In Play with Craig Mattick, made possible by Horton in Britton, a worldwide supplier of engine cooling systems and proud member of the community for more than four decades. Hortonwww.com.
Craig Mattick: Welcome to another edition of In Play, I am Craig Mattick. Our guest today has devoted 46 years of coaching in South Dakota. He retired in 2017 as the fourth-winningest football coach in the state. 261 wins 101 losses. The retirement didn't last long. He's been an assistant coach since 2018. He's got seven state football titles with two different schools. He's coached basketball and cross country. He's one of the great high school coaches in the state. It's from Hamlin to Yankton to Beresford, it's Arlin Likness. Arlin, welcome to In Play.
Arlin Likness: Well, thank you very much.
Craig Mattick: Hey, congrats to you. You were recently inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you, Arlin?
Arlin Likness: Just that I had a lot of great coaches that helped me along the way and a lot of good athletes. You don't get one of those sign recognitions unless you have a very strong supporting cast and very fortunate at Hamlin and then at Yankton and even at Beresford, to have great coaches that we do what we can and the kids buy in and hopefully that's success and more than success, you become the best you can be as a human being and as a player.
Craig Mattick: Did you have to make a speech at that induction?
Arlin Likness: No, I didn't. I passed on that. It was neat because Dan Mitchell, who I had coached with at Yankton for 24 years was the president of the national, so he got to give me the award, which made it that much more special.
Craig Mattick: I searched as much as I could trying to find Arlin Likness athletic records at Britton High School. Sorry, I couldn't find any. Was I looking in the wrong place, Arlin?
Arlin Likness: No, probably not. Britton is where I graduated high school from. Back in those days, you got to remember there were no football playoffs and so basketball was the big thing and we had a pretty good run during my high school career.
Craig Mattick: 1972. Yeah, you won the title that year.
Arlin Likness: Yep, and I was a part of that as being more the practice squad than as a player. You always cut the 12 at that time. I did not make the cut as far as... I got to dress in about five games during the year but did not get to travel with a varsity to the state tournament, although I got to go but I didn't dress. And then we came back in '73 and were ranked number one but ended up fourth in the state tournament. And then in '74, my senior year, we ended up third. And it's interesting, in '74, guess who the two teams in South Dakota who won the state titles in basketball. Hamlin won it. We got third and Hamlin won it, and that was with Steve Brown. And then of course, Yankton won it in '74 with Chad Nelson. And those are the two schools that I ended up going to in my teaching career, which was pretty unique.
Craig Mattick: Well, I know in '72 Britton beats Wessington in the finals it was 81 to 60. Who was the head coach at that time?
Arlin Likness: John Bruce. It was his first year to there. He had came from Hayti actually, from the Hamlin community to Britton. He changed things up a little bit. Bill Armacher had been the head coach before that and had a lot of kids coming back. And then Bruce went to a little bit more up tempo fast break team and guess who we opened it that year? We opened with Miller in '72 and we had the lead until about the last 30 seconds and the Miller Press came on and our best point guard was Leroy Peterson and he falled out and they got to us and they ended up beating us by three, not knowing that at the end of the year, they would go on to win the A class. At that time there were two classes, they won the A undefeated and we won the B. And so, that was a pretty big opening game that year.
Craig Mattick: Britton, by the way, of course now partnered with Hecla, Britton-Hecla, was a Hecla an adversary when you were in high school there at Britton.
Arlin Likness: We had them on our schedule. We usually did quite well against them, but they had numbers and so forth at that time. Back in junior high, we had good battles with them and actually Frederick at that time, who became part of Hecla back in those days, so yeah. But you remember back in those days our big addition in the early '70s was Kidder, South Dakota and our Allstate Center was Danny Elkin, he came from Kidder. In my class there was a guy by the name of Larry Thorsons and John I, Both of those two came from Kidder and they definitely added to our success in all of our programs.
Craig Mattick: So, were you busy in athletics at Britton more than just basketball?
Arlin Likness: Yes, I played football, basketball, track and baseball.
Craig Mattick: This is the early '70s of course. And then you graduate in 74 and off to Northern state there in Aberdeen. What direction were you thinking about when you went off to college?
