Rogers to WSU - next man up

[discoDancinRabbit]

Still think everything was all kosher with how this went down?

As a fan? No I think Jimmy is a total douche.

But What are you going to do, sue him? I think you just pat him on the back and pray sdsu can kick his teams ass down the road.

[LetsGoRabbits]

Who cares what his stats are. Put him in the Jackrabbit hall of fame right now.

i am with you 100% him and Quinton both! wave the waiting period! wave the rule about needing to be finished playing! i can hear Tyler now, starting at QB and LT for your Jackrabbit FB team Hall of Famers Chase Mason and Quinten Christenson

[LetsGoRabbits]

"One thing is for sure.... Chase Mason is the man!"

a lot of what he says are the things SDSU has been to me for my whole life. feels great to know that our athletes feel that too

Chase is proving to be a special person, and there are others too!!

Justin Sell absolutely has to be getting LOTS of offers. people obviously can see the success we have with funding and building and obviously a TON of success on the fields, courts, mats, tracks, etc... instead of thinking oh well maybe time for me to start weighing my options OH NO he passes out his phone number and goes out and gets a great coach and a bunch of other coaches who are legit candidates to be head coaches to come in and be assistants!!!

Dan Jackson clearly had to leave money on the table to leave UNM and throw himself in the middle of a scenario where he might be losing the majority of experienced players and most of the incoming recruits

those guys are at the top of the list, but I feel pretty sure that all the assistants who are coming back in some way or other WANTED to come back because SDSU matters to them and they have no intention of letting this become a second tier program.

i can NOT understand why Jimmy made the choice to do it this way. but Jimmy time is over. we had people who could have been celebrated forever as legends but they dont want to be with us. we are blessed to have a bunch of INCREDIBLE people who DO want to be here. LETS GO RABBITS!!!!

p.s. there aint no such thing as a washington state jackrabbit... how appropriate that all of them get to wear red now

[jbjack]

Additions from Chase Mason and Gaskins interview --- cliff notes version this time (well.... some quotes still!).

He was contacted by both Kraft and McCormick too. Kraft was pretty upset about this whole situation... SDSU meant a whole lot to him, and didn't want to see it go like that. McCormick called Chase several times; McCormick was fully on board with calling a bunch of guys too --- and was pushing to get the collective going more, including reaching out to NFL former-Jacks too for money.

Didn't know Dan Jackson prior, but has heard great things. Players had also heard right away Jackson and Christian Smith were front runners. Chase and Jackson clicked immediately.

Chase was committed to returning regardless of who the coach was. He had faith in Justin Sell to hire the right person, and someone that has been here before. Jackson told Chase he appreciated keeping the guys together and giving him a chance.

Comments on Eidsness molding and designing the offense around the guys they have.

Chase tried talking to Angel every day, to convince him to come back... run it back and be like high school again. Angel felt following the coaches to WSU would help him get to the next level. "I don't fault him for anything for making that decision. I mean, it's his life, he can do what he wants. It's his decision." Still excited for young guys coming up, and potential transfers coming in. Trusting Jackson to find the right guys.

Good returning OL, talented young freshman. Lofton O'Groske is going to be a huge playmaker... did a great job stepping into his role this year... body control is crazy.... Chase talked to him a lot. Excited for Goering to return too.

Running back position is interesting. Begeman getting an opportunity will be great. Renfro getting an opportunity will be good too. Excited for young TE's, some that never saw action due to injury. "Delahoyde, who is an athletic freak, all I saw was him making plays on scout team all last year, I can't wait to throw to him. We have plenty of talent. We'll be fine."

Gaskins - comments on coyote and bison fans licking their chops... but how motivated is Chase after facing all this?

Chase - "I've been super motivated ever since this whole thing started. Because ever since I didn't think it was the right thing for Coach Rogers to do, is go there and try to take the whole team with him, something didn't really sit right with me. I've been ultra motivated trying to keep guys here. I don't really care what anybody thinks about SDSU football on the outside. I just know what guys are coming back, and what we're going to have next year. It's going to be something special to watch. Just how motivated guys are going to be, and how close we're going to be just from this whole thing is going to be super exciting to watch. It's just a feel thing, guys just playing together for each other. It's something different you can't just coach."

Discussion on what he's learned from Mark Gronowski. Of course he's extremely complimentary of him as both a person and football player.

