He may be retired. He may no longer be in charge of the FCS football powerhouse he built. 

But former South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier has certainly not vanished from the Dykhouse complex.

In his first Happy Hour interview since reacting to successor Jimmy Rogers leaving and taking his whole staff and over a dozen SDSU players with him, "Stig" gives his observations and stories about:

• The five SDSU spring football practices he attended
• Dan Jackson as a head coach
• Trip to Northwestern to see former Jackrabbits Zach Lujan (offensive coordinator), Christian Smith (defensive line coach) and Griffin Wilde (wide receiver)
• Recent family vacation to Central America 
• Communication with Jimmy Rogers since Rogers took over Washington State

The Head Coach Emeritus who guided SDSU to the 2022 national title in the final game of his 25-year run sizes up expectations for the 2025 squad full of new players and an entirely new staff, made partly of familiar faces.

And, yes, Stig offers plenty of insight and opinion on NIL, the transfer portal, how it affects SDSU and all FCS teams, and what it takes to succeed in this era.

It's May, which brings with it May baskets, May flowers, and memorable Augustana baseball postseason runs. (Augie softball for that matter, too.)

The Vikings begin their quest for a fifth NSIC tournament title and ninth NCAA Div. II Tournament berth, and second national championship on Tim Huber's watch at The Birdcage on Wednesday evening.  

Six players have been drafted by Major League teams and 28 have been named All-America since Huber in 2009 after a few years as a junior college coach in the Twin Cities. Facilities and player talent have blossomed to become top-shelf at the Div. II level in those 16 years, a result of what what Huber calls "no secret sauce, just hard work."

The Belle Plaine, Minn., native walks us through that labor of love story, starting from humble beginnings on the Augie campus. A wooden fence, of all things, opened the floodgates and led to the mountain top in 2018.

Huber re-lives that remarkable run, and how it both changed things yet didn't. The Vikings haven't recaptured the ultimate prize, but have won the third-most games of any Div. II team in the nation in the last seven years.

How does Huber do it, what challenges do (or will) NIL and the transfer portal present his sport at his level, and how does he look back on Augie seeking — but ultimately not finding — Div. I status back in 2019-20?

He sat down with Happy Hour host John Gaskins at Gateway Lounge for an hour-long conversation to unpack his 16 years of success.

Before that, John recaps the Wolves buzzkill belly flop in Game 1. If the Warriors will win this series, will we consider that epic failure worthy of induction into the Minnesota Pro Sports Pantheon of Misery? John also gives reasons why Game 2 should be a bounce back — or not.

It's May, which brings with it May baskets, May flowers, and memorable Augustana baseball postseason runs. (Augie softball for that matter, too.)

The Vikings begin their quest for a fifth NSIC tournament title and ninth NCAA Div. II Tournament berth, and second national championship on Tim Huber's watch at The Birdcage on Wednesday evening.  

Six players have been drafted by Major League teams and 28 have been named All-America since Huber in 2009 after a few years as a junior college coach in the Twin Cities. Facilities and player talent have blossomed to become top-shelf at the Div. II level in those 16 years, a result of what what Huber calls "no secret sauce, just hard work."

The Belle Plaine, Minn., native walks us through that labor of love story, starting from humble beginnings on the Augie campus. A wooden fence, of all things, opened the floodgates and led to the mountain top in 2018.

Huber re-lives that remarkable run, and how it both changed things yet didn't. The Vikings haven't recaptured the ultimate prize, but have won the third-most games of any Div. II team in the nation in the last seven years.

How does Huber do it, what challenges do (or will) NIL and the transfer portal present his sport at his level, and how does he look back on Augie seeking — but ultimately not finding — Div. I status back in 2019-20?

He sat down with Happy Hour host John Gaskins at Gateway Lounge for an hour-long conversation to unpack his 16 years of success.

How can you not have Minnesota Timberwolves fever, especially on the precipice of a showdown full of stars, storylines, and bad blood between the Wolves and Golden State Warriors?

Jimmy Butler — whose belligerence and self-engineered exit eventually sunk the squad into the abyss — returns to face unruly Target Center fans, not to mention the superstar who has lifted the Wolves from that abyss, Anthony Edwards.

Steph Curry — a Hall-of-Famer who has spearheaded four NBA titles in the Bay Area while the Wolves have mostly wallowed in misery — returns to face the team that passed him over twice in the 2009 Draft. 

Then, there's the Big Man Battle Royale with Rudy Goebert and Draymond Green, who choked Goebert in a game last year and trash-talked him from his pulpit on the TNT set. To add to the spice: ANT said publicly before the season started he couldn't wait to face the Warriors in the playoffs because Green "talks so much trash." 

