game, we talked about how if we don’t learn from these losses and take these lessons and go forward, then it becomes a big waste of a season. So, I hope that they all took that to heart, and I really believe that they did, and I think we’ll learn from the bumps and bruises that we saw this year.

Q: What’s going to be your main focus heading into the offseason, recruiting or otherwise, that will improve the team and help them move forward?

A: Certainly recruiting is at the top of the list. We need to go find players to replace the ones that we lost this year as well as next year. We have a large senior class next season, so we’re working very hard on the 2013 class as well to replace the six seniors for next year as they prepare to graduate. But, our main focus for next season is going to be our ability to maintain balance on the court. It’s going to be about passion and drive, the same things we focused on throughout the year. We’ll have a little more time and opportunity to work on those things and then incorporate the freshmen when they come in next fall.

Q. What do you think will be a key area to focus on this year in order to get back to the Summit League Tournament? 

Head women's basketball coach Aaron Johnston.

A. For us consistency is going to be important, really in two areas: how we defend and how we take care of the ball. Those are two areas we struggled with last year and that’s not uncommon. Everybody knows that who watched us play. When we got better in those two areas in late January and into February, we were really good again and this year’s team will have to do a good job in both those areas right away.

Q. Jill Young and Jennie Sunnarborg are the “rock” of your roster. What do they mean to your team and what do they need to do for you this year? 

A. It’s really nice to have players like Jennie and Jill in that senior class. One’s a guard, one’s a post so they both bring different dynamics to our team and defenses have to approach each of those players differently. Because of that, it really puts a lot of pressure on other teams. We have two really good options at the end of a game to hopefully close out a game and win in a close one. We’re excited about both of those two but they’ve got a good supporting cast around them. There are 11 other players who all are going to have chances to play and be very competitive too.

Q. Who do you think is going to step up and be a contributor to this year’s team?

A. Well Katie [Lingle] was a starter for us for half the [2010] season and did a great job coming off the bench mid-way through and was really one of the best defensive post players in the league last year. She’ll have a big role. Then you’ll see, hopefully, Ashley Eide and Leah Dietel take big steps forward. Now juniors, both had injuries last year that slowed them down. I’d say the same about Megan Waytashek, who had an injury. She had just moved into the starting lineup and the injury kind of took her out of the rest of the year … Just a lot of really good players that have played more supporting roles and now have to emerge as more go-to players.

Q. Who are you looking at that’ll give you the most troubles in conference play?

A.Well Oral Roberts is going to be the best. They have everybody back from last year and probably added some good freshmen too. But then outside of that, people are going to be surprised at how good our league is again. Oakland is going to be very good, NDSU is going to be very good, Kansas City (UMKC), Fort Wayne (IPFW) — all of those teams pretty much return their whole roster and all their key players, so they’re going to be better. That means it’s going to be a little more competitive but I think we’ll be a little better too and we’re excited about that.

Q. How have things changed since you first started coaching 36 years ago?

A. When I first started here, I was considered full time swimming but I was also an assistant football coach for 15 years and then had the intramural program. We were pretty much a non-scholarship walk-on type of a program. Especially in the last six years since we moved to Division I, being funded, being able to recruit, and being able to get some good quality athletes, that’s probably the biggest change.

SDSU head swimming and diving coach Brad Erickson

Q. Of the 24 events for both men’s and women’s swimming and diving, 18 school records were set by the men’s team and 17 records were set by the women in the past two years. What does that say about the quality of program and athlete now at SDSU?

A. The biggest thing is you think every year ‘When is this going to stop?’. To break 18 and 17 records in two years is just unheard of. Like I said with the ability to recruit good athletes, since we got scholarship money, that’s giving us a chance to go out and get better and better athletes each year. Kids that came in four years ago, when they get to be seniors, some of them, if they had those same times as seniors i

Head baseball coach Dave Schrage

Editor’s note: Dave Schrage is the new Jackrabbits baseball coach. He takes over for Ritchie Price, who took an assistant coach job at Kansas. Schrage has 23 years of experience as a Division I head coach, most recently at Notre Dame. The Collegian caught up with him to see how things are going.

You went to Creighton and stayed around the midwest throughout your career, is knowing the area a boost to recruiting?

