2023 - 2024 College Basketball

[southcliffbison]

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sport...-emporia-state

Former Bison Head Coach Tom Billeter leaving Augustana after 21 seasons

Coach Billeter heading south to Kansas (no, not that one). He will be the head coach of Emporia State, Emporia, Kansas. Looks to me like a lateral move; had to be a significant raise in pay. The only thing that I think of when Emporia, Kansas, is mentioned is that it's close to the site where legendary football coach Knute Rockne died in a plane crash March 31, 1931; he along with 7 others.

[NI4NI]

Maybe he has a Disc Golf fetish? I hear that's all the rage there.
Wow, so cutting edge.

[bruinbison]

I wondered if he has grandkids there or something…
Matt Zimmer says he will have a story next week.
Augie has an heir apparent hire happening, perhaps that has more to do with it?

Matt Zimmer
@MattJZimmer
·3h

And, of course, Cody Schilling was a huge part of that, too. The smartest basketball player I ever met, he was already like a coach when he was 21. He's the right person to take over the program.

[southcliffbison]

I wondered if he has grandkids there or something…
Matt Zimmer says he will have a story next week.
Augie has an heir apparent hire happening, perhaps that has more to do with it?

Cody Schilling has been named as successor to Billiter; was the logical choice to take over for TB ; he was Billiter's top assistant for the last couple of years; Very intense coach from what I observed the couple of times I watched Augie play this past winter. Good hire.

[Hammerhead]

If you want to see bad lighting, check out the D-II women’s championship game.

[bruinbison]

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanHoops

BREAKING: Drake has hired Division 2 Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum, sources told @THEFIELDOF68

McCollum is an Iowa native who has won four national titles (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022). He’s had other D-1 opportunities, but felt as though Drake was a perfect

[Tony Almeida]

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanHoops

BREAKING: Drake has hired Division 2 Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum, sources told @THEFIELDOF68

McCollum is an Iowa native who has won four national titles (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022). He’s had other D-1 opportunities, but felt as though Drake was a perfect

F**k! Whatever.

[MrAugustana]

So, Mr. Augustana, what's the deal behind Tom Billiter leaving for Emporia State? Pretty confident that he could have stayed at augie until he retired........and why Emporia State?

Sadly, I no longer have the inside scoop I used to have. Most of my connections have long since graduated and moved on. That being said, all I’ve heard is that he wanted a new challenge and it sounds like Emporia is putting a good amount of money and focus toward being a top tier athletic department, specifically in basketball. Not sure if the recent developments at Augie with hockey have impacted the athletic department’s focus on other sports, but I suppose I could see that being a part of it. I’ve had conversations with fans from a lot of the NSIC’s D1 hockey/D2 other sports schools, and the consensus seems to be that hockey becomes the top priority by a pretty wide margin. To be fair, Billeter hasn’t said that himself in any of the interviews I’ve seen/read so far though, I’m just speculating.

I do think Augie did the right thing in hiring Schilling to replace him. He’s been on staff for three years as an assistant and is an Augie legend, so it would have been a significant misfire to try to put someone else in that top spot following Billeter.

Maybe El_Chapo’s dreams will come true and Dave will look for a new challenge at a comparable low/mid-major school in the next few years too.

I will say that, whether by strategy or by luck, Billeter’s timing couldn’t be much better. With league-dominating coach Ben McCollum heading off to Drake, there’s a chance the MIAA will be open for the taking the next few years.

[southcliffbison]

Sadly, I no longer have the inside scoop I used to have. Most of my connections have long since graduated and moved on. That being said, all I’ve heard is that he wanted a new challenge and it sounds like Emporia is putting a good amount of money and focus toward being a top tier athletic department, specifically in basketball. Not sure if the recent developments at Augie with hockey have impacted the athletic department’s focus on other sports, but I suppose I could see that being a part of it. I’ve had conversations with fans from a lot of the NSIC’s D1 hockey/D2 other sports schools, and the consensus seems to be that hockey becomes the top priority by a pretty wide margin. To be fair, Billeter hasn’t said that himself in any of the interviews I’ve seen/read so far though, I’m just speculating.

I do think Augie did the right thing in hiring Schilling to replace him. He’s been on staff for three years as an assistant and is an Augie legend, so it would have been a significant misfire to try to put someone else in that top spot following Billeter.

Maybe El_Chapo’s dreams will come true and Dave will look for a new challenge at a comparable low/mid-major school in the next few years too.

I will say that, whether by strategy or by luck, Billeter’s timing couldn’t be much better. With league-dominating coach Ben McCollum heading off to Drake, there’s a chance the MIAA will be open for the taking the next few years.

Thank you for the post , much appreciate. I believe your statement about hockey impacting the emphasis placed on other sports is spot on. For Bison fans, we need only to gaze upon our illegitimate cousins to the north. Hockey gets the nice things, every other sport is 3rd trombone. Wish Cody Schilling much success. Good hire.

[MrAugustana]

Thank you for the post , much appreciate. I believe your statement about hockey impacting the emphasis placed on other sports is spot on. For Bison fans, we need only to gaze upon our illegitimate cousins to the north. Hockey gets the nice things, every other sport is 3rd trombone. Wish Cody Schilling much success. Good hire.

On the hockey note, a couple of days ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to this story from the school paper: https://www.augiemirror.news/2024/03...-hometown-team. I thought the quote from AD Josh Morton toward the middle of the article was pretty telling about athletics at Augie moving forward:

“[Going Division I] is still part of the strategic plan, but right now our complete focus is on, number one, the Division I hockey program and, number two, being the best Division II athletics department,” Morton said.

I’d imagine that’s not exactly music to the ears of the non-hockey coaches at Augie.