Athletic director Justin Sell | Varsity teams 19 | |
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The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are the 19 intercollegiate teams representing South Dakota State University that compete in the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I (for football: Football Championship Subdivision). SDSU is currently a member of the Summit League, the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the Big 12 Conference and Varsity Equestrian. The university won numerous conference championships and several national titles including the NCAA College Division national title in men's basketball in 1963 and the NCAA Division II national title in women's basketball in 2003.
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The Jackrabbit football team qualified for the NCAA Football Championship Series playoffs in 2009 (losing to Montana I in the first round), the school's second year of FCS post-season eligibility since moving from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I. The Jackrabbits qualified for the FCS playoffs in 2012, winning their first game against Ohio Valley Conference champs Eastern Illinois before falling to Missouri Valley Football Conference rival North Dakota State, the eventual national champion.
The 2011-2012 season marked the fifth-consecutive trip to the NCAA National Tourney for the Jackrabbit women's basketball team, capping a season in which the Jackrabbits won the regular-season Summit League title and their fifth consecutive Summit League Tourney title.
The Jackrabbit men qualified for its first NCAA Division I National Tourney last season (2012-2013) following a second-place regular season finish in the Summit League and winning the Summit League Tourney title.
The Jackrabbit baseball team qualified for the 2013 NCAA Tourney and traveled to Eugene, OR, losing the first game to eventual regional champ Oregon and then being eliminated by the University of San Francisco in a 13-inning defensive battle.
Teams
A member of The Summit League, South Dakota State University sponsors teams in ten men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
Athletic facilities
South Dakota State has some of the best athletic facilities in their region, The Summit League, and the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Some of the university's venues compete as some of the finest in the nation (Sanford Jackrabbit Athlete Complex and the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium).
The Dykhouse Student Athlete Center, the home of Jackrabbit football, opened prior to the 2010 football season. The Sanford Jackrabbit Athlete Complex, a state-of-the-art indoor practice and competition facility opened October 11, 2014. It is immediately north of and attached to the Dykhouse Student Athlete Center. The SJAC has bleacher seating for up to 1,000 spectators and can be used for track practice and track meets, football practice, softball and baseball practice, and other events within the SDSU athletic department. When completed, the 149,284-square foot facility was the largest indoor practice facility in Division I athletics and features an eight-lane, 300-meter track, one of only five collegiate indoor tracks of that size in the nation. Inside the track is an 80-yard football field plus end zones at each end. The turf in the facility is soy-based Astroturf. The SJAC has areas for sports medicine including rehab space, a training room, additional weight-training facilities, hydrotherapy, a football team room, offices and academic advising facilities. The Dykhouse Student Athlete Center is immediately north of the new stadium for Jackrabbit football, the 19,340-capacity Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, opened in the Fall of 2016. The Dykhouse Stadium was constructed for easy expansion to 22,500 and the potential for future expansion to a capacity of 40,000. Like the SJAC, the turf in the Stadium is soy-based Astroturf. Next up on the athletics facilities master plan is renovation of Frost Arena, the venerable home of SDSU basketball, including new practice courts and wrestling facilities.