Arlin Likness: Really trying to find myself. Luckily one of my friends and then became my wife, but they suggested I should go to Northern. I thought about going into the military and my brother-in-law had just gotten back in Vietnam and he did not suggest that I do do that. And so, I went to Northern trying to find my way and I went there probably for the wrong reasons. I wanted to try playing baseball and basketball. I ended up also getting hurt in the spring of the year, hurt my leg in a farming accident, but I then realized that maybe I should try education, and went to the education field because I still wanted to do something in sports and then it came around. The only reason I really went to Northern was Bob Walks came and talked to me when he played around Collie my senior year. He told me I was a little guy. He didn't quite use those words. He called me a little something, but he said, if you can play defense like that, you can play here, and so that was my incentive to go to Northern.
Craig Mattick: Wow. Bob had an influence on a lot of guys to come to Northern and play. Was coaching ever in the back of your mind at that time?
Arlin Likness: Yes. After I got hurt, it became more prevalent. When I did my student teaching, I ended up taking the kids that got cut from the two junior highs in Aberdeen, which would've been Simmons Junior High and Holgate Junior High, took those kids that got cut and happened to have the right connections where I got a key to go to Dakota Hall and we practiced a little bit and then went into the Y tournament. And it was really fun because we ended up playing both those teams in the Y tournament and ended up winning, which then made me feel like, well, maybe I do know what I'm doing.
Craig Mattick: Did Bob Walks have any influence on you at all on coaching?
Arlin Likness: Yes. Yes, he did. He did. John Bruce especially did back in Britton. Al Symme was the only coach I had for football. I had him in junior high, and then when I went to high school, he went to high school. He actually suggested that I not play as a freshman. I tried to go in for football and he realized that it was pretty warm out and I had a coat on and he made me take the coat off and I put some rocks in my pocket to try to weigh 100 pounds and I didn't weigh 100 pounds, so I ran cross country that year. We had a pretty big team and he said, I don't think you should... I just don't want to have to worry about that. So, I ran across country and then got a little bigger by the time I was a sophomore, I've got up to at least 135 pounds by the time I was a sophomore so I could play.
Craig Mattick: Yeah, I think you're barely at that now, coach. You've done well, I think. Your first job though out of college is at Hamlin, we're talking, it's 1979. What made Hamlin your choice? Did you have other possible interviews to be a teacher or in athletics after college?
Arlin Likness: Yes. I actually had a contract from Sully Buttes and one from Wellmont, but my girlfriend at that time was teaching in Watertown and Hamlin was a lot closer, a lot less driving if I took that. Plus, I really wanted to learn stuff under Wayne Carney for basketball. So, those two things made it a good choice if I got the job. And actually, the reason I got the job was because of John Bruce. The principal at Hamlin, at the middle school at that time where I got employed was Larry Aho, and he had played for John Bruce, region baseball when John Bruce was in Hayti, and I did not have him down as a letter of recommendation, so he called him and Coach Bruce gave me a decent recommendation, so he hired me and then the rest of it, I guess, became history.
Craig Mattick: So, you're the assistant coach in both, what, basketball and football. Of course, football didn't have the playoffs yet back in 1979. What did you teach, by the way, at Hamlin?
Arlin Likness: At Hamlin, for the first seven years, I was in the junior high, so I had a couple classes of civics and the rest were PE. And then in '86, '87, I think it was '87, I transferred to the high school and then I taught government world history, U.S. history, and had a PE class besides. I had a social science major and a physical education major.
Craig Mattick: Your plate was absolutely full. Plus, being an assistant coach, of course in the smaller schools, you got to do that, don't you?
Arlin Likness: Yeah, yeah. But I kind of loved it, so it was right up my alley. Being at the junior high when I first started was really good for me. Having Larry Aho as a principal and administrator was really good for me. It helped me. And along with that, I ended up... If you recall, Dana Trumm was a starter for Hamlin in '74 when they won it. He ended up coming and student teaching at Hamlin. Back then you could do that. And I had him as a student teacher, even though he's probably a little bit older than me in the... We're about the same age. But that was kind of fun. Everything seemed to be on the right end, and having Coach Carney as a mentor really helped because I took a lot of stuff from basketball and used it in football to relate to the kids, and that really helped. Plus, it didn't hurt that we had some pretty good athletes.
Craig Mattick: You talked about Wayne Carney, the head basketball coach at Hamlin at the time, of course, went on to administration at Washington High School and of course the South Dakota High School Activities Association. I know you wanted to coach basketball early on. What did Wayne though teach you about being a basketball coach?