Gaskins flat out asks, "By the way, are you mad at Jimmy? How do you feel about Jimmy?"

Chase: "*pause* Ummm, *pause*... I wouldn't say, ahh I dunno... I wouldn't say mad... definitely not the happiest person about the whole situation though. Even about the whole coaching staff that left. I just felt like it's not the right thing to do for somewhere you've been 19 years or something like that. I understand people leaving, but I just don't feel it was the right thing to do. I use the term, if they weren't with us, then they're going to be against us... so that's what turned around... them trying to recruit guys to go there, and us, me, Q [Quentin Christensen], and a couple other guys trying to keep them back..... ....it just didn't sit right with me. I've always been a loyal person, I just didn't feel it was the right thing to do - especially since they've always been the guys to tell us not to leave for money, then they go turn around and do that, and leave for the money and better position. SDSU just meant way too much to me, more than anything I could ever put to numbers as far as money."

Gaskins brings up Jimmy's NIL offer, and if the Jacks are giving him some now too.

Chase: "I mean, I'm not the type of guy that's going to ask for a boatload of money to stay. I just wanted to have a little bit to be comfortable, ya know? It's nothing close to the number the Power-5 schools are going to offer and throw out to guys. I know Quentin got offered a bunch of money, a bunch of guys got offered a bunch of money throughout the playoffs - which is technically illegal for other schools to do that. I don't know... it's just the landscape of college football right now. It takes a special group of guys to just say no to stuff like that. At the end of the day, the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Gaskins - asking about his recruitment to Fresno State by Kalen DeBoer. "Why did you say no to him?"

Chase - got recruited by him out of high school. It was weird with Covid at that time, everything was virtual... weird time to get recruited in general. At that time, decided to play baseball, and couldn't go that far from home. Even Lincoln felt far at times. When he went into the portal to go to SDSU, DeBoer recruited him again briefly before committing to SDSU - a week later he got the Washington job. Didn't mention or hint any possibility of that to Chase.

Gaskins -"Can you put into words exactly the Jackrabbit experience, and why that upholds for you? Why you think it's going to continue to make South Dakota State successful, what makes it special?"

Chase: "At the end of the day, it's the people that make it special, whether that's from the community of Brookings, to the Administration, to the guys that play football there, to the JFPA. I feel like SDSU football has one of the biggest followings of the community around, how much people genuinely care about the guys that are there. There's something special about that. You're not going to get that anywhere else in the country I feel like. Any coach is going to try to tell you certain things to get you recruited there, but what I was telling Q... players are what makes the place special. It's not the coaches... You can have great coaches and everything, but the players and the community around SDSU football is what makes the place special. That's what I felt was the turning point for me - for I want to stay and try to keep everyone together."

Who cares what his stats are. Put him in the Jackrabbit hall of fame right now.

[RahRahRabbits]

Additions from Chase Mason and Gaskins interview --- cliff notes version this time (well.... some quotes still!).

He was contacted by both Kraft and McCormick too. Kraft was pretty upset about this whole situation... SDSU meant a whole lot to him, and didn't want to see it go like that. McCormick called Chase several times; McCormick was fully on board with calling a bunch of guys too --- and was pushing to get the collective going more, including reaching out to NFL former-Jacks too for money.

Didn't know Dan Jackson prior, but has heard great things. Players had also heard right away Jackson and Christian Smith were front runners. Chase and Jackson clicked immediately.

Chase was committed to returning regardless of who the coach was. He had faith in Justin Sell to hire the right person, and someone that has been here before. Jackson told Chase he appreciated keeping the guys together and giving him a chance.

Comments on Eidsness molding and designing the offense around the guys they have.

Chase tried talking to Angel every day, to convince him to come back... run it back and be like high school again. Angel felt following the coaches to WSU would help him get to the next level. "I don't fault him for anything for making that decision. I mean, it's his life, he can do what he wants. It's his decision." Still excited for young guys coming up, and potential transfers coming in. Trusting Jackson to find the right guys.

Good returning OL, talented young freshman. Lofton O'Groske is going to be a huge playmaker... did a great job stepping into his role this year... body control is crazy.... Chase talked to him a lot. Excited for Goering to return too.

