RAPID CITY, S.D. – To borrow a sports cliché, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

For the South Dakota Mines athletic department, the Hardrockers are consistently looking ahead after making the move from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II over 13 years ago.

South Dakota Mines was accepted into Division II in 2010 and began a three-year transition from the NAIA in 2011-2012. The Hardrockers became a full-fledged member of NCAA Division II starting the 2013-2014 school year.

The Hardrockers initially began as a D-II independent. In 2014, the Hardrockers were accepted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, with the football program joining the RMAC in 2016. The football program initially competed for two seasons in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the men's soccer program for one season.

Several Hardrockers Use D-2 Experience to Further Athletic Career

Moving from NAIA to Division II has allowed several South Dakota Mines athletes to continue their athletic careers on a professional level. They include former Hardrocker football stars Jakeb Sullivan, Jack Batho, Jeremiah Bridges, Adrian Eastman and basketball standouts Konor Kulas, Jack Fiddler as well as Kolten Mortensen.

Sullivan, a local product of St. Thomas More, came to South Dakota Mines after transferring from Northern State University. Now in his fourth season of playing football in Europe, the 2021 European League of Football champion and championship game MVP said playing football for the Hardrockers challenged him, on and off the field. 

"We played in one of the best D-II conferences in America with teams like Colorado State Pueblo and Colorado School of Mines," Sullivan said. "Aside from that, my teammates and I went to school at one of the most prestigious engineering schools in America. I wouldn't have had it any other way, because my time at South Dakota Mines taught me how to overcome tough situations. Tough times don't last, tough people do."

Sullivan joined the Hardrockers in its Division II infancy in 2014 and said he saw improvement in things such as facilities, staff (coaches, medical trainers and strength and conditioning), and overall culture.

"These are all important things which need to continue to improve in order for South Dakota Mines to compete at the D-II level," he said.

His career at South Dakota Mines was not a traditional one. He had to sit out his first year because Northern State did not grant his release. In his second year he split time at quarterback with Trent McKinney, a senior transfer from the University of Montana, as well as playing a little receiver, kick returner and punt returner. 

Sullivan won the starting job in 2016 and started well but tore his ACL against Colorado Mines and tried to play the next game. He eventually had surgery and had to sit out the rest of the season. He said his fourth year was interesting because they lost a lot of road games by a very close margin. The highlight of the year was when the Hardrockers beat Colorado Mines for the first time in school history.

In his fifth and final year, Sullivan said he told himself he would just try to have as much fun as he could. He finished his career by breaking 18 school records and going down as one of the top players in South Dakota Mines football history, completing 757-of-1,261 passes for 9,216 yards, 75 TDs and 43 interceptions. He rushed the football 423 times for 1,611 and 30 TDs.

"Still to this day, Coach Zachary Tinker is one of the best coaches I have had the pleasure of playing for and he really changed the way I perceived the game," said Sullivan, who graduated in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and engineering management.

Sullivan is going into his fourth year in the European League of Football as he will be joining the Berlin Thunder for the upcoming season. He spent the last three years with the Frankfurt Galaxy. The highlight of those three years was winning the championship as well as Offensive Player of the Year and Championship Game MVP in 2021.

Kulas was part of the Hardrocker basketball program in the early years of D-II basketball, playing for South Dakota Mines from 2012 to 2017. He left as the No. 8 scorer in team history with 1,478 points, although he was surpassed this past season by Aleandro Rama at 1,514 and stands in ninth place.

Kulas would go on to spend three seasons playing professional basketball in Germany and Australia. He said that playing at South Dakota Mines was huge for advancing his basketball career.

"I was able to play right away as a freshman, rather than going to another school where I wouldn't get minutes until later in my career," he said. "I also had the opportunity to play against really good RMAC players who would go overseas to continue playing and give me a good reference of what I would be able to do."

Kulas said there was a shift as they transitioned to D-11. They added a strength and conditioning position early in his career. Previously it was up to the individual sports coaches to also lead the weight room and off-season workouts. He said there was also an improvement in the level of recruiting.

"Towards the end of my career we were able to bring in some talented overseas players -- Marco Pascolo from Italy, Jake Heath from Australia as well as Logan Elers and Wilfred Dickson from New Zealand.