John Gaskins and Matt Zimmer carve into the carnival to lead off this week's "Nobody's Listening Anyway" from Gateway Lounge, then take a stab at what to make of the tepid but not terrible Minnesota Twins. How much life will the returning-from-injury Royce Lewis give them? The latest heroics of Byron Buxton lead to this discussion:

Is Buxton the most electrifying Twins player of all time? Does he belong on the Mount Rushmore of Most Electrifying Minnesota Pro Sports Athletes of the last 30 years? Which Wolves and Vikings players make that cut?

Closer to home, what is there to make of the recently-announced partnership between the Summit League and Missouri Valley Conference, with the commissioner of the latter league taking over as commissioner of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Summit League leader Josh Fenton being tabbed "Executive Advisor" in the MVFC?

Finally, South Dakota State's 2025 season opening football opponent has an even more turned-over roster than the Jackrabbits, and the Augusta baseball and softball teams are heating up as the calendar flips to May. Why have the Vikings been so consistently successful in those diamond sports for over a decade?

Twin Cities sports fans are waaaaaaay luckier than they think they are — at least, for what they get to see right now.

In fact, this week, next door to each other, will be two of the most electric Minnesota pro sports athletes of all time. Not two of the best, but two of the best at being drop-your-jaw, take-your-breath-away electrifying.

Anthony Edwards and Byron Buxton make up half of Happy Hour host John Gaskins' "Mount Rushmore of Electric Minnesota Pro Sports Athletes of the last 30 years. 

ANT is obvious, with the way he is taking the NBA by storm the last couple of clutch playoff runs. Buxton? He's heating up the last couple weeks, including a first-pitch leadoff homer in Boston in the Twins one-run series-clinching win, and a diving catch to save a win two weeks ago.

No Twins player has electrified more in the last 30 years, not even Joe Mauer, with the speed, athleticism, and different ways to blow your mind and impact close games.

So, who are the other two electric Twin Cities athletes on that Mount Rushmore? Find out. (Hint: They're both Vikings)

Also, John previews the wonderful Wolves-Warriors playoff series with his prediction and some compelling clips from ANT and head coach Chris Finch.

Today's Guest - Trent Singer (Sioux Falls Live)

There are so many awesome athletes, coaches, and sporting events happening in the Sioux Falls area that it is tough to keep track. But, Sioux Falls Live reporter Trent Singer always finds away to mine for gold and find it with his storytelling. So, Trent was a perfect guest on a Monday following the 100th edition of the prestigious Howard Wood Dakota Relays, Augustana softball's latest NSIC tourney title and NCAA Tournament berth — were they hosed out of a No. 1 seed and hosting a regional? — and the Minnesota Wild's latest playoff collapse.  Plus, Trent lists his biggest takeaways from the massively-attended Sanford Sports Academy high school football combine and offers his own Mount Rushmore of "electrifying Minnesota pro sports athletes." And, if you were in the mood for random trivia about the band The Go-Go's, you're in luck. Trent didn't provide it. John subjected him, and you, to it. You're welcome! 

There are so many awesome athletes, coaches, and sporting events happening in the Sioux Falls area that it is tough to keep track. But, Sioux Falls Live reporter Trent Singer always finds away to mine for gold and find it with his storytelling.

So, Trent was a perfect guest on a Monday following the 100th edition of the prestigious Howard Wood Dakota Relays, Augustana softball's latest NSIC tourney title and NCAA Tournament berth — were they hosed out of a No. 1 seed and hosting a regional? — and the Minnesota Wild's latest playoff collapse. 

Plus, Trent lists his biggest takeaways from the massively-attended Sanford Sports Academy high school football combine and offers his own Mount Rushmore of "electrifying Minnesota pro sports athletes."

And, if you were in the mood for random trivia about the band The Go-Go's, you're in luck. Trent didn't provide it. John subjected him, and you, to it. You're welcome! 

You will want to run through a brick wall after you've heard the conversation with Friday's Happy Hour guest.

No, seriously. While "run through a brick wall" is an overused sports cliche, if anyone can make you feel it, it's Augustana football coach Jerry Olszewski, more commonly known as "Coach O.J."

How can a human Energizer bunny be so animated, so positive, such a compelling storyteller, and yet so humble and down-to-earth at the same time?

Find out in this 75-minute conversation that walks through a fascinating football life — from Wisconsin to California back to Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota — that started a short drive from one of football's cathedrals — Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Through Green Bay Packers fandom and a Norman Rockwell youth sports childhood, O.J. knew he wanted to be a coach by age 10, but his route to becoming a championship college football head coach was anything but a primrose path. It included walking away from his career and the game  after being passed over for what he thought would be his first head job.