Arlin Likness: I think a lot of it was just the consistency and philosophy, knowing what reinforcing defensively, how hard you have to work if you're going to be good. And that was kind of right up my alley because in high school I probably wouldn't have played if it wasn't for defense. My offensive abilities were limited to start out with. I put a lot of time in. Prior to that, in seventh grade, I really had a hard time trying to decide if I should be a wrestler or a basketball player. I didn't have to cut weight to wrestle 98, I could gain 10 more pounds and still be in the limit. And so, all that kind of coming together. But Wayne was just a positive influence being in the state tournament consistently, and I just used that. Plus, the head coach for football, my first year was Vern McKee.
He was running the radio station up in Watertown. He'd drive out and that was also... And he gave me a lot more responsibility, so I started trying to learn a little bit more about football. And that same year, I was also head track coach, so that kept me from too much grass growing under my feet. But I was single and so I could do a lot. I lived in Lake Jordan, so I loved we'd call basketball practice over in the... and I had freshman and sophomores, but then a lot of them would stay around and we'd scrimmage and some other guys would come in that were around my age, and then we'd play some pickup games and do some. And those guys stayed and played and had fun and that just re-encouraged everything else.
Craig Mattick: Yeah. These first few years you're at Hamlin, a lot of excitement. The boys' basketball team is making to the state tournament and then when the football playoffs started, Hamlin is in the football playoffs. Exciting times for you to gain a lot of information as a coach. Was that something you were constantly working at as trying to become a better coach, whether you were the assistant or not?
Arlin Likness: Yes, exactly. And then along with that, here's another interesting point. Lake Preston had a very good team back then and they had beaten us by two and then going into the tournament, we end up beating them on a last... Well, it ends up being a last second shot where Tetzlaff makes it and gets fouled and goes to the free throw line with no time on the clock and makes it. What's really great about that for us or for me was it ended up being the exact same score as my senior year when we got to the state tournament and we stayed in the exact same hotel rooms. I actually stayed in the same room as a senior in high school as I did as a first year assistant coach in the state tournament.
Craig Mattick: Eventually though, we know you really wanted to be a basketball coach, but when was the transition that football may become your better love to get into that sport?
Arlin Likness: Well, probably about in '89 when we'd been beaten out or been in the semifinals seven previous [inaudible 00:15:04] since we were there in the fall of '82 and lost in overtime the Wagner.
Craig Mattick: 13 seven was that final. Yeah.
Arlin Likness: Yep. And had a couple of turnovers that cost us, and I was not very good offensively as a offensive coordinator at that point and found an offense in the summer of '89. I went to camp in Sioux Falls. Steve Peter was there and Jim Uttecht and they both helped me and I fell in love with the double wing [inaudible 00:15:43] and put that in '89. And of course, then we had success. Instead of getting beaten in the semis, we ended up winning it in '89, '90, '91 and getting back there in '92. And so, that's when I really thought, okay, maybe I am a little better football coach than basketball. People looked at me more as a football coach than as a basketball coach at that time. Plus, I have a voice that's probably better for outdoors in the open air than in the gym one. My voice is pretty loud, and so it's a lot nicer to be outside where it just goes out into space and it's not as bad as when you're in a small gym if you're barking. So, I learned to have to control that too.
Craig Mattick: Arlin, it's the early '80s at Hamlin. And at Hamlin I heard there were no weights for the training for the football program and you, in fact, I should say your wife said it was okay for you to go buy weights for the school. Is that true?
Arlin Likness: This is true. I drove my little LUV pickup to Canastota. Mike Berg was the shop teacher there and had weights and so forth, and I loaded it up and brought it back. It was all great because then the school district paid me back a year later when they saw the results. But the thing that probably cost in the long run of that is I took my wife's, some of her teacher retirement and spent it on buying weights. I don't know if that's really paid off in the long run, but it has overall, because we also then bought a video machine and it was a backpack you'd carry on your back and I wanted it for football and then we used it in basketball and of course after we did that, that would've been the year that we, in the fall we got the and football and then in the winter we ended up winning the state and basketball in '83. So, pay off. I probably didn't think it all the way through, but I knew what I wanted at that time and at that moment and it all paid off.
