For 30 years, Mavericks rodeo has been a mainstay at Mitchell Tech

Dec. 20—MITCHELL — For 10 weekends a year, Jimmie Nicolaus gets to go on vacation.

That's what the Mitchell Tech rodeo coach of 30 years refers to the trips he takes with his team as, anyway.

Rodeo is a feather in the cap not many schools can boast — especially schools the size of Mitchell Tech. In fact, it's the only technical college in the state to offer an active rodeo team. Some schools have had teams come and go, such as Western Dakota Tech and Lake Area Tech, but for 30 years, Mitchell Tech has persevered.

"It doesn't seem like it's been that long," Nicolaus, who's been with the program since its inception, said of the 30th anniversary. "It feels good to me that we've been around that long (and) we've had the success that we have."

At the dawn of the program, there were just three bull riders on the team when the school reached out to Nicolaus to be the head coach. It was, as Nicolaus called it, "the perfect storm." His wife was already teaching in the area and he had college rodeo experience from his time at the National College of Business (now National American University) in Rapid City.

"I kind of knew ... who to get a hold of, and I figured I would go to the first couple of rodeos," Nicolaus recalled. "When I got to the first one, I saw three or four other guys there that I knew but had no idea why they were there.

"They said, 'Well, we're rodeo coaches.' And I kind of thought, 'We never had rodeo coaches back then.' I kind of went, 'Hmm, this is interesting.'"

Fast forward 30 years, and he's still coaching the Mavericks, and even coaching the kids of some of his former cowboys. Myles Clements does tie-down roping for Mitchell Tech this season, but 25 years ago his dad Tom Clements rode saddle broncs under Nicolaus.

"It makes a guy proud to have your son go to the same school and rodeo and enjoy what he does," Tom Clements said.

As of Nov. 14, Myles Clements was among the top in the region in tie-down roping and will go into the spring with the hopes of qualifying for the College National Finals. But it's more than just competing to him.

Clements said even though he only knew one other member of the team when he joined last year, he's made some of his best friends on the team.

"Everyone helps each other and everyone's pretty good friends with one another," he said. "It's more like a small family when you're going up and down the road."

Typically, the team will pile into a couple of trucks and make the trek to an event together, but when Clements was sick earlier this year, his team helped him out at the Dickinson rodeo. He decided to stay home, but his teammates took his horse and trailer to Dickinson with them, and when Clements felt better, his mom was able to drive him up and have him compete.

And he just so happened to win the calf roping that weekend.

"It was pretty cool to have Jimmie and all the rodeo team members help me out," he said.

Though the enrollment at Mitchell Tech sits around 1,000 students, the Mavericks still compete with the likes of South Dakota State, University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Montana State at rodeos. Being a smaller school, the funding for the rodeo program isn't the same as it may be at a larger school.

Mitchell Tech combats that with fundraising and community, though.

The team fundraises multiple times throughout the year. Whether it be at the rodeo banquet, which Myles Clements said raised nearly $19,000 this year, parking cars at DakotaFest, a silent auction or even raffles, the Mavericks bring in money in hopes to keep expenses to a minimum for the students.

"I've never wanted the expense of college rodeo for the student to be the determining factor as to whether or not they rodeo," Nicolaus said. "I feel it's important that the entry fees that they pay to compete at the rodeo, that's your investment. ... But I want to make it as financially feasible for them as I possibly can."

And for practices, other schools can, as Nicolaus put it, "put on a rodeo two afternoons a week." But it costs a lot of money to do that, and the Mavericks instead rely on local help, such as timed-events coach Blaine Carey, who lives outside of Huron.

On Wednesdays, the team will typically head up to Huron and practice at Carey's before leaving the next morning for a rodeo.

"If it weren't for Blaine (Carey) we probably wouldn't have nearly as much practice time," Myles Clements said. "Blaine is a big factor."

Having a rodeo team is just another benefit Mitchell Tech can provide to prospective students, though the student aspect of "student-athlete" remains the most important. Nicolaus said he'll have grade checks but doesn't feel the need to do them often because his students are used to balancing rodeo and school, given most of them grew up having to balance both.

And as for recruiting, the education is always emphasized over the rodeo.

"What we're looking for is what they want for a career first," Deuter said. "If they're going to come here and study and rodeo, the study thing has got to be first."

For those who are on the rodeo team, the travel and bond is unique. It's something the team looks forward to 10 times a year, with five to six rodeos in the fall and another four to five in the spring. Some of the locations are still the same as they were in 1976, when Nicolaus went as a collegiate cowboy.

Now as a coach, he still hits many of the same events that he competed at, and he enjoys it just as much.

"The first time I went to River Falls, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin River Falls in 1976 was just as much fun as the first time I went there (as a coach) in 1993, as it was last fall," Nicolaus said. "But it's still a lot of fun. And you know, the old adage, 'If you find something you like doing, you don't work a day in your life,' there it is."