Bob Young
Rapid City, SD -- Football

In his 21 seasons as head coach of the University of Sioux Falls football program, Coach Bob Young has made a name for himself by winning football games—a lot of football games. During his tenure, Young has turned a football program with a .276 winning percentage into a national powerhouse.

Since taking over the team in 1983, Coach Young generated a record of 172-69-3 and picked up a lot of hardware along the way. His first conference championship came in his second season with the Cougars, when he led his team to an 8-2 record in the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference (SDIC). He would go on to win eight more SDIC titles, including the final five championships of the SDIC’s existence.

While the University of Sioux Falls competed in the SDIC, Coach Young was able to string 27 straight conference wins over the course of five seasons (1994-’99). The Cougars began dominating opponents in 1994. Just a year after going 2-8 (USF’s last losing record) in 1993, Young’s Cougars went 8-3 and regained the SDIC title.

In 1996, Coach Young and the Cougars won the national championship. Sioux Falls finished an undefeated season with a 47-25 defeat of Western Washington to claim the title. During that season, the Cougars beat their opponent by an average of 29 points. What makes the ’96 season especially amazing is that it was done with just two home games.

During USF’s affiliation with the SDIC, Coach Young was named the SDIC Coach-of-the-Year six times (1984, ’88, ’94, ’96, ’97, & ’99), NAIA Coach-of-the-Year in 1996, and named Coach-of-the-Year by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette and American Football Quarterly.

In 2000, the University of Sioux Falls joined the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). The first season in the GPAC was a bumpy one for the Cougars. Sioux Falls went 6-4 and finished fourth in the conference.

The 2001 season started a number of streaks for the Cougars. After losing to Concordia on September 15, 2001, Sioux Falls would start a conference winning streak of 34 games—a streak that is still in tact. That season, USF won it’s first of four consecutive GPAC championships (2001, ’02, ’03, and ’04). Since joining the GPAC, Coach Young has spent 47 weeks ranked in the top 25 in the NAIA national polls, 46 weeks ranked in the top ten, 39 weeks in the top five, and 16 weeks rated number one in the nation.

Since joining the GPAC, Coach Young has won two GPAC Coach-of-the-Year honors (2002, ’03), advanced USF to the NAIA quarterfinal game once (2004), semifinal game twice (2002 & 2003), the NAIA Championship game once (2001), and guided the Cougars to a record of 42-8.

During his career at the University of Sioux Falls, Coach Young has led his teams to six undefeated seasons, ten playoff appearances, 13 conference championships, and one national championship.