The DakotaDome has been the home for Coyote Football since 1979 with the playing surface named H. Lauren Lewis Field. South Dakota has a home record of 174-86 (.669) as of the conclusion of the 2024 season, including a winning streak of 23 games from 2003-07 and undefeated on the new turf in 2024. The Coyotes won 16 consecutive home openers from 2003-18.
The summer prior to the 2024 campaign, which was head coach Bob Nielson's final season at South Dakota, the DakotaDome had a new AstroTurf installed. It features a bright green grass color with the primary Coyote paw prominent at midfield, plus new end zone look with 'Coyotes' in both the north and south end zones. The new turf hailed a new era of Coyote football as in its first season the Yotes went a perfect 8-0 in the Dome and defeated No. 1 North Dakota State to earn a share of the program's first-ever Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) title.
Ahead of the 2020 Covid season, the DakotaDome unveiled its new renovations to the west side. A project that focused on providing new locker room, team meeting spaces and offices, new permanent seating and club seating, smart lighting, sound and operational efficiencies, and two new main enterances - among other things. Full details on the project can be found by clicking here.
In 2016, the DakotaDome received a new video board from Daktronics measuring 17 feet high and 56.5 feet wide. The 15HD pixel layout is fixed in the north end zone. A new synthetic turf, AstroTurf Pure Grass, was installed in 2012 at a cost of $1 million.
About H. Lauren Lewis: A constant supporter of Coyote athletics and the University of South Dakota, alum H. Lauren Lewis ('38 & '39)Â was instrumental in the building of the DakotaDome alongside then President Richard Bowen and Athletic Director Carl Miller. He was the first and only president of the DakotaDome Corporation, helping raise more than $2 million in private funds to supplement state monies to fund the DakotaDome. A native of Hartford, South Dakota, Lewis received USD's Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in 1973 and was awarded an honorary degree during the 1979 USD commencement exercises ahead of the DakotaDome coming online that fall. He was inducted to the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