Running back position is interesting. Begeman getting an opportunity will be great. Renfro getting an opportunity will be good too. Excited for young TE's, some that never saw action due to injury. "Delahoyde, who is an athletic freak, all I saw was him making plays on scout team all last year, I can't wait to throw to him. We have plenty of talent. We'll be fine."

Gaskins - comments on coyote and bison fans licking their chops... but how motivated is Chase after facing all this?

Chase - "I've been super motivated ever since this whole thing started. Because ever since I didn't think it was the right thing for Coach Rogers to do, is go there and try to take the whole team with him, something didn't really sit right with me. I've been ultra motivated trying to keep guys here. I don't really care what anybody thinks about SDSU football on the outside. I just know what guys are coming back, and what we're going to have next year. It's going to be something special to watch. Just how motivated guys are going to be, and how close we're going to be just from this whole thing is going to be super exciting to watch. It's just a feel thing, guys just playing together for each other. It's something different you can't just coach."

Discussion on what he's learned from Mark Gronowski. Of course he's extremely complimentary of him as both a person and football player.

Gaskins flat out asks, "By the way, are you mad at Jimmy? How do you feel about Jimmy?"

Chase: "*pause* Ummm, *pause*... I wouldn't say, ahh I dunno... I wouldn't say mad... definitely not the happiest person about the whole situation though. Even about the whole coaching staff that left. I just felt like it's not the right thing to do for somewhere you've been 19 years or something like that. I understand people leaving, but I just don't feel it was the right thing to do. I use the term, if they weren't with us, then they're going to be against us... so that's what turned around... them trying to recruit guys to go there, and us, me, Q [Quentin Christensen], and a couple other guys trying to keep them back..... ....it just didn't sit right with me. I've always been a loyal person, I just didn't feel it was the right thing to do - especially since they've always been the guys to tell us not to leave for money, then they go turn around and do that, and leave for the money and better position. SDSU just meant way too much to me, more than anything I could ever put to numbers as far as money."

Gaskins brings up Jimmy's NIL offer, and if the Jacks are giving him some now too.

Chase: "I mean, I'm not the type of guy that's going to ask for a boatload of money to stay. I just wanted to have a little bit to be comfortable, ya know? It's nothing close to the number the Power-5 schools are going to offer and throw out to guys. I know Quentin got offered a bunch of money, a bunch of guys got offered a bunch of money throughout the playoffs - which is technically illegal for other schools to do that. I don't know... it's just the landscape of college football right now. It takes a special group of guys to just say no to stuff like that. At the end of the day, the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Gaskins - asking about his recruitment to Fresno State by Kalen DeBoer. "Why did you say no to him?"

Chase - got recruited by him out of high school. It was weird with Covid at that time, everything was virtual... weird time to get recruited in general. At that time, decided to play baseball, and couldn't go that far from home. Even Lincoln felt far at times. When he went into the portal to go to SDSU, DeBoer recruited him again briefly before committing to SDSU - a week later he got the Washington job. Didn't mention or hint any possibility of that to Chase.

Gaskins -"Can you put into words exactly the Jackrabbit experience, and why that upholds for you? Why you think it's going to continue to make South Dakota State successful, what makes it special?"

Chase: "At the end of the day, it's the people that make it special, whether that's from the community of Brookings, to the Administration, to the guys that play football there, to the JFPA. I feel like SDSU football has one of the biggest followings of the community around, how much people genuinely care about the guys that are there. There's something special about that. You're not going to get that anywhere else in the country I feel like. Any coach is going to try to tell you certain things to get you recruited there, but what I was telling Q... players are what makes the place special. It's not the coaches... You can have great coaches and everything, but the players and the community around SDSU football is what makes the place special. That's what I felt was the turning point for me - for I want to stay and try to keep everyone together."

[jbjack]

Ok parents twitter posts. Doubt they have all the details of contracts and what not.

Treachery as in being a traitor. Like a bodyguard attacking the person they are supposed to stop others from attacking. Not just looting and plundering.

Still think everything was all kosher with how this went down?

[MontanaRabbit]

Chase Mason on a mini-Happy Hour with John Gaskins just uploaded to YouTube.

2:07 - Gaskins: "What made you decide to ultimately stay at South Dakota State?"

