SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — University of South Dakota football coach Joe Glenn thinks his squad is close to finally reaching the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, but he’s handing off the ball to someone else to take the Coyotes across the goal line.
The 66-year-old veteran announced that he’s retiring after four seasons, saying he felt the timing is right and that his family played a role in his decision.
Glenn said he’s proud of his 2015 team’s fight to notch five wins, despite most preseason polls predicting the Coyotes would finish dead last.
“We’re close,” Glenn said at a news conference Monday. “We need some guys yet. We need some help yet, but that’s why you recruit.”
Glenn compiled a record of 200-134-1 in 28 seasons, and is one of 76 football coaches in NCAA history to win 200 games.
The Nebraska native led Northern Colorado to back-to-back NCAA Division II national championships in 1996 and 1997. He also led Montana to a Division I-AA title in 2001 and was twice named the American Football Coaches Association’s national coach of the year. He also coached at Doane College and Wyoming.
Glenn’s retirement was first announced Sunday in a release on the school’s website moments after he informed his players.
Athletic Director David Herbster said the process to find a new coach will begin immediately, and he plans to follow advice from late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden to “be quick but don’t hurry.”
“We’ll find the right person,” Herbster said. “We’ve got big shoes to fill, and Coach has set the standard a little bit for us. He’s put this program in a better position, and I think you can see that it is possible here.”
Glenn was 12-34 in four seasons at USD, his alma mater.
The Coyotes’ 2-10 record in 2014 was an anomaly, Glenn said, as the team was decimated by injuries.
But this season’s squad notched a 5-6 record and was in the playoff hunt into the final game, recording a pair of particularly significant wins. On Oct. 17, the Coyotes beat No. 2-ranked North Dakota State 24-21 on the road for South Dakota’s first win in Fargo since 1978.
“That was a big, big win for our school,” he said. “It proves that we belong.”
Then on Nov. 7, Glenn notched his 200th career victory at home when the Coyotes defeated Southern Illinois 34-31.
Glenn said he plans to stay in the area and continue rooting for his alma mater.
“We plan to grow old, older here in beautiful Vermillion, South Dakota, and we won’t miss a game,” he said. “Go Yotes.”