Dakota Wesleyan football coach Brad Pole resigned from the university Thursday afternoon. Pole went 31-39 in his seven seasons with the school.
Who was surprised to hear of this and is his resignation a good thing for the program? Will his departure set the football program back next year?
The Dakota Wesleyan football team lost its first game of the year Saturday. Morningside handed the Tigers a 28-26 defeat at Joe Quintal Field.
The Tigers were absolutely in this game. It’s the closest a Brad Pole-led team has ever gotten to beating the Mustangs. In his tenure with DWU, he’s 0-7 against Morningside. Today’s game could be the hardest loss to take, considering it is the first of the season and would have given the Tigers an impressive win in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
What were the highlights/frustrations/comments for those of you listening, watching or attending the game?
Through two games, the Dakota Wesleyan football team has put up 97 points and 886 yards of offense. That’s coming in a 56-20 win over Dakota State University and Saturday’s 41-17 stomping of Great Plains Athletic Coference foe Concordia University. And, to top it all off, the team is doing it with a beat up offensive line.
To those fans who have been to either of the Tigers’ games this year, what’s been more impressive, the fact that the offense has been so effecient, or that it is so efficent with a young, and injured o-line?
At one point Saturday, there were three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior protecting quarterback Jon Bane, who still threw for two touchdowns and 266 yards. Wideout Euedell Clayton said he thinks the team can have the best passing attack in the GPAC this year. Is that realistic? So far, so good.
Dakota Wesleyan President Bob Duffett said he believes Dakota State University — a Madison-based public school — should be allowed to join the Great Plains Athletic Confernce, which is home to 11 faith-based, private universities in South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Duffett said he’d like to initate a change to the conference’s constitution bylaws, which state only faith-based universities are eligible to be considered to join the GPAC, to allow DSU in the GPAC.
DSU would obviously be a great rivalry for Dakota Wesleyan and Duffett thinks a great fit for the GPAC. Mitchell and Madison are seperated by about an hour’s drive, and with the subtration of the University of Sioux Falls before this season, DWU and DSU would be the only GPAC football teams in the state.
Should DWU push to initiate a change in the GPAC’s consitition bylaws? Is DSU worthy of being in the conference? Why or why not?
The Dakota Wesleyan fall sports teams are going to get into full gear in the next couple weeks. Here’s what’s going on in the next two weeks for regular-season games:
The volleyball team is at a tournament in Billings, Mont., starting Friday. Here’s the schedule for that tournament: Friday at Rocky Mountain College tournament vs. Montana Tech, 4 p.m.; vs. University of Montana-Western, 6 p.m. in Billings, Mont. Saturday at Rocky Mountain College tournament vs. Rocky Mountain College, 9 a.m.; vs. Montana State University-Northern, 1 p.m. in Billings, Mont. After the Tigers travel to an early-season tournament, they’ll host the DWU Corn Palace Classic. Here’s the schedule for that: Friday, Sept. 2: vs.DickinsonStateUniversity, 10 a.m.; vs.YorkCollege, 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3: vs.ValleyCityStateUniversity, 2 p.m.; vs.DakotaStateUniversity, 6 p.m.
The men’s and women’s soccer teams also start on Friday against Jamestown College at the Pepsi Cola Soccer Complex. The women start at 3:30 p.m. and the men go at 6 p.m. The women also play Waldorf College at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Pepsi Cola Soccer Complex
On Wednesday, Aug. 3, the Wesleyan men and women’s golf teams are at Whispering Creek Golf Course in Sioux City, Iowa.
The cross country teams open Friday, Sept. 3 at the at Augustana College Invite in Sioux Falls.
And the football team travels about an hour northeast to Madison Saturday, Sept. 3 for its season opener against Dakota State. The game kicks off at 6 p.m.
Seth Tupper
lukehagen
Chris Huber