The South Dakota Mines Hardrockers football program represents the

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers ba ...

(SDSM&T) in college football. In 2010, South Dakota Mines announced that it would end the school's affiliation with the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) to join the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

's Division II beginning with the 2011 season as a probationary member and becoming a full member in 2013. The Hardrockers also went by the "Longhairs" early in their history. They have played football since 1895 with hiatuses taken in 1896–1899, 1907, 1915, and 1942–1945.

West River Rivalry-Black Hills Brawl

SDSM&T's first ever game was an 18–0 loss to Black Hills College (now

Black Hills State University Black Hills State University (BHSU) is a public university in Spearfish, South Dakota. Close to 4,000 students attend classes at its campus in Spearfish, at sites in Rapid City and Pierre, and through distance offerings. Enrollment comes from ...

) on Nov. 28, 1895. This would prove to be a long-standing rivalry.
SDSM&T's main athletic rival is Black Hills State University. The rivalry is generated from proximity, with BHSU located less than 50 miles to the west in

Spearfish, South Dakota Spearfish ( Lakota: ''Hočhápȟe'') is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota. The population was 12,193 at the time of the 2020 census. History Before the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1876, the area was used by Native Americans (primarily bands ...

. Educational differences between the schools also help fuel the rivalry, with BHSU being mainly a liberal arts college and SDSM&T an engineering/ STEM-only research university. The football rivalry is the fourth most-frequently played series in the US, behind the

Harvard–Yale football rivalry The Harvard–Yale football rivalry is renewed annually with The Game, an American college football match between the Harvard Crimson football team of Harvard University and the Yale Bulldogs football team of Yale University. Though the winner d ...

(131), Princeton–Yale (138), and

The Rivalry (Lafayette–Lehigh) The Rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played by the Lafayette Leopards football team of Lafayette College and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team of Lehigh University. It is the most-played football rivalry in the natio ...

(151 games). It is also the oldest football series west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and the most played between current NCAA Div. II teams. Generally, the last game of each season is reserved for the two schools to play, however the two schools may play twice in the same season (early in their history have played three times in a season) or earlier in the year. The teams battle for the Homestake Trophy, named for a mine in the Black Hills area and adorned with a prospector's pan. The rivalry is called the Black Hills Brawl, due to the location of the schools and ferocity in which the teams play each other, or the West River Rivalry, named for the area of South Dakota that both school's inhabit. Since their first meeting in football 1895, the schools have played total of 131 times and to the point of having at least one yearly game since 1919 (excluding the lack of teams from 1942 to 1945 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

). The only years they have not played one game against each other but have had teams are 1902, 1904, 1910, 1911, and 1918. The Hardrockers currently lead the series 65–60–11

Head coaching history

There have been 37 recorded coaches in the school's history.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:South Dakota Mines Hardrockers football American football teams established in 1895 1895 establishments in South Dakota