I think it is. This was a really nice fit for me to get the opportunity to come back [to the Midwest] because a lot of the recruiting bases I’ve used are in the past are from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and the Dakotas, so I was thankful for the opportunity and being able to keep those contacts going.

How are you liking SDSU and Brookings so far?

I love it. It’s exactly what I thought it would be: hard working players. Every day they bring their hard hat and lunch pale and [say] ‘let’s get after it’. Great support here, great leadership at our university from the president all the way down to our athletic director. Good vision for what we want to do and the type of school where our kids get a good education. I’ve only been here two months but I feel right at home.

Before you were hired, what were some of the things that excited you about SDSU baseball?

I think it’s one of the best kept secrets in college baseball right now. They’ve put together two quality seasons. Look through the rest of the teams in the country and see how many have won 65 games over the last two years– not many. So it’s a program that’s winning and it’s a great time to be here with only being in division one for six years. The vision of where we’re going and the leadership of how we’re going to get there. That’s what excited me about it because it’s a growing program that’s won already and we’re still in the infant stages. I think the Summit is a good league and we’ve been knocking at the door to win it.

How’d the fall season go?

It’s been great. I think the main thing is that we have a good core group of seniors who have played for three years. I told this team I’m not here to reinvent the game of baseball; they’ve had some success. I think you have to have three things to win: great team unity, great work ethic and you have to believe you’re going to win, and this group has that already. From a coaching perspective, we didn’t have to build those things into this group, so what we had to do was focus on what our weaknesses were last year and why are we just falling short.

You’ve been at some rebuilding programs, you now have a team that’s made three straight conference tournaments, how do you like your team’s chances at a fourth run?

The key to our ball club is the health of [pitcher] Layne Somsen. He was a big help to the team two years ago and we lost [Blake] Treinen from our club last year, one of our top pitchers. If Layne can step in and replace him then we’re not going to miss a beat. Besides Layne, we have Kolton Emery and Steve Bougher back in the rotation. I think we’re going to see some of our freshman pitchers who have had a good fall-JD Moore and Adam Bray- pitch a lot too.

What changes have you made since the end of last year, as far as improving the program goes?

We made a big step in the right direction by hiring our first full-time assistant coach in July, hiring Ty Eustice. We’re hoping that he brings that winning background and shares it with our wrestlers, so that they understand more of what kind of training mentality and lifestyle that is needed at this level to be successful.

Head wrestling coach Jason Liles

I think that we have some kids that are ready for that. It takes a lot of hard work and we have numerous kids, some of our older guys and some of our younger kids that will embrace that.

You brought in some kids in the last recruiting class that are highly touted recruits. Do you expect that some of those newcomers will start right away?

Some will. Some of our newcomers will be in there right away. We brought in 15 new kids and some will get in there and others will redshirt. The ones that will wrestle will be out of necessity, to fill in some weight classes and give ourselves some depth and the others will be redshirted.

Are there some guys who will be returning that you think will have a big year, based on their work in the offseason?

I think the two guys that are the closest and have the ability is our 125-pounder, who was ranked during the preseason, Aaron Pickrel, who was one match away from the national tournament in his first two years. Dustin Walraven redshirted last year as a junior but he was also one match away in each of the first two years. He redshirted last year to gain a little more experience and those two guys are capable of raising their level of performance yet.

The highlight meet for SDSU this year is having Nebraska at Frost Arena on Dec. 17. How important is a match like that to get at home?

We’ve had a home and home with Nebraska for a while and this will be the third time that we’ve had them here recently. It’s just great for our program and they’re in the Big Ten now and that’s a tougher conference than the Big XII and it just solidifies our program that we can bring in a Big Ten opponent. How many of our athletic teams are able to bring in a opponent like that and obviously women’s basketball and soccer have had success with that but overall, it’s pretty tough for those programs to come here because of our location. We’re super pleased to have them here and that will be our endowment meet and to have a nationally ranked team in our gym for that meet can do great things for our program.

You publicly stated last year that it was a rebuilding year for your team. Do you feel that you guys are coming out of that? 

The reality of all of that is that we’re still rebuilding. We have a lot of young kids and we think that we’ll take a big step this year and be much improved and competitive against our opponents. Things don’t happen overnight to be successful at this level and we just want to keep improving and that is really important to the overall growth of our program.