Craig Mattick: I think your wife knew what she wanted too. Without her, it probably would've never happened.
Arlin Likness: This is true. She's been more of an assistant coach in so many ways, it's unbelievable. She stuck with me for over 45 years now, so that's a good thing.
Craig Mattick: That's great. That is great. At Hamlin, you win three straight football titles. You're seeing a lot of success there. You're playing 11B football, you're there for 16 years, over 100 victories while you're there. Why was Hamlin so successful in football during that time?
Arlin Likness: The kids bought into it, the right attitudes, they're competitive, but all of a sudden, you have a playoffs which bought into it more then. Before that, you just had basketball playoffs or state wrestling where all of a sudden now you had another team sport that you could... And so, that carried over. They liked to win and they still do. Matter of fact, I think last week Jeff Sheehan with his win, I think surpassed me on the number of wins as a football coach there. So, congratulations to them and to him on their success as of late.
Craig Mattick: 16 years at Hamlin, things can get fairly comfortable in that time, but you know what, you at that time then get hired as an assistant in Yankton. We all know the football program there. The legendary coach, Max Hawk, then Jim Miner. So, what interested you to leave Hamlin and go to Yankton?
Arlin Likness: The biggest thing is I had four kids at that time. I needed to make a few changes and Wayne Carney and Carroll were leaving. [inaudible 00:19:56]. Doug and Jan, they ended up going to Elk Point-Jefferson, and so we decided it was a good time and the right offer. Yankton was very good. By the way, I was actually had Hamlin 15 years. The fall of '94, we were in Yankton, so that put me at 15. But then talking at the interview and talking there, they were saying that Max already announced that he was going to retire. Could have a year under max, which I thought was good for me to keep learning and my salary increased quite a bit.
One of the big keys was we had the identical insurance between Hamlin and Yankton, but at Hamlin, they pay for my single and my wife's single because we were both teachers, but we still had to pay a couple hundred dollars for family, where in Yankton, I was the only one at the start that was teaching and it cost $48 a month for total family and had the same coverage. And so, that was a big plus. Plus, they gave me all 15 years of experience there, which at that time, Yankton's salary was one of the best, in the top three for sure in the state. And so that was also another good calling.
Craig Mattick: You go though as an assistant coach. What was the biggest change for you being an assistant in Yankton after being the head coach at Hamlin all those years?
Arlin Likness: I think the biggest thing is it allowed me to relax and not put so much pressure on myself, contribute where I could and learn. You had Bob Winter there, you had Max Hawk there, you had Jim Miner there, you had all kinds of people to learn from. When I went to Yankton, I realized real fast, my 15 years of experience was not much compared to those guys. I think I figured out between the junior high coaches and the high school coaches, they had almost 150 years of experience, a lot of them with 30 some years of experience at that time. And so, I figured, okay, this is a place where I can probably tap some grains and try to learn some things. And so, I enjoyed it very much. And the following year, even though I'd kind of thought I was going to be head, then Jim Miner decided he would like to try it as head and I really felt he deserved it.
He is a great guy, been an assistant for 33 years, and so I had no problem. He allowed me to be the offensive coordinator, and so we went that way. I did not apply for the head job and it turned out really well. It was a good experience all the way around. I got the call offense and we communicated and worked well together, the whole coaching staff. And so, it was just a really good move for us and for our kids. It allowed them to... definitely a lot bigger program, but the fine arts and so forth at Yankton were really good. My wife was a dancer and our daughters were into dance and they had two studios here. So, overall, it was a very, very good experience for us to come to Yankton.
Craig Mattick: It always intrigues me with football coaches and their offensive minds. You're running the offense up at Hamlin and then you're getting involved with Yankton's offense. How big of a playbook was there, what the big difference in plays that you had in Hamlin compared to the plays you're doing in Yankton?
Arlin Likness: I learned quickly when I got to Yankton that Max's playbook was a lot smaller than mine. So, it shrunk a little bit, but it was good to learn why it shrunk and what you could get done with less. And then the next year, when I became the offensive coordinator with Miner, Miner let it grow a little bit, but he said, remember, we've only had these many plays in the past, so we're not throwing the whole playbook at them. Pick out those that you think we need. And of course, the other part of that that went well is in '94, Max's last year, we went undefeated, won in double overtime against Stevens. They had Peter Martin as their quarterback, and we ended up winning there. And then the next year we had a lot of kids coming back and we ended up beating Brandon Valley in the state championship. My first two years at Yankton as an assistant, we were 24 and 0, which also reinforced that I had made the right decision and we were doing the right things.
