Be Where Your Feet Are: South Dakota's Matt Vitzthum on Football, Family & Purpose

Be Where Your Feet Are South Dakota's Matt Vitzthum on Football, Family & Purpose: We have everything right out in front of us. There's a lot of people that dream to be in this spot. And we're right here. So let's embrace it. Let's go after it. Let's have a ton of fun. This is what it's all about. So let's go let it rip, man. And if we do that, I'm good with what happens, right? And I I think we got a group that'll go out and let it rip Saturday. Yeah. Yeah, five up the grill, crank the speakers loud. Saturdays feel holy in this college crowd. Sethin James on the mic. Preaching gospel true, talking rivalries, legends, red, black, old, and blue, from dead valley lights to the camp, Randall Cold. They're telling stories, they never get old. Ain't no bench warm hearts on the show tonight. They're walking on proud on the stadium lies. Let a preferred walk on, no scholarship still putting it on from the church until gate hands in the air. Welcome to the preferred walk-on show, the People's College Football Show. I am your host. Seth Saunders. And one of the best things about doing this show is getting to figure out how programs are built and how foundations are laid. And maybe most importantly, what it takes to build a winner and how you become the kind of leader equipped to build and sustain one. And today's guest has spent the better part of two decades finding answers to those questions. His football journey has taken him to St. Cloud State and Wittenberg. And eventually to Grand Valley State, where he spent eleven seasons on staff helping build one of the most consistently successful programs in Division II football. Five conference titles, seven playoff appearances, and a reputation for developing quarterbacks and engineering dynamic offenses. In twenty twenty four, the path led to Vermillion, and now he's the s thirty-second head football coach in South Dakota history. responsible for leading one of the premier programs in the most unforgiving conference in FCS football. His story is loaded with resilience and determination and the understanding that the most important work you do is the work nobody sees. A big preferred walk on welcome to the head football coach of the South Dakota Coyotes, Matt Vitsum. Coach, welcome to the show, brother. Man. Appreciate it. What an intro, man. I ha I haven't heard all that. So yeah, it was that was that was awesome, man. Glad to be on here. Obviously appreciate the work you're doing and obviously promoting our game and what it's all about. So yeah, really appreciate it. Excited to be on today with you. Yeah, coach, I am a proud William and Mary grad. So FCS football is near and dear to my heart. And as as we've covered the game more, have fallen in love with Missouri Valley Conference football. Y'all's y'all's conference, I have told people, is the FCS equivalent to the SEC. There are no off weeks. I I I don't envy y'all's work, but what a fun challenge it is and and what a what a fun grind it is to go through it. I want to talk about your team, but I want to start with a little bit of your story because I'm fascinated with the path you've taken. And you know, you have spent your career around a lot of winning football programs. And when you think back to the coaches you've worked for. And had the opportunity to learn from. What are some of the foundational lessons that they taught you and helped prepare you to lead a program? Yeah, I think I've been very, very blessed. I actually said that to my wife, and my wife said that the other night, we just haven't had to experience a lot of losing. I'm like, be very grateful for that, because that's not common. I I went to Wartbrook College. I'm a division three guy, right? Wasn't good enough to be a scholarship player at no no qualms telling you that at all. But when you play Division III football, there are it is 100% the purest thing ever, right? It's just a bunch of guys and coaches that just love football at its purest form. So when I was in that locker room and I was surrounded by a lot of those people, just developed a pure passion and love for the game and what it stands for, right? And that's the resiliency. that it takes to be a good dad and a good father. That's what it takes to build a great team, right? All of those things. Just fell in love with that. Had an opportunity at the end of my playing career to stick around for a year to get my degree and just was around the staff and went in every day and didn't say a single word for a year, I don't think. I just sat in the back of the room and wrote pages and pages of notes of what it took and what it looked like and what this was all about because The guys that were there greatly impacted me, right? Like who I was as a man and what I was becoming like a was because of those coaches. And I was like, and as I got to watch them work in a different light, I was like, this is what I want to do. This is awesome. I have an opportunity to impact young men and do it through the game of football, which there's no great greater teacher in life than the game of football. So I think for me, the things that I've always just learned is and it it's led to me where I am. I've never applied for a job. I've never asked for a