Q. What’s it been like going from an SDSU player, to assistant coach, to head coach?

A. It’s been nothing but exciting. When I came in as a player, Don was still getting the foundation set. Each year it has progressed. It’s been fun to see where the program has come from and where it’s going. It’s definitely a program where nothing but good things lie ahead, especially with the progression we’ve made the last three or four years.

Q. What kind of philosophy do you bring to the team?

A. This year we’re all about structure, character and commitment. We want kids that work hard and are getting better each and every day. We have a core group of kids that believe in that philosophy. We’re focused on the smaller goals, not the larger goals.

Q. You know the players on your team well, so how has the transition gone so far?

A. That’s been the best part is that I know the players coming in. I know the potential we have, I know the things we need to work on and like I said, it’s exciting. Knowing what each player is like individually, knowing their strengths and weaknesses and even knowing what makes them tick. With the group of guys and girls we have now, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Q. What are some of the goals of the program?

A. One goal is making the Summit League finals for the first time. That’s our first larger goal. In terms of achieving that goal, I think we have the pieces in place to do that. It’s not a hopes and dreams goal, its very realistic on both the men’s and women’s side.

Q. Are you going to continue the international recruitment of maybe look closer to home?

A. Ideally, what we want to do is turn this into the tennis team of the Midwest. It’s tough in the state of South Dakota getting tennis players. Sometimes we joke it’s like having a hockey team in Hawaii. The talent is definitely there, but we have to build that tradition in order for that Midwest talent to come here. We’re not deliberately thinking international or deliberately thinking Midwest.

Looking back now, how do you view that run you made at the end of the season and winning a third Summit League Championship?

It was really meaningful. Sometimes things throughout the year don’t go as easily as you would like or fall into place and this year’s team had some adversity. They were really able to find their stride and come together as a team and play some good basketball in February and March, so maybe it was a different path to get there but it ended up being the same great result.

What does the continued trips to the NCAA Tournament do for the notoriety of women’s basketball team at SDSU on a national level?

It just really validates your program as being a successful program, as opposed to having one good recruiting class. You look at Butler on the men’s side, they’ve been to two Final Fours, two National Championship games and it changes things. Now instead of Cinderella story, they’re a legitimate contender. We’re not at that point yet, in terms as Final Fours, but in terms of being a very competitive women’s basketball program in the Midwest. Being in the NCAA Tournament three years in a row really establishes that and that’s what so exciting about it and it just really helps move our program forward.

With more and more success each year, your name pops up as a replacement for other coaching jobs. How do you deal with those rumors and speculation?

One, I never really talk about job searches publicly, ever. That’s not to dispel rumors or confirm rumors. I just don’t ever really talk about and I don’t really think that there’s a place for those things in the media or in speculation. If there’s ever something that’s going to change, then there’s reason to talk about it. Until that point, I don’t really feel that it should be something that is public. Since I’ve been at SDSU, I’ve been approached by different places and none of them have really been public other than probably Green Bay. I would much rather prefer to always handle those situations in that way. I think that is important for our program, for the other program and that’s the way I would like to keep doing that. I think the fact that I’m still here and still enjoy it, says how much a lot about how much I like being here at SDSU. It’s a great place for my family, a great place for me professionally, it’s a place that is really invested in women’s basketball and made women’s basketball a priority. Those are the kinds of things that you look for in a good job and that’s why I enjoy being here.

You lose three seniors who have had tremendous success that has never been matched in school history. How will you deal with the graduation of those players?

I think that is a really good question. For me, it’s graduating Macie [Michelson], Jennifer [Schuttloffel], and Kristin [Rotert] but it’s also kind of the last of a three-year run of great players going back to Jenn Warkenthien, Stacie Oistad, Morgan Meier, Ashlea Muckenhirn and when they were seniors here and won 32 games here. Last year, we had Ketty [Cornemann] and Maria [Boever], a couple of thousand-point scorers. That’s a whole team right there. Now as we look to the future, we’ve had a lot of good role players who’ve been freshman and sophomores last year and this year and now as juniors and seniors are going to have to become the Kristin Rotert’s, the Ketty Cornemann’s, Maria Boever’s. Nobody’s really done that yet and they haven’t had to because they’ve always had those good seniors above them. Everyone’s going to have to change their mentality, not just because we lost this year’s three seniors but because the last three years, we’ve lost such great, talented players. We’re kind of changing the guard here and we’re really going to have to develop these players in the offseason and change how they approach it as well.