Now in his 12th year at Augie, O.J. is the program's winningest coach, first to win back-to-back conference titles and first to truly make the Vikings a consistent regional powerhouse.

How did he do it? It started with Ham — C.J. Ham, the Minnesota Vikings captain who has a pizza named after him at Sunny's Pizzeria, two blocks from the Augie campus, where OJ ponied up for a poigant pigskin pow wow with host John Gaskins.

The chat started with some Hammer Time.

Before that, John winds things up for the Energizer Bunny by asking South Dakota State football fans if they've ever been more super-charged to see a Jackrabbit quarterback start and be "QB1" for the first time than uber-athlete Chase Mason.

If you think that assertion may be a little overhyped, hear what Dan Jackson, Quinten Christensen, and Matt Zimmer have to say about Mason's talent and potential. 

You will want to run through a brick wall after you've heard this conversation.

No, seriously! Yes, "run through a brick wall" is an overused sports cliche, but if anyone can make you feel it, it's Augustana football coach Jerry Olszewski, more commonly known as "Coach OJ."

How can a human Energizer bunny be so animated, so positive, such a compelling storyteller, and yet so humble and down-to-earth at the same time?

Find out in this 75-minute conversation that walks through a fascinating football life — from Wisconsin to California back to Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota — that started a short drive from one of football's cathedrals — Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Through Green Bay Packers fandom and a Norman Rockwell youth sports childhood, OJ knew he wanted to be a coach by age 10, but his route to becoming a championship college football head coach was anything but a primrose path. It included walking away from his career and the game professionally after being passed over for what he thought would be his first head job.

Now in his 12th year at Augie, OJ is the program's winningest coach, first to win back-to-back conference titles and first to truly make the Vikings a consistent regional powerhouse.

How did he do it? It started with Ham — C.J. Ham, the Minnesota Vikings captain who has a pizza named after him at Sunny's Pizzeria, two blocks from the Augie campus, where OJ ponied up for a poigant pigskin pow wow with host John Gaskins. And the chat started with some Hammer Time.

Things certainly feel different in South Dakota State's football program — at least the personality of the head coach and staff and therefore the atmosphere of spring football.

Happy Hour host John Gaskins and Sioux Falls Live SDSU reporter Matt Zimmer compare notes of their recent interviews with quarterback Chase Mason and offensive lineman Quinten Christensen and wax poetic about the "vibe" of the program and how it will serve the Jacks in what feels like a year of upcoming uncertainty, considering all the new players and coaches. 

While Mason has the "rocket" arm and undeniable athletic prowess, USD's Aiden Bouman brings unmatched experience into the MVFC and FCS national race that gives them an "edge" against other FCS powers, according to local football guru Kurtiss Riggs. 

Both USD and SDSU saw multiple players sign NFL undrafted free agent deals, but is there one local player that feels like he has the best chance to make a roster? What do we make of the Vikings' first-round choice and the trade that made Sam Howell the backup quarterback? (Hint — we don't think an Aaron Rodgers drop-in is still out of the question).

Finally, what does the Timberwolves' 4-1 series win over the Lakers say about both teams?

Also, find out how a guy named Seymour Weiner and TV legends Beavis & Butthead wove into the fabric of today's discussion.

Meet The Conquistadors of the South Dakota State football program, and how they conquistadored.  When head coach Jimmy Rogers, his entire staff, and over a dozen players left South Dakota State for Washington State in late December, two SDSU players who refused to become "Washington State Jackrabbits" turned into recruiting generals to salvage the roster before Dan Jackson was hired and in the days Jackson had no staff. Quarterback Chase Mason and offensive lineman Quentin Christensen mapped out and conquered what SDSU is now, and spend most of this interview describing how they did it and what the program has become in the last few months, including spring football. What you'll learn — the culture is the same, but different. How does that make sense? Find out. What kind of personality has Dan Jackson and staff — particularly offensive coordinator Eric Eidsness and defensive coordinator Brian Bergstrom — have established with the players?  Which players raised eyebrows throughout the spring, particularly transfers and new ones who haven't seen the field yet? What kind of overtures do players like Mason and Christensen get from FBS schools, and why do they say "no." And for a new staff and team full of new starters, what is the goal for 2025 of a program used to aiming for the top?

Before those 48 minutes with The Conquistadors, host John Gaskins walks through the Minnesota Wild's punch-to-the-gut overtime playoff loss. Don't blame replay, blame the replayed.

There's a new name in the pantheon of Minnesota pro sports athletes who fans will forever say in vein:

NYQUIST!