promotion. It's just put your head down, be where your feet are and embrace and attack everything where you're at. Right. And as a player, we talk to our players about that all the time. Everybody does embrace your role and attack your role and great things happen. I'm sure you've seen the Tom Brady quote about getting one or two reps at Michigan and that one or two reps turning that into the best reps and treating it like the Super Bowl. And I just as I've gone through my career and places where we've been successful. I've been surrounded by great people that do that, but I've just tried to pride myself on, hey, put your head down and be the best, best you can be in the role you're been. And I've been a wideout coach. I've been a coordinator. Now the head coach. It's like wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, just embrace and attack that every single day and good things happen and surround yourself with great people. And luckily I've been around a lot of winning because of that. Who's a coach you've worked with who you think deserves a lot more credit? than they've received, whether that's nationally, whether that's in the coaching community, whatever that may be. And what is the biggest lesson you took from that coach? Yeah. So I I had that opportunity and my number one mentor in my career right now is Matt Mitchell. He's the associate head coach at at Wisconsin. He was the head coach at at at Grand Valley. He hired me. So I worked for him and there there's plenty of things that when I worked for him and all this stuff, I watched him become He had to follow Chuck Martin and Brian Kelly, right? And that's not easy to do. And we were winning those guys are winning national championships. And to watch him put his stamp on things and him the lead young men and I just I learned so, so much, right? And now I've watched him at Wisconsin, you know, he's hired as the outside linebackers guy. And I think he's worked his way into the associate head coach because Luke Fickle respects him. And I think those guys are pulling themselves out of out of a bad spot. And I think they're having a really good season. I think a lot of that is just who Mitch is and what Mitch stands for. He's an incredible human and incredible father. And I just I just learned a lot on a day-to-day basis of what it looked like to be a really professional head coach. And yeah, forever grateful for him. I don't know if if he's ever gonna get the national recognition, but from me, man, I wouldn't be sitting in this chair talking to you today if it wasn't for him. Coach, I had the the great fortune to head to Macon last year for the game against the Mercer Bears at Five Star Stadium. And great day, rainy day. The Yates played spectacular that day. one of the things I was most struck by as an East Coast guy is, hey brother, Yates fans travel, man. Like that's a big trip. And that stadium was rocking with Yates fans. And so there's certainly something unique about college football towns like Vermilion. Where the university and the community are so intertwined. What's something about being there and the people of South Dakota and Yotes fans that you didn't fully appreciate till you got on campus? Yeah, so I I'm a small town kid, right? I was born in a s in a in a farm community. I graduated with 40 kids. So the small town thing was something that really attracted me to this place. And when I came on my interview, a lot of times you get to go out to eat or they take you around the town. And I just really appreciated a lot. Every restaurant in town and everywhere you go, the high school is red and black. Or obviously we're red and black. So everywhere you go, it's red and black, red and black, red and black, red and black. And there's yacht signs, and there's like there's just this sense of community of like there is professional like fans here, right? Like there are, you know, Viking fans and Bear fans, like, and there's Iowa and Iowa, but like this is it. Like this is what our community is. Like it's the university, it's the high school. Obviously athletics is at the doorstep of that. And I think there's just so much pride in this town and this university. And not that it wasn't at other places, but like this is it, right? Like there's no, there's no pro sports, you know, baseball, but none of that. Like even remotely close. So in order to get your feel of like athletics, this is it. And there's not an FBS town that close around here. So it's just a really, really sense, a high sense of pride in in what we're doing. I think that's growing. I think As you go down I-29, man, there's a s there's a sense of pride in all of those. We talk about South Dakota State, North Dakota, North Dakota State. There's a lot of fans now that are passionate about that. And they don't they don't get to spread their fandom through four or five teams. It's it's that school and that town. So I love it, man. It's so cool to be a I want to talk about y'all's home field coach. The Dakota Dome is one of those just awesome and distinct college venues. You know, it's loud and it's intimate. And so what makes that building such a difficult place for visiting teams? And what does it feel like for y'all as the home team when those Yotes fans have that place rock? Yeah, so I I think this is something