A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Celebrating John and Laurie Stiegelmeier’s contributions to the State of South Dakota and South Dakota State University.

WHEREAS, John Stiegelmeier is a farm kid hailing from Selby, South Dakota, who met the love of his life, Laurie, in a hallway at Selby High School, and married her forty-four years ago on May 25, 1979, together building a family of four children: Anna, Isaac, Liesbeth, and Samuel; and

WHEREAS, John and Laurie have made service to South Dakota and especially the South Dakota State University community their life's work, so much so that the most frequent description of the SDSU football program is that it is a "family" because of John and Laurie Stiegelmeier; and

WHEREAS, their faith life has always been central to who they are as a couple, with both being active in the church as well as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; indeed, the strongest epithet “Coach Stig” will use when emotionally excited is “holy nutmeg”; and

WHEREAS, John Stiegelmeier led the Jackrabbits to a 199-112 record (.640 winning percentage) in twenty-six seasons, reaching the playoffs twelve times, and winning SDSU’s first team national championship in any sport at the Division I level when they defeated North Dakota State 45-21 in 2023; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig’s 84 victories in Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) play and his one hundred and thirty-one overall wins since joining in 2008 both rank second among all-time league coaches; and

WHEREAS, South Dakota State University, under Coach Stig, is the only Missouri Valley Football Conference program that has never had a losing record; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig has received the Eddie Robinson Award as the top coach in the Football Championship Subdivision, the Bruce Craddock MVFC Coach of the Year Award, the Ralph Ginn Award for Coaching Excellence, and the AFCA FCS Regional Coach of the Year; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig’s success goes beyond the gridiron, as he has led South Dakota State University to the MVFC Team Academic Award nine times and led the conference in the number of individual all-academic awards, with football student-athletes accounting for College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America honors twenty-seven times; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig was honored for his community service in 2019 as a Barefoot Coach of the Year honoree by Samaritan’s Feet International; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig and Laurie’s legacy has best been described by SDSU Athletic Director Justin Sell this way: “Their impact goes far beyond wins and losses or championships, it's about the family culture they have fostered throughout their time here. It's about how they encouraged a program based on character, hard work, faith, and excellence in all areas"; and

WHEREAS, Coach Stig and Laurie are to this day the most humble, thoughtful souls you should be so lucky to meet:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Ninety-Ninth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that John and Laurie Stiegelmeier be honored and celebrated as outstanding South Dakotans who have made a lasting impact on the state and their SDSU family.