Mason: "Right away, I felt like a lot of guys thought that were going to go, and felt like it was the right thing to do. But the more I gave it time and thought about the whole situation, I didn't feel it was the best thing for me, and I didn't think I could do that to the Brookings community or even the guys there still. The thing that makes Brookings special, and it's said over and over and over again by anyone that comes in, anyone that gets recruited by SDSU, is the guys that make it special there. The more I thought about it , the coaches leaving wasn't going to change my mind how much Brookings meant to me, the guys there, the culture. So it might be different coaches this next year, but it's still going to be the same group of guys that are bought in just as much as has been in the past."

3:10 Gaskins: "Jimmy Rogers, we learned a week ago Saturday that he was leaving for Washington State. At what point were you contacted by a coach to come with the staff and some of the players that are going to Pullman, and who was it that called you?"

Mason: "It was that morning as well. First Coach Freund. I was actually out fishing in Mobridge, on the Missouri River actually, I was out ice fishing when this whole thing went down, which is kind of crazy for that weekend. Coach Freund called me and said what was all happening, and that everybody was going with, and that he wanted me to go with them. They didn't have a number, but said obviously there would be NIL money involved in it. At the time, that sounded pretty cool. I said before, everyone felt they were going, so we felt it would be essentially the 'Washington State Jackrabbits.' That's the way I termed it. That's what they were trying to do, is take the whole program. It didn't seem right to me after I got done talking to coaches and thought about it after that... but then shortly after, Coach Rogers called me and talked to me about it, and tried to convince me to go to there. I told him I was going to take my time and think about the decision. It's not an easy decision to make at that time. Then we had a team meeting on Zoom shortly after that, that he (Rogers) then said he was resigning and taking the job. Then Justin Sell and everyone took over after that."

5:12 - Gaskins: "Can you tell me what the nature was of what Justin Sell had to tell all you guys?"

Mason: "I think initially it was trying to keep the guys calm. There was a lot unknown right away, guys didn't know what to do honestly. None of the coaches were staying, so they couldn't really talk to them about it. They weren't really getting talked into staying at all. Literally the administration at SDSU, they've done a great job with this whole thing, keeping guys in the loop. Justin is a great dude and a fantastic AD." Justin gave out his phone number to everyone on the call, players and recruits, and told them to reach out at any time. "He did a good job of keeping us calm and reassuring us that he was going to hire someone that was familiar with our culture."

6:20 - Gaskins: "Walk me through the next few hours or a couple days. Who on the team you talked to, whether it was the guys that were shipping off to Washington State or guys that were staying. How often were you on the phone and what kind of conversations were you having?"

Out of time for a full transcript.... Go listen! I'm only part way through, but it's already a very insightful interview on this entire mess.

One thing is for sure.... Chase Mason is the man!

F*$# Jimmy Rogers. "so we felt it would be essentially the 'Washington State Jackrabbits.' That's the way I termed it. That's what they were trying to do, is take the whole program."

[RahRahRabbits]

Chase Mason on a mini-Happy Hour with John Gaskins just uploaded to YouTube.

2:07 - Gaskins: "What made you decide to ultimately stay at South Dakota State?"

Mason: "Right away, I felt like a lot of guys thought that were going to go, and felt like it was the right thing to do. But the more I gave it time and thought about the whole situation, I didn't feel it was the best thing for me, and I didn't think I could do that to the Brookings community or even the guys there still. The thing that makes Brookings special, and it's said over and over and over again by anyone that comes in, anyone that gets recruited by SDSU, is the guys that make it special there. The more I thought about it , the coaches leaving wasn't going to change my mind how much Brookings meant to me, the guys there, the culture. So it might be different coaches this next year, but it's still going to be the same group of guys that are bought in just as much as has been in the past."

3:10 Gaskins: "Jimmy Rogers, we learned a week ago Saturday that he was leaving for Washington State. At what point were you contacted by a coach to come with the staff and some of the players that are going to Pullman, and who was it that called you?"