that's really cool about, I guess, if you'd say lower level or non FBS stadiums, right? And I had the opportunity at Grand Valley. Our stadium held 12,000 people, but there was 13, 14,000 people there. So it feels like you're playing in front of 70,000, right? At these big stadiums that you see. You know, the dome only holds 9,000 people. Right. So to sell this place out and to have it be that loud, and and then obviously you're inside. If you play a little bit of music and the band's playing, like it it's it's it impacts the game greatly. Like When I was just on offense, I love to watch, you know, the opposing offense try to get a conversion on third down and they're at the line of scrimmage and they can't hear anything and it's frantic and it's like in these facilities, like it at at these places, you don't need 70,000 because it's such an intimate, you know, a intimate stage arena, all of those things. So it's really cool and I love it, man. There's just something about it. You turn around and there's people that you see at Walmart. They're yelling and screaming. So it it's really cool. It's it's been a great place. It's been a hard place for opponents to play. We've had a really s really good run here of of playing well in the Dakota Dome. Coach, y'all are six and two this year, winners of three straight, and this team seems to really have found another gear as the season has continued to progress. When you look at your group now compared to the bunch that walked in day one of fall camp, where have you seen the most growth? Yeah, I think I think a season and and the game of football a lot of times is is about response, right? I I believe that's it's not a react it's a response to when things don't go your way. You know, to give you just a little insight, you know, we played at Boise and we were in a one score game on national television and we were probably the only game that was still going on on that night, right? And You know, we had a two-minute drill to go down to tie the game. I was gonna go for two. Like we were it we were right there on the on on about beating in my opinion, a top fifteen team in the country right now at all levels. So like you're coming off of that. You know, we fly home, we get home at six AM. We fly back, you know, fly out to Youngstown, we get put down on the mat, man. I mean, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We just got whooped. And we did not play well. I didn't have them prepped well. I didn't do some of the things that I probably should have done throughout the week to get them recovered and prepared to play. And since then, our response to getting put on the map, man, and you can't simulate that, right? Hey, at practice, we can put you in some scenarios and stuff, but the feeling of walking in the locker room after getting your absolute tail beat, you can't simulate. And I'm just proud of of our response to that. Right. We didn't respond well to a really good game and everybody telling us how good we were at Boise. You know what I mean? But I think we've responded really well now to an ass whooping if if you may. And I think the other part of that is handling success, right? Like after now three straight, what's our mentality? Like, are we everything's all good? Are we still that hungry team that is is is is willing to go out there. So just a a team of response. Really proud of that. I did you can't simulate it, so you don't know how you're gonna be. Like are we gonna point fingers and blame each other and complain? Or are we gonna just mount up and do the staple of? And so far we've mounted up and stuck together through some tough times here. Right, wrong, or indifferent. Head coaches and quarterbacks, man, they share one thing in common. They get the lion's share of the credit and the lion's share of the blame, right? And so I want to talk to you about your quarterback. Austin Majeski has been awesome this year. He's leading the FCS in passing efficiency, thrown for twenty-two touchdowns. Giving you guys a vertical threat down the field. I mean, it's it's been fun to watch. As someone who's spent years crafting that position and coaching quarterbacks, what have you seen in his development that that's less physical, less stat based, but more leader, mental game, all those things that that has increased over the year? Yeah, I think the thing that you you never really know. You you can recruit, learn slot talent, competitive, you know, you can see all those things, but like For me, just like who he is on a day-to-day basis, and that it the only word to describe him is consistent. Like I he comes into the building the exact same human being, and that is an even keeled, I'm pretty cool, calm, and collected individual, right? Like he's thrown a couple like he threw an interception on the first drive of last game, throwing a double post over into a one high look, and he throws it right to the post player and and Your first reaction, you just want to lose your mind. It's like, dude, you're so and he comes over, he's like, My fault. Didn't see the high hole player. I got you moving on. And it's like when he says those things as a as a young player, it's like, all right, this kid gets it, man. He just, he not rattled. I've seen a lot of times you throw an early interception and you