Craig Mattick: Well, your first year as head coach at Yankton, you made it to the Dome, right? Was that the year you played O'Gorman and oh, the matches between Yankton and O'Gorman in those early years and the football championships and the Bucks win it 28, 23, what was special about that game for you about that year?
Arlin Likness: Well, on paper, O'Gorman was definitely the better team. Our kids believed in each other. We came a very solid team and executed very well. My biggest thing is when I went to that camp, the plays I ran against O'Gorman that year in '99 for our first three touchdowns were definitely O'Gorman plays just out of a little different look. I owe part of that to Peter and Jim for helping me out, but just the growing together as a team and uniting. That year in '99 we lost to Brandon Valley and I had one player that I was kind of disciplining because he had missed some practices and that kind of cost us that game because he played a key spot and he was a very good player. But it all turned out at the end because we all gelled together and overcame. We actually played Roosevelt twice that year and Roosevelt had a very good team.
Matter of fact, he had Overton, was it Ryan? The oldest one was a pretty good player for him and we had to stop them. In the regular season, we ended up blocking a field goal and winning 13 to 12 and then in the playoffs we had to come from behind. And actually, I remember the play, we ran a bootleg pass and Adam Niffen caught it in the end zone thrown by Mike Stolz and we had took the lead. To get there, we threw the hook and ladder and did a few things that worked pretty well for us. And then all of a sudden, I had been in so much into the game. I had not realized how big the crowd was, but all of a sudden, when we caught that touch in the zone, I'm looking, there's people standing all over in the background. That was before you had that restraining fence.
And all of a sudden, I look around, I go, holy molly. And I think Hod Nielsen had in the paper there must've been close to 5,000 people at Crane Youngworth that night. That's just a special memory, first year head coach and getting it done. And the first game that season was a fun one too because we went up to Watertown and we ran three offensive plays and had 28 points on the board, which was not expected, but it really helped our kids jump onto believing what I was doing, we could be successful.
Craig Mattick: You would go on to win four state titles at Yankton, including what I think was quite amazing, the back-to-back overtime wins over Brookings and Peer that would've been in 2014 and 2015. How much a difference was the Yankton team between those two title teams where you had to go to overtime in the championship back-to-back years and win both of them?
Arlin Likness: We feel fortunate and so forth. If you remember the first overtime game we lost to Wagner when I first started, but fortunately enough as a head coach, never lost another overtime game, which was nice. And a lot of it wasn't what I did, it was what our kids believed and what the other coaches did. And so, we'll take it and run with it. But not only did we beat Peer in 2014, and that game was special because we had two kids that had moved up as sophomores were both not playing that night. One for disciplinary reasons, the other for an ACL tear. And we came through without those two players and still won a state title. What's interesting about the next year is that we ended up getting, when we played on '14, then we turned around and opened up the season with Brookings the next year and we'd won in overtime. Well, went five over times in Brookings and won that first game.
Between playing Brookings twice, the last game and first game, we actually got a quarter and a half more football playing time between the overtimes. But then in '15, we lost a quarterback right away. Reid Sawatzke was really pretty good. He had torn an ACL before in baseball, basketball in the summer and then it came back and it tore again, and then we had to look for a quarterback, but we ended up losing three games right in the middle of it. I think we were at the President's Bowl, we got smoked by, was it Washington? We got beat by Peer. We got beat by two bigger schools and then we got beat by Peer. I knew we had to make some adjustments, so I changed quarterbacks again and went with a junior by the name of Nate Stevenson and he was very calm and collected and put too much on his plate, but he really managed it well.
And then I went to some wildcat formations and with the hopes that Peter didn't pay too much attention to us and one of them was Tanner Frick who went to the gun and was a quick little back and ended up creating a lot of good things with that. And we were on balance part of the time and did some things and we ended up getting them in overtime after they had beaten us pretty bad during the season. I think they ended up beating us like 36 to six or eight in their regular season. And then we ended up getting them in overtime, which was really self-fulfilling for those kids to understand if you stay and believe and work hard, good things can happen. '14 and '15 were really fun years. Kids really made a strong commitment and we worked hard.