Kulas said he is a huge advocate for this level, especially at South Dakota Mines. He said the level of competition, paired with academics, is unmatched. He graduated from Mines with an industrial engineering degree and gives a "shout out" to his academic advisor, Carter Kerk, who he said helped guide me along the correct path.

A two-time All-RMAC performer, he decided to retire from professional basketball during Covid and "get a real job." He is now a Senior Project Engineer doing new product development at Kohler Company, which is a plumbing company back in his home state of Wisconsin. He turned to coaching this season as the JV boys' basketball head coach and assistant varsity coach for the Kohler Blue Bombers. His JV team was 21-1 and the varsity team was 25-3.

Kulas is getting married this summer and will have 10-plus former teammates and coaches in attendance.

"It will be great to have everyone back together. It's hard to express how appreciative I am to the South Dakota Mines community," he said. "I made so many lifelong connections and made so many great memories. I truly believe coming to Rapid City was the best decision I could have made to set up my future, athletically and for future career success."

Fiddler said playing D-II basketball at South Dakota Mines (2016-2019) was a fulfilling experience as an athlete. 

"Having four years of experience at the D-II level was very effective as a resume builder to allow me to play professional basketball," he said. "NCAA D-II basketball is known of and respected worldwide, so coaches are willing to give players like me an opportunity to go play overseas."

Fiddler said throughout his time at South Dakota Mines there was a better sense of comfort and routine as the program adjusted to the D-II level.

"My senior year was the first year we made the RMAC playoffs, which was a vast improvement from my sophomore year when we only won four games in the RMAC," he said. "It was clear that as the school became more established within the RMAC, we started attracting better recruits and winning more at the D-II level."

During his career as a Hardrocker, Fiddler never missed a game and shot a career 42.5% from 3-point land.

"I was never the highest scorer or high-profile player, but I was able to play professionally in Armenia for two years and extend my career as an efficient shooter," he said. "I believe that is a testament to the value of playing at the D-II level, that even without stats that jump off the page, I was given the opportunity to play overseas for multiple seasons."

Fiddler got a mechanical engineering degree from South Dakota Mines and will soon start his career as a mechanical engineer at Western Industrial Contractors. 

Mortensen came to South Dakota Mines in 2020 after spending two seasons at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. He played for the Hardrockers for three years with the Covid extra season.

"The D-II level felt like a step up when I arrived at South Dakota Mines," he said. "Coach (Eric) Glenn and Coach T (Roger Trennepohl) were huge in helping me develop my inside game and basketball IQ. Those skills really set me up to be able to transition to a professional role. I'm very thankful for my time at South Dakota Mines because without it I would have never been where I am today."

Mortensen graduated in May 2023 with a degree in industrial engineering and engineering management. He then got a job as a supplier quality engineer with L3 Harris in Salt Lake City, but in August 2023 he got the call to play professional basketball in Germany.

"I decided to follow the dream and come out here to Germany where I am currently playing for BBC Coburg," he said. "It's been an amazing experience and I hope to continue playing for as long as I am able to play." 

In his three years, the 6-foot-8 Mortensen was among the top scorers for the Hardrockers at 12.9 points a game, along with grabbing 6.8 rebounds per contest.

"I had a great experience playing D-II basketball," he said. "I feel that it doesn't get the credit it deserves from an outside viewer's perspective. A lot of people believe if you don't go D-1 that the sports won't be very competitive or fun to watch. But from my experience with D-II, I think it is great competitive basketball that can still lead to professional players." 

Differences from NAIA to Division II

Longtime broadcaster Tom Rudebusch has watched some outstanding athletes in basketball and football in his years at South Dakota Mines. 

Now with the school 13 years into its tenure at the Division II level, Rudebusch said the biggest difference now is the talent level.

"When we first decided to go D-II, none of our coaches had really recruited D-II athletes or had to try to compare a D-II athlete with a NAIA athlete," he said. "Especially in the last five years, the talent level has really increased on our teams, especially in football."
 
Early in the D-II days, Rudebusch said it appeared that there was somewhat of a lag in some of the athletes' understanding that South Dakota Mines was not at the NAIA level anymore. 