can't really get back on the horse in the game. And he's walking off the field. He knows what he did wrong and he's already like, I got it. Just don't worry about it. So just his even keel consistency has has really led to his performance on a week to week basis. I think we have one of the most underrated coaches in the country and Heath Parling, our quarterback coach. He's absolutely unbelievable. For me being a quarterback guy, that was the hardest part of this transition was not standing right there at practice and looking over both of their shoulders, because that's what I love. That's my baby. And I've I I have. I've been able to walk away and not not be involved at all because of the trust that I have in in Heath. And then obviously, you know, you watch Austin play, man, it's just it's a it's been really fun to watch. And he's only getting better. That's the scary part. He's only getting better. So really proud of him and that group so far. There is something incredibly special about rivalry games. I think it's the lifeblood of of college football. And especially when the stakes are as high as they are this year, Coach. Hundred and fourth meeting. Between South Dakota and North Dakota, top 10 matchup, conference title implications, all the things, right? Gonna be a wild crowd at the Dakota Dome. When your guys come out of the tunnel on Saturday, what do you want them to feel and embody and what do you want to see from your football team? Yeah, I think I think there is something about that mix of emotions. You you want the crowd to, hey man, feed off of that, right? Embrace that. Let's use that juice, but still staying in character, right? Still not having an audit. Gosh, I got I I'm gonna go make this play that I don't need to go make. So I think feed off of that, use the emotions in a good way. And ultimately, you know, the understanding of after, you know, the first minute or two, like it's still just about going out there and executing and doing your job. This is a this is an awesome matchup. You know, a lot of times in rivalry games, this is what is the bad part is there's some hatred. Like I could not respect Eric Schmidt more at North Dakota. Like I think he is what. good coaching is about. Like, I mean, he just, he's, he's great, you know. And I think that football team plays the game the right way. So for me, it's like, what an opportunity to go against a team you respect. I think two programs are going to do things the right way. I don't think there's going to be a ton of like chipping after the, you know, sometimes happens in rivalry games, which isn't bad. I just don't think there's a hatred. There's a there's a serious level of respect for how we, you know, both programs do things. So it's just going to be a really clean, good football game. I I really expect that. Our guys, you know, just got to go out and play a little bit harder, a little bit longer and embrace the, you know, the atmosphere. Super excited, man. Should be it. I mean, like I said, I told our team this morning, like, there's a lot of team meetings this morning where guys are having to like pump up their team or keep like the we have everything right out in front of us in week nine. There's a lot of people that dream to be in this spot. And we're right here. So let's embrace it. Let's go after it. Let's have a ton of fun. This is what it's all about. I sacrifice a lot. They sacrifice a lot to do this and be in this situation. So let's go let it rip, man. And if we do that, I'm good with what happens, right? And I I think we got a group that'll go out and let it rip Saturday. What's been the biggest surprise or biggest challenge for you about being head coach that nobody really could have prepared you for, that you could only experience once you're taking live bullets and figuring it out? Yeah, I I just think it's for me. One I think I mentioned already, like not being in the quarterback room, like, you know, for twenty years now, coaching and and playing that position, like that's been my passion. Like, you know, to wake up in the morning on a Tuesday, like, okay, how are we gonna get the ball moving on open downs? What are we doing? Like, what are the pressure checks? What are the run checks? Like, that's just what you do. Like that's that's you know, how you filled your cup to finding a new, like, what is that, right? Like what is your you know you know, you know, new escape or whatever, but like The things you can't ever prepare for are the problems that come across your desk every single day when you're not when you're not expecting it, right? And that's what you ha ultimately have to deal with, whether that's budgetarily, scholarship, athletic training, weight train personnel, staff, you just always gotta be on your toes, man. And as soon as you take a deep breath, nope, something else is gonna happen, right? That you've gotta be there and you've gotta address. But I can tell you this, I didn't think I would. I've always Maybe not the head coach material. I have really enjoyed the chaos that comes with this job. I really have. I've enjoyed the opportunity to impact a greater amount of people than maybe just the quarterback room or just the offense, to help staff members, to help our team, to to be around administration. It's been real it's been a