Mason: "It was that morning as well. First Coach Freund. I was actually out fishing in Mobridge, on the Missouri River actually, I was out ice fishing when this whole thing went down, which is kind of crazy for that weekend. Coach Freund called me and said what was all happening, and that everybody was going with, and that he wanted me to go with them. They didn't have a number, but said obviously there would be NIL money involved in it. At the time, that sounded pretty cool. I said before, everyone felt they were going, so we felt it would be essentially the 'Washington State Jackrabbits.' That's the way I termed it. That's what they were trying to do, is take the whole program. It didn't seem right to me after I got done talking to coaches and thought about it after that... but then shortly after, Coach Rogers called me and talked to me about it, and tried to convince me to go to there. I told him I was going to take my time and think about the decision. It's not an easy decision to make at that time. Then we had a team meeting on Zoom shortly after that, that he (Rogers) then said he was resigning and taking the job. Then Justin Sell and everyone took over after that."

5:12 - Gaskins: "Can you tell me what the nature was of what Justin Sell had to tell all you guys?"

Mason: "I think initially it was trying to keep the guys calm. There was a lot unknown right away, guys didn't know what to do honestly. None of the coaches were staying, so they couldn't really talk to them about it. They weren't really getting talked into staying at all. Literally the administration at SDSU, they've done a great job with this whole thing, keeping guys in the loop. Justin is a great dude and a fantastic AD." Justin gave out his phone number to everyone on the call, players and recruits, and told them to reach out at any time. "He did a good job of keeping us calm and reassuring us that he was going to hire someone that was familiar with our culture."

6:20 - Gaskins: "Walk me through the next few hours or a couple days. Who on the team you talked to, whether it was the guys that were shipping off to Washington State or guys that were staying. How often were you on the phone and what kind of conversations were you having?"

Out of time for a full transcript.... Go listen! I'm only part way through, but it's already a very insightful interview on this entire mess.

One thing is for sure.... Chase Mason is the man!

[Sodakbull]

Verified. "Burn the ships" means basically the same thing as "no retreat, no surrender."

I love seeing this attitude from our next presumptive starting quarter back.

[jacksfan29]

Interesting article from Tanner Castro on what has been going on behind the scenes. I'd say now we know why Kraft and Stig openly posted on X their feelings. I get it, college football is a dog eat dog world, but this is absolutely unseemly from the former staff. That said, it should drive all of us to support the incoming staff and remaining players that much more next season. Once rebuilt, I would love to see a game against WSU, won't happen.

https://medium.com/@Tannercastora/so...s-a8335d4936a8

[jakejc795]

Verified. "Burn the ships" means basically the same thing as "no retreat, no surrender."

Please tell me someone associated with the Jacks will be selling shirts with these slogans. Bonus points if shirt has a hideously mulleted green & yeller QB with a measly "I hate the Jackrabbits" placard around his Ungulate neck

[filbert]

Ahh, yes Cortés purportedly burned all but one of this ships the Spaniards had sailed to Mexico with so that he and his crew couldn't retreat.

Tweets like Jackson's increase my excitement about what next season brings, and I think that (and the outgoing regime's actions) could really galvanize fans.

Verified. "Burn the ships" means basically the same thing as "no retreat, no surrender."

[trueblue]

Ahh, yes Cortés purportedly burned all but one of this ships the Spaniards had sailed to Mexico with so that he and his crew couldn't retreat.

Tweets like Jackson's increase my excitement about what next season brings, and I think that (and the outgoing regime's actions) could really galvanize fans.

I hope our fans are galvanized and motivated by this. There really isn't any reason this program can't continue to take steps forward- great facilities, hopefully a great new staff with a great recruiter in the HC position. We need to continue to do things to grow the fan-base and continue to get bigger crowds for future playoff games. The players who have stayed will be highly motivated as well I would think. Hopefully, they can become to SDSU football what the "unforgettables" are to UK basketball.

[jakejc795]

I interpreted it as burn the ships [to stop everyone from leaving]. Mason's is a gif of a burning ship. Couldn't find the log one, might have imagined it. With Jackson's post, was a picture taken at night of the back of the stadium scoreboard.

Ahh, yes Cortés purportedly burned all but one of this ships the Spaniards had sailed to Mexico with so that he and his crew couldn't retreat.

Tweets like Jackson's increase my excitement about what next season brings, and I think that (and the outgoing regime's actions) could really galvanize fans.

[peavy]

I'd like to see those pictures.

How about angry Jack logo with an eye patch?

I interpreted it as burn the ships [to stop everyone from leaving]. Mason's is a gif of a burning ship. Couldn't find the log one, might have imagined it. With Jackson's post, was a picture taken at night of the back of the stadium scoreboard.