In '14, we ended up beating Brandon Valley in overtime when I was sick in the hospital. That was the only game I missed when I was a head coach. And then we had played O'Gorman in overtime in 2014. Went undefeated that season but had some really tight games and felt really good about it. And then of course, in '15 then that's when we had came back and had gotten beat three times pretty bad and still came back and won. So, the kids were believing in what we were doing and the execution. We just grew and got better at the end of the season. And so, one of those things that you talk about, it's not to help you win the state title, it's if you're playing your best football as you can at the end of the year. We did that in both those seasons, which made it a really fun season and got the state titles along the way.
Craig Mattick: You mentioned the playbook was pretty small with Coach Hawk and Coach Miner when you became the head coach, did that playbook get a little bit bigger there, Arlin?
Arlin Likness: Yeah, if they can take away this, I like to be able to go to something else. But at the same time, you got to have the kids that are... At that time, it was a good match at Yankton because the kids were into football, and so they were eating it up and I could give them a lot of things and it wasn't too much for them. You can find that if your kids aren't into as football as much, you give them... If they don't understand what the principles are or what you're trying to do, then it becomes more of a challenge. But with those guys, it was pretty easy and pretty flawless.
A lot of people probably wouldn't believe it, but the big plays that went for touchdowns against Washington in 2002, we had put in on Wednesday, Thursday night before the state championship and they executed them perfectly and Mason Vig was the quarterback for those big plays and he only threw three completions, but they were for a couple hundred yards. And then Cody Garvey while I was rotating quarterbacks and then Cody Garvey basically managed the rest of the game, short passes and so forth. So, it was a good combination.
Craig Mattick: I know you always had a handful of gadget plays ready to go, Arlin, whether it was the hook and ladder, the halfback pass, Statue of Liberty, you always seem to know when to run that gadget play. Which one's your favorite?
Arlin Likness: Well, my favorite would have to be the hook and ladder. It's won more games for us than I can count. It's been pretty successful for us, but there's a lot of other things that I like, but those are, I guess, my bread and butter when you come to critical situations. If you have the right athletes, you can make them work.
Craig Mattick: Crane-Youngworth Field is one of the most iconic fields in the state, no doubt about it. I know you've got a few favorite memories with games at Crane-Youngworth. You mentioned that Roosevelt playoff game where, by the way, you threw the hook and ladder. Is there another game or two that just still stands out in your mind playing a game at Crane-Youngworth?
Arlin Likness: Yeah, there's a lot of them. When I was an assistant with Miner, I remember we were playing Sturgis in the playoffs and we were pretty deftly that year. I think that would've been in '95. And they took it down and just marched it right down our throats. And I just remember Miner goes, "What do we do?" And I suggested that... we had a kid by the name of Lance Peterson that we'd put him in at nose guard, even though he just started on offense and we put him in at nose guard, the next three plays, I think they were last yards, he was just disrupting everything and just he was after it, and it changed the whole game. We ended up winning. We were down seven-nothing and ended up winning 47 to seven, I think. And so, that type of thing.
And another big one would've been a Brookings, I believe it was 2005. They had just went down and scored to take the lead and we had a minute something left, and we ran the Max Hawk famous reverse on the kickoff, but we faked it and we had the two backs back there were Drew Heithoff and Tyrel Kool. And I'd brought Tyrel Kool up previously because of his speed for returns, and so faked that Tyrel had the ball, but Drew Heithoff kept it and they all bit that Tyrel had it and so we ended up scoring a touchdown on that play and put the lead back and ended up winning the game, which was pretty deflating for Brookings, but a heck of a win for us.
Craig Mattick: 2017, you retire as head football coach at Yankton. What was the reason to retire after 261 career wins?
Arlin Likness: Realistically, it was because of the age. Yankton gave a pretty good bonus if you took early retirement, but you had to declare it before you turned 62, and I was going to turn 62 in the spring of 2018, so 2017/18 season. And I decided I couldn't afford to lose that much money, and so I took it and I guess never looked back. I was willing to get out of the classroom. I still wanted to coach, and so I got lucky, the right things happened, so I still was able to keep coaching and still doing it, but that payoff has really helped us out even though now Yankton, I think that same year, might've changed their policy after that so that you could go until your 65 and still get the early retirement. But at that time when I applied, you had to retire before 62 in order to get the payout, so that's what we did.