Of your signed recruits and incoming freshman, what can we look forward to see from those players in the future?

We really address some things that we’re going to be losing. Rachel Walters is another great shooter, similar to a Kristin Rotert, who has some size out on the perimeter. We don’t expect her to be Kristin but she plays a similar position at times. Mariah Clarin is just another really strong, athletic forward, who can hopefully fill in and add what Jennifer Schuttloffel did, what Maria Boever did, that kind of player. Megan Stuart is that kind of long, athletic wing player that can play a three or a four. We added three players that fit into those categories of players that we lost in the last couple of years and did their job to carry the load but they all fit those spots in our system.

The point guard position seems to point of uncertainty for many who follow the program? What are your early plans for that position?

I don’t mind saying it but it is a question mark because Macie’s been there for three years. Before she came in it was Andrea Verdegan and before that you had Heather Sieler who could it, so there was always that person who you knew you could give the ball to. This year’s team still has players who need to develop. I think Tara Heiser is a great candidate. I think Steph Paluch is a great candidate. Gabby Boever comes back next year after her redshirt year as a good candidate. Jill Young can do it; she’s one we would prefer not use there as much because I think she’s better at that off-guard spot but I know she can give us good minutes at that position. And there’s still a chance that we could add somebody who can help us at that position. We’ve got a lot of really good players there, we really do. It’s just really different because nobody’s seen these players be the starting point guard and until somebody’s done that and they can prove they can do that, it’s a question mark.

How are both Megan Waytashek and Gabby Boever coming along in the rehab of their injuries?

Gabby is 100 percent. She’s cleared now to do live, competitive things and she’s done that this spring. We haven’t gone five-on-five as a team since the season has ended. Next week, will be the first time that they will run up and down, playing five-on-five. She’s looked good and healthy. She’s a little rusty but healthy. Megan is actually rehabbing very well and is right on schedule. She’s not to the point where she’s able to run or cut but she’s getting close to that and we hope by the end of May and June, she’s able to do that and hopefully she’ll be able to do that.

Do you have any of your non-conference schedule finalized? I know you have the trip to Cancun on the schedule but do you have some of the other games set?

We have some contracted things but we’re just not ready to announce every thing. We have Kansas State, Washington State, Utah State, all coming back to Frost Arena. As of now, we hope to have something worked out with Marquette and a home and home. We go to Middle Tennessee and we go to Arkansas-Little Rock. We’re basically waiting on one contract that needs to be signed on the other end, so we’re almost done with it actually.

Finally, I would guess you are looking forward to next year. What has you excited about next year’s team?

It’s good and it’s bad. It’s tough because we’ve lost so many good players the last three years and we’ve really finally turned over a whole team of talented players. That’s a challenge because you still have question marks with players that still need to take a step forward. But that’s the exciting part. We’ll have good role players, who will have to evolve as they start to look around and don’t see some of those great seniors. I’m really excited to see those kids evolve into really great players.

Editor’s note: Lang Wedemeyer enters his 11th season as SDSU head soccer coach in 2011. We caught up with him to discuss the offseason, the Jacks’ schedule and the outlook for the year.

Q. How has the offseason training gone for your team in preparation for the 2011 season?

A. The spring season is going very well. The girls have worked extremely hard and they’ve lifting and running and doing all kinds of agility work with our strength and conditioning coaches. We’ve been training for a long period of time this winter, four or five mornings a week, before classes start and have had some good results in scrimmages so far.

Q. Talk about your 2011 recruiting class. It’s a small one but what do you foresee those players bringing to the team?

A. We’ve got a good mix of personality and we’ve got some kids who are really versatile and can play in a lot of positions. We’re hopeful that we’ll have a couple more recruits to announce here, as soon as we get the paperwork done. We’re excited about the people we anticipate adding to the recruiting class, as well.

Q. Your team brings back Cori Bonte, Kayla Braffet, Kelsey Ferguson, Steph Peterson on defense. How do you assess your talent and what do you see as the strengths of this team?

