Top 5 potential candidates to replace Jimmy Rogers as South Dakota State football coach

After having the same head coach for 25 years, South Dakota State is now in search of a new coach just two seasons later.

Jimmy Rogers, who led the team to a 27-3 record and a national championship after succeeding John Stiegelmeier, is moving on to become the head coach at Washington State. He replaces another former Stiegelmeier assistant, Jake Dickert, who left to coach at Wake Forest.

SDSU athletic director Justin Sell often mentions that he has a list of potential candidates ready for coaching changes, but this situation may be a bit more complicated. Rogers is expected to take his staff with him to Pullman, and there isn’t an obvious candidate within the current staff.

Many fans assume that Sell would prefer to promote from within, or, if that’s not feasible, to hire someone with a connection to the program.

Maybe. But this feels like a time to cast a wide net and consider candidates from outside the program, too.

Here’s a list of 15 candidates. If you’ve been following my work for awhile you know I have a pretty good track record with these, but I want to make clear, here. I would not at all be surprised or embarrassed if the eventual SDSU football coach isn’t one of these 15 guys.

I’m not going to speculate about assistant coaches I know nothing about from programs I don’t cover. Maybe there’s a position coach in the Big Ten or SEC or the NFL who wants the job. That could very well be the case. So keep that in mind while reading this list.

There’s already been plenty of hand-wringing about Rogers leaving the program in the dust. Not only is that not really fair, let me assure you, the Jacks program is going to be fine.

Will they take a step back? Almost certainly. Star receiver Griffin Wilde announced he’s entering the transfer portal on Saturday and more are sure to follow.

But the Jacks still have all the pieces in place to win and win big. Remember, the FCS doesn’t have a ton of great contenders right now. Unless SDSU isn’t able to hang on to any of their players I’d expect them to be back in the playoffs next year (keeping pace with USD and NDSU may be another story, at least in the short term).

Anyway, here are 5 candidates

5) Zach Lujan, offensive coordinator, Northwestern

My sources say Lujan is a popular choice among players and administration. But he’s reportedly making about a half-million a year at Northwestern and has only been there for one season. He’d be taking a pay cut to come back and he may not be ready to be a head coach yet, either.

Then again, he’s an extremely bright and mature young coach. His players at SDSU loved him. He’s also an alum and Northwestern went 4-8 this year. The Wildcats face a big challenge in the expanded Big Ten. Maybe Lujan could decide it would be better for his career to come back to Brookings to take his first head coaching gig to better serve a later climb up the ladder.

4) Jerry Olszewski, head coach, Augustana

I’m well aware that SDSU fans will oppose the idea of a national championship FCS team hiring a Division II coach, particularly one that used to be an inferior rival, but these are unique circumstances under which it does make a little more sense.

3) John Stiegelmeier, retired former SDSU coach

If Rogers were leaving to, say, be the defensive coordinator at Georgia or something and not taking anyone with him, I would go as far out of my way as I could to make the case that bringing back Stig for a year or two would be the right decision. He could slide right back into the same role he had near the end of his career — the guy who coaches the coaches — and groom a potential successor.

But if almost the entire staff is gone, that seems like an awful daunting task, asking the soon-to-be 68-year old to come in and build a staff from scratch and try to retain/rebuild the roster.

That said, Stig didn’t really want to retire when he did (he stepped aside to prevent Rogers from leaving for the D-coordinator job at Washington State), he’s stuck at 199 career wins and while he’s content in retirement he also might be a little bored. It wouldn’t be a bad direction to go.

2) Jed Stugart, head coach, Lindenwood

The former USF coach has gone 41-38 in seven seasons at Lindenwood, a newcomer to the FCS level. He had a close relationship with John Stiegelmeier and keeps close tabs on the South Dakota football scene. A former country music singer, the 54-year-old Stugart has the kind of charisma and personality to help sell tickets, raise money and win over fans and recruits.

But perhaps more importantly, the guy knows how to take over a successful program and keep it running. He replaced Kalen DeBoer in 2010 after DeBoer had just won his second consecutive (and third overall) national championship. DeBoer left USF with a 67-3 record, his top two assistants (Chuck Morrell and Kurtiss Riggs) also left and so did dozens of star players.

Stugart stepped in and reloaded the roster quickly, taking USF right back to the national championship game and eventually up to the Division II level where they immediately became playoff contenders.

1) Zach Zenner, former SDSU running back

I’m mostly joking with this one, but there is a sudden trend of hiring former star players with little coaching experience. The idea seems to be that celebrity coaches sell tickets, attract donors and impress recruits.

Zenner has been working as an agent since his five-year NFL career ended, he’s got a genius intellect and, much like Rogers, is a much funnier and personable guy in person than he sometimes comes across on camera.

Who’s to say he couldn’t build something special?