Craig Mattick: You mentioned at the time that your wife had a large honey do list for you. You must've got it done pretty quick because it didn't take long for you to come back from retirement.
Arlin Likness: Well, I shouldn't have brought that up. There's still a lot of honey do lists that I need to do. So, I didn't quite get done with everything, but we did get a garden in and did do some good things. One of the things that really helped after 2018, I met with some people from Hamlin and so we ended up going back up to Hamlin just to coach from 2019 through '22 and we're able to live on Lake Poinsett in a very nice place. There's a pontoon boat there and a hot tub and some things like that. So, it was kind of a vacation away.
Craig Mattick: Nice, nice.
Arlin Likness: And so, I got the new junior high football. I checked with the superintendent, he was okay with it. I don't know for sure if Jeff Sheehan really wanted me to be there or not, but the basketball coaches did. So, I did both girls and boys practices and games. So, I got in five basketball games a night, so I got my fix on basketball at the same time. I found out that I actually did a pretty good job with the junior high football. I could handle that pretty well. Matter of fact, this year seniors at Hamlin, my last year there were eighth graders, and so we had a pretty good run with those guys in junior high. That was a great deal, but then we decided we should get back here. And when I came back here, then Beresford made an offer again to come back and help there, and so I've been there ever since, since I came back in 2022 and have been there, still there this year.
Craig Mattick: When I look at basketball, you were the assistant boys' basketball coach when Yankton won the title in 2018. Let's see. That's seven football titles with Hamlin and Yankton, two boys' basketball titles as an assistant coach at Hamlin and Yankton. I don't think I can name any other coach in the state who has anything similar to what you accomplished there, Arlin.
Arlin Likness: Well, I was fortunate, like I said, a lot of good coaches and a lot of good players. The other thing that came into play when you brought that up is that I also got to Hamlin and time to be an assistant coaching track for three state track titles, one and boys and two and girls. That was a nice compliment. And then my early years here, I was one of the assistant coaches with the teen baseball team. And we were fortunate, I think it was in '96, to get to the state championship. We ended up getting beat three to two by Sioux Falls East, but then back then, you could turn around and still challenge the age above you. So, we went against the 15 and 16 year olds, managed to win the region and get into the state tournament with that. But our first round we had to play Yankton who smoked us, but it was kind of fun to be in two state tournaments.
And that happened to be those same kids that were seniors in '99 were the kids that I coached back in baseball back then with Bill Conkling. That was kind of a fun adventure too. I've had a lot of good experiences with a lot of success but because of the people and the athletes that I happen to be around. I got to start coaching when there's a guy by the name of Mark Tetzlaff playing and Mickey Hoagland.
Craig Mattick: That helps.
Arlin Likness: Yeah, there was a lot of good things there. Later on, Justin Ingalls, who was a longtime official also that played Chad [inaudible 00:40:12], a lot of really good athletes that I happened to get to be a part of their success. And then coming to Yankton, we can go through long list of really good athletes. I remember coming here and looking at what the talent was, in '94 '95, the depth at Yankton was so good that a lot of those kids that hardly got on the field in 94, 95, if they'd have been 10 years later, could have probably been starters. But because of the depth that we had at that time, my son gets here and when he starts seventh grade football, we've been there a couple of years, there's 107 kids out for football his seventh grade year. So, you could tell that the football fever was at Yankton. Max Hawk had established it and Miner kept it going and hopefully, I kept it going. So, those are all positive things.
Craig Mattick: Arlin, did you ever have a chance to maybe leave the high school ranks and go coach college football?
Arlin Likness: I did have a couple offers after 2002 here at Yankton. That team happened to be... There were a lot of really good athletes on that team. We actually had what I call buck power and I'd put two, Bobby Jones and Justin Frick, in the backfield and brought in a Vince Bader who was 300 and some pounds, and Brian Feilmeier who was 295, a junior, and we averaged 263 pounds, all 11 guys. After that year, I did have a few small college offers, but the interesting thing, I wouldn't have been teaching anything, I would have just been the head coach, but I'd have to take a pay loss to go from Yankton to either the schools that offered me. And at that time, where my kids were at and how we were enjoying Yankton, we sat down and my wife and I talked about it and we included the kids a little bit, but decided that I was enjoying high school and knew I could keep having success here, and so we kind of stayed right where we were at.