"A lot of athletes still didn't view us as a D-II school, and obviously that has changed in the last few years," he said. "The change in the schedule is another factor in that. Our coaches had not been through the rigors of the D-II schedule. In the NAIA you had a lot of games where you probably knew you were going to win before you even stepped out on the floor or field. In the RMAC, it is tough to win a game, let alone win on the road. It is just a competitive conference."

Getting the Best Student-Athletes Possible

South Dakota Mines head men's basketball coach Erich Glenn has been through the NAIA-NCAA Division II transition twice. The first time came at Chadron State College where he was an athlete – football and basketball – in NAIA, then coming on as an assistant basketball coach when the Eagles transitioned to NCAA Division II.

His second transition came at South Dakota Mines as a longtime assistant men's basketball coach under Jason Henry. Glenn took over as head coach before the 2018-19 season.

"A lot of it just comes down to, No. 1, being able to catch up in the scholarship area," he said. "When we were at Chadron, it was not quite as big for us because there were still some haves and have-nots, so to speak. There were a lot of have-nots like Western State and Fort Lewis. A lot of Colorado schools did not make the jump scholarship-wise right away. Some stayed that way until the last seven or eight years."

Glenn added that you had to put together your two tough classes with those scholarships because you weren't going to spread it out amongst four classes, and then you had to rebuild again.

At South Dakota Mines, he believes they have gotten ahead of that kind of curve considering they were joining a league that was already Division II for 25 years.

"You had all of these schools who had already had their opportunity to build and develop, and now they have added all of those non-football schools," he said. "Schools like Regis, Metro, Pueblo, they were already D-II (in basketball), but they were in their own league at that time."

Competing on the Field, Court, Course and track
The Hardrockers certainly had success on the NAIA level throughout the years before moving to Division II.
 
The men's basketball program won nine conference titles and had two national tournament appearances (1972-1973, 1996-1997). The women's program won 13 conference titles, 11 under head coach Barb Felderman, and made nine national tournament appearances (1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2001-02 and 2004-05). The Hardrocker women had eight Sweet 16 appearances and played in two title games (1998, 1999).
 
The volleyball program won seven conference titles, also under Felderman, and the Hardrocker football program won 14 SDIC titles.

In track and field in the NAIA era, the Hardrocker men were All-American in 11 events and the women in six events.

In Division II, it has been an up-and-down process, certainly with a slower start. Both basketball programs and the volleyball squad have now qualified for the RMAC Tournament in the last six seasons, with multiple individual all-conference performers in football and track and field. The Hardrocker volleyball team not only hosted a quarterfinal match for the first time, but they also won that match to play in the semifinals.

Glenn said in the early years of D-II, the biggest thing was the unknown of what it was going to take to be competitive.

"Any conference that you were away from, you forget what the feel was of a league or a level that you are playing at," he said. "For us, since we didn't get in the RMAC right away, we were the only independent west of the Mississippi. We were able to play some in the MAIAA – Kearney and Fort Hayes – but other than that we were going to Texas and playing Lone Star teams, which is one of the top conferences in the country."

Glenn said they had good players back in the NAIA days and early D-II days, but he thinks they just have more of them now. Now instead of finding a 6-foot-1, 6-2 guard that shoots 38 percent from the 3-point line, you can get that 6-4, 6-5 guard that can shoot 38-40 percent from 3.

"There might be a little more athleticism, but it is more the size of the kid you can get now," he said.            
                                      
It is no different at any level, Rudebusch said, as teams win with players. It all comes down to "recruiting, recruiting, recruiting."

"I think a lot of our football kids are really sold by the coaches and players when they come on campus. They do a wonderful job," he said. "They have a culture in their program that is a winning culture. It is a pretty tight-knit group. I think that comes from head coach Charlie Flohr and I think it comes from the coaching staff. "

The Future: Scholarships and Improving Facilities 

To keep moving forward, Glenn said they just have to keep recruiting the best athletes that fit in with what South Dakota Mines is all about; they are not a school that bends corners.

"They have to be strong in academics, especially in basketball because it is a two-semester sport," he said. "I'm not big on comparisons, but the top-level D-II schools probably have bigger staffs, and that gets you more people to get out there and recruit. But we're at a point now that we are finally getting in a good spot for us, we're making strides in the scholarship department."

In its second decade as a Division II athletics program, that's the goal. 

About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.