He just can't shake the coaching bug. It has been in his blood since he played for his father — a legendary head high school coach in Minnesota — and "every night" he still thinks about the game and how he can draw up plays to make it fun for the next crop of young talent.

South Dakota's all-time high school wins leader Kim Nelson "retired" from 45 years of prep coaching in November 2023 after his 15th and final season at Sioux Falls Roosevelt, his fifth and final stop/success story. But he kept on coaching.

His foray into the college world — which he had been dreaming of trying for years — did not last long at the University of Sioux Falls. So, Nelson just leaped right back on in Roosevelt as the freshman coach and varsity consultant under his replacement, Jason Stahlberg.

But for the upcoming 2025 season, Nelson has moved across town to work for former Roosevelt assistant coach Jared Smith as Sioux Falls Christian's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. This is Nelson's wheelhouse.

Why did things at USF not work out? Why the move to SFC? And why has Nelson always flown in the face of Midwestern, cold and nasty weather, football tough guy logic and literally thrown caution into the wind (and rain and sleet and snow) by preferring a pass-happy attack through most of his nearly five decades of coaching?

The Lake Benton, Minnesota, native and Dakota State alumnus is more than happy to explain and even more eager to tell stories of some of his best teams and players in his runs at Milbank, Rapid City Central, Sioux Falls Washington, and Roosevelt — each of the three latter resulting in trips to the Dakota Dome to play for state titles (including the elusive championship win in 2011 with the Roughriders).

Adam Vinatieri, Taryn Christion, Tucker Large, and Griffin Wilde all played under Nelson and he has vivid and colorful memories of each.

Plus, Nelson had the chance to play in front of Vikings legend Bud Grant, then coach the son of then-Vikings coach Mike Tice at Edina High School in suburban Minneapolis at the highest level of Minnesota prep football. Both of those experiences came with awesome stories.

Sit back and relax as 50 years of football breeze by on a summer afternoon at The Gateway Lounge with the laid back but fiercely intense-about-football active coach.

Opt in or opt out?

To some, the hottest and most fascinating college athletics topic around. To others, a brain-frying maze of gobblygook to ignore for the sheer depth and legal confusion of it all.

But undeniably, it is a major decision for each Division I program not in the Power Four Conferences (they have to "opt in"): Will you take the option to allow your athletes to be paid directly by the school via sharing the revenue your athletic department makes — up to $20.5 million of revenue this year, and more in coming years — should you say "yes?"

South Dakota is opting in. Three other Missouri Valley Football Conference Schools have officially announced they are in — Youngstown State, Illinois State, Murray State. FCS powerhouse Montana State, in.

North Dakota State? Nothing yet announced.

South Dakota State? Last week, athletics director Justin Sell told Happy Hour host John Gaskins, via text, the same thing he told Gaskins In a March 5 Happy Hour interview — the Jackrabbits will likely not opt in, citing mainly the roster cuts spanning multiple sports that would have to be made.

But that was before the House Settlement was officially approved on June 6, with the announcement that all athletes on rosters this season would be saved if a school "opted in" — the "grandfather clause."

So where does SDSU and Sell now stand? The deadline is June 30. Sell spends over 50 minutes describing all of the factors SDSU is considering before it makes up its mind.

As valuable of a discussion — what are all the ways SDSU and other schools currently compensate their athletes? Where does the money come from and how is it distributed?

And most importantly, where do major donors and major corporate sponsors — a vital source of revenue for the athletic program — stand on if revenue sharing is a better way to compensate athletes versus NIL (Name, Image, Likeness). After all, donors will get a tax break on their donation to the school. They won't on their donations to the third-party "NIL collectives" that are currently the only way athletes at SDSU get "paid" beyond their "cost of attendance" compensation.

Sell offers us some clarity on the weight and details of this decision.