We like Yankton. We've been retired and moved up to Poinsett and came back. And Yankton is... the church, the community, the people, it's all been a very good thing in the school.
Craig Mattick: One of the things you were known for was the team building activity before the season started. What were those and where did it come from?
Arlin Likness: Well, originally, I got a lot of that idea from Coach McElhany out of Watertown. He used to take his kids up to the YMCA camp or Pickerel Lake and that area, I knew that. So, I kind of stole that idea and then started building on what we could do to become competitive at camp and yet do things. And the success we had at Hamlin, a lot of it came... We went to camps and did great things by going to camp first. And then when I got to Yankton though, they didn't allow that until later on and finally convinced him to do that. Probably about 2014 was probably the first time we could. So, we went to a camp in Nebraska and of course, then they changed rules and so forth, but there's still ways that you can do that.
In 2018, we did that at Beresford. We did a early camp and it worked really well. I know when you want to talk about that, guess who does that all the time in the class 11A? No, I got to get this right, 11AA, now that is Steve Steele out of Pierre. They go to the river and they spend the first three days there all the time and of course, look at his success rate. There's something to be said about that. What you do and how you do it, that's kind of irrelevant, but a lot of things you do... I like the National Guard to come in. They're very disciplined and they take them through just how to be disciplined. It's actually not anything with football, but it is a lot of learning and a good experience. I like playing game to draw kids together. A lot of times we like playing catch of the plague, different kind of games like that.
We'd have some tug of war. We can do a three-person tug of war [inaudible 00:44:45]. You can also do a team tug of war where you put them on each side. Depending on where you're at, you can have a water hole that they get drug into or not. We usually have a pool close by, so we used to take them to the pool for a little R&R, relaxing and doing some things, just things like that that can grow them together. You can blow up balloons and put their name in it and see how fast it takes them to find their name. The good teams find the balloon and then they hand it to the person that the name is in and they get it done pretty fast. The teams that are more me instead of we, they slap balloons around until they find theirs and that takes a lot longer. You can have a good talk about that type of stuff. That's part of the things I like to do.
Craig Mattick: What's the biggest challenge that today's high school football coaches face?
Arlin Likness: I think the biggest challenge is you got to communicate with the parents and the kids and you need to all be on the same page. It doesn't always work that way, but you need to be as open and as honest as you can. They don't have to agree with what you're doing, but I think that's got to be a part of it. I think that's the more challenging. Before they used to just... When I first started, I hardly ever talked to any parents, now you need to. A couple other things that, when you brought it up that I really like doing. I started doing it at Yankton because of Crane after Coronation, I like to take the team through and walk through in the dark, walk through Crane, holding hands and talk to them at an end zone, at the 50 yard at the end.
You can talk about the history of the school, you can talk about the history of the players that have been there, what you're really representing, and it's not about you, it's about us, the community. I think that's a big thing. And then I like to have them write letters. Players write letters to parents. This year we even tried this, parents writing letters to kids. And I think it just makes a stronger connection for your program and they understand it's not just about football, it's about being a good human being and making good choices.
Craig Mattick: Arlin, you retired as a head football coach in 2017. You retired as the fourth winningest football coach in the state. Since then, Jeff Van Leur of Bridgewater, Emory/Ethan has passed you in those wins. In fact, you're still an assistant coach at Beresford and you beat Jeff and Bridgewater, Emory/Ethan here just recently. But I know you're still involved with coaching, but now you're the fifth winningest coach in South Dakota history. But what are you most proud of your coaching career?
Arlin Likness: Just the success that the kids have had in the sense that they've become better people. They understand what it is to be a father, a loving husband, to do the right thing with the family. That's probably more important than any wins and losses. I didn't get in it for the wins and losses. I got in it to teach. And I think athletics is an extension of the classroom and you got to do the right things. I'll be honest, if you don't know what to do or don't know what is right, I used to say, go ask your grandma, she'll tell you. Privately, I would say, go find a Bible and find out what is right. I think that's all part of making society a better place to live.
Craig Mattick: In Play with Craig Mattick is made possible by Horton in Britton where smiling at work happens all the time. Apply now at hortonwww.com. If you like what you're hearing, please give us a five-star review wherever you get your podcast. It helps us gain new listeners. This has been In Play with me, Craig Mattick. This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