A. That core of players that you mentioned, they made up a good portion of a freshman class in 2008, when we made the NCAAs, won the Summit League, won the Summit League tournament, so they’ve got a taste of what it takes to get us back to that level and win some championships. I think they are very driven right now and we have some good senior leadership from Kelli Herman and Dani Neuhalfen as well. I think our leadership right now is very good and things are going very positive.

Q. Offensively, your team had a standout season in 2010. Do you think your team is capable of that again and what will it take to match that?

A. Yes, I think we definitely have some firepower. We’ll miss Danni Healy up front for sure, we’ll miss Kaitlin Justice and Tory Schiltgen and our other attackers. I feel that we’ve got some of our freshman that are coming up and moving along very well and I think some of our upperclassmen are starting to shine, players like Abby Jurgens and Brittany Sipp, so I’m very pleased with how we are improving across the board. I think that we’re going to continue to be a very exciting attacking team.

Q. SDSU has always been able schedule some local teams of interest.What does the 2011 schedule look like at this point?

A. It’s going to be as tough as ever. We have a home exhibition match against the University of Nebraska in August, which will be great and will be the first time they will come up here. We start with a home game against Creighton a week later and we will go to Minnesota on the Sunday of the first full weekend of the season, so we’re going to start off with three very good teams and three very good challenges and different teams in the way that they play. We’ve got Kansas again this year, Drake, Iowa State all on the schedule and that comprises a good portion of our non-conference schedule.

Q. Looking at the conference, what will this team have to do get over the hump and win the Summit League?

A. One of the things that happened this past season is that we were either very good defensively or very good offensively in any given game and we didn’t have either consistently enough during the year. There were some games where we were tremendous offensively and gave up a number of goals and then there were some games where we would be very solid but we wouldn’t score enough to put a team away. So my hope is that we’re able put the two together on a consistent basis, game in and game out and then I think the results will take care of themselves.

Phil Mcdaniels

Editor’s note: Phil McDaniel enters his first season SDSU head volleyball coach after Nanabah Allison-Brewer stepped down in January. We caught up with to discuss offseason workouts, next season’s outlook and coming back to Brookings.

Q. Are you excited to be back at SDSU?

A. Very excited. It’s only been three years, but there’s been a lot of change on campus and in the program. I wish we could start our season tomorrow.

Q. You’ve been on the job about three weeks now, what are your overall impressions of the program?

A. The players work hard. They come to practice with a positive mentality. They come into the gym and work hard every day. That’s certainly what we need to contend for the NCAA Tournament.

Q. How’s the offseason been going for you and the team?

A. It’s been going well so far. It’s only been three weeks, with a week of that being spring break. So now we’re going to get back in to things, and make a push to our competition portion of the spring. We’ll have a better feel for everything after we play our first tournament this weekend.

Q. You inherit a team that made it to the Summit League Tournament last year with many of the core players coming back. What are your expectations for the 2011 season?

A. I spoke about this when I came to interview with the team. I talked about our goal from day one, if I was to get the job here, would be to get ourselves to the Summit League Championship. Certainly we want to win that championship match, but our goal is to get there first, and let the chips fall where they may.

Q. While you were here as an assistant, you helped recruit Ellyce Youngren, Kelli Fiegen, and Emily Palmer. What are your thoughts on coming back to coach them after recruiting them?

A. It’s been great. I certainly got to know those players in a different way as I was recruiting them. I got to know them as an assistant coach. Now I get to come back and work with them as a head coach here. We have big plans for all three of them to help lead us back to the conference tournament.

Q. What kind of style can fans expect to see this fall when they come to Frost Arena?

A. I think they’ll be excited when they see it. It’s going to be a very explosive, offensive-based style. We’re going to dig a lot of balls, we’re going to block a lot of balls and we’re going to be very fast. It’s going to be up-tempo and it’s going to be something that, if you come out and watch once, I think you’ll be hooked. I think fans will really like the pace and they’ll really enjoy coming out and watching the team play.

Q. What are the keys to success this fall?

A. We need to be solid defensively. We need to be able to transition back in to our offense and stay in the system more often than not. It’s going to be about playing solid D, having a great pass, and then having the attackers up when they’re supposed to be up so they can put the ball away.