pleasure, man, and I'm really enjoying it. I don't know if I'm doing any good at it, but I'm loving it getting up every single day and having this opportunity. Well, coach, you talk about impact and I'm so glad you bring that up because this is my favorite thing about coaches and the role they have is the impact that they get to have on young men. And so twenty years from now, when your former players are all sitting around sharing a cold beer together, what do you hope they say about playing for Coach Fitzham? Yeah, th one thing I hope they get from me every single day is consistency, right? I think there's nothing worse than showing up and you know, playing for or being around somebody that you don't know what you're gonna get. Right. And I think what you're gonna get from me is a guy that's gonna show up every single day with a great mindset, a great attitude, and a ton of juice and a ton of gratitude for where I'm at. I think that's hopefully what they see from me. What I think hopefully I I exemplify every every day is that like, you know, tough times don't last, tough people do, right? It's tough to be a father, right? It's tough to be a husband, it's tough to be an elite. player in the Missouri Valley. But if you if you can take the lessons that I hopefully exemplify and show and point out to you every single day, I think those lessons will be learned. And then when you're a father, you're a husband here someday, you're like, man, that that time there and what he told us in those team meetings has helped me become a better father and a better husband. So I hope they get a really consistent leader and a guy that cares for them, man. I really do. I try I I that's ultimately my why is those guys. I I love being around them. You know, I'm almost forty. I used to be the cool young coach, you know, that like listened to the same music and War Jordans. And I'm like, I'm I'm kind of getting out of that now. I'm not the hit cool guy anymore. So it's been a transition for me here. So but yeah, man, I I just I love being around those guys. And hopefully with my age, that'll never change. All right, coach. I want to close with you how I close with all of our coaches. I'm gonna ask you to hop in Doc Brown's DeLorean with me. And let's set the dashboard dial for 2009 and we're gonna head to Waverly, Iowa. What advice would you give to young Matt as he embarks on his coaching journey? Man, that's a c that's a great question. Yeah, I mean, I think I'd I'd tell myself is, you know, to make sure, you know, the people around you don't suffer because of, you know, your passion and your drive. Like I I you hear this story and I I'm trying to do this ever like you can be a great husband and a great father and still be a really good football coach. And I think for a period of time there it was all about me and and and my career and my wife probably suffered from that a little bit and she's a ride or die and she loves it. But I just think you can be both. You know what I mean? And you can do a great job at home and a great job at work. So I wish I knew that a little bit more. I'm I'm starting to grow into that and appreciate that a little bit more as the days go. Well, coach That's a tough question, man. I can answer a lot of football. That one that one hit right there. So Well, that's always fascinating, man, because you know, especially for the guys that are ending up sitting in a head chair, inherently you've had to walk a road and learn a lot of things. And I just think there's so much wisdom in being able to look back and find the lessons in that and kinda I The important part for me is hopefully that counsel is good for someone else, right? That maybe consumes this and hears about your story. So I so I appreciate you being candid about and sharing that. It's it's super valuable. Well, coach, look, man, I I couldn't be more fired up to have gotten to spend some time with you. I know you have a busy week, obviously a huge game. Before we let you go, please tell our listeners how they can support you and support the YOTS program. Yeah, obviously anytime you get a chance to come out, I think. I believe this program and this level of football is still about the purest thing and that's the game of football, right? As much as everybody hears about eligibility and dollar signs, this is a really good program that does things the right way. Welcome any new fan that you want. Come to the Dakota Dome. It'll be live. And I think we represent what you want football to represent. And that's a bunch of kids working together doing things the right way. So come into the Dakota Dome, get your ticket anyway, any any any way possible. We'd love to have you. Yeah, it's a great exp. Coach, thank you so much for the time. We wish y'all nothing but health and success the rest of the way, brother. Yeah, I said this earlier, man. I I really appreciate what you do. I know there's a lot of podcasts and a lot of things out there. I think what you do is you you you give people a platform to share their journey and help people, and ultimately that's what this is all about. So thank you for having me on anytime, anything you need. big, big fan here. Thank you so much, Coach. I really, really appreciate that. Well, we're gonna take you up on that for sure. All right. Sounds good.