For Coyote special teams coordinator Phil Ockinga (pronounced AWE-king-gay), Vermillion is his fourth home in the last three years. That's par for the course for some in the collegiate coaching ranks, but Ockinga is unique in that he's welcomed three kids in that span.
 
His oldest child, Miles, was born in the summer of 2012, when Ockinga was transitioning from FIU in Miami to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. His daughter, Claire, came along just before season two began in Hutchinson. He introduced a second daughter, Elle, this past February.
 
"This has been the best move because we found housing right away and got here quicker than normal," said Ockinga. "When I got the job to join Coach Nielson at Western Illinois in Macomb, I moved in March, but Kelsie and the kids didn't move until the summer."
 
Ockinga met Kelsie in Hays, Kan., while working on the staff at Fort Hays State. She agreed to move to Florida when Ockinga got the job at FIU where he spent four seasons. They also got married in Florida.
 
"She's the best coach's wife ever," said Ockinga. "She's always up for what's next and then it's pack the boxes and go.
 
"She's a nurse, so she's flexible in finding work wherever we've been. Right now the focus is on the three young kids at home."
 


South Dakota is Ockinga's fifth full-time gig following a playing career that began at University of Wyoming in 1997 and ended back in his hometown at Hastings College in Nebraska. He's been assigned to coach every position group except offensive line, though he helped direct that groups meeting at Hutchinson when he was promoted to offensive coordinator.
 
"Jack of all trades, master of none," joked Ockinga.
 
Ockinga has running backs in addition to his role on special teams at USD, but what has kept him a high commodity among the coaching ranks is his ability to recruit. He covered the Tampa area at FIU, knows Nebraska and Kansas like the back of his hand, and established numerous relationships with junior college coaches while at Hutchinson.
 
"If you want to be good at recruiting, you have to have a passion for it," said Ockinga. "It's a lot of work. You have to be able to truly evaluate kids, not just athletically, but how they fit the institution you are at.
 
"That's why I'm in coaching – relationships. I don't like the flights and the drives from place to place, but if I can get into a home and meet the mom or dad or the champion in someone's life, that's awesome. And then you have to take care of them when they get here. It's a five-year process, and more often than not there's more mentoring that takes place after graduation."
 
Ockinga rattled off numerous selling points he's found in just a few months in Vermillion – a safe community and one that rallies behind its University, a visually-appealing campus and phenomenal academics. Then he thought back to Miami.
 
"That city would eat those kids up sometimes," said Ockinga. "You'd sell it in recruiting, but really you were fighting it the whole time. Here, I don't have to fight all of those mini issues that you do in big cities. Here, you go to college to get a degree and play football if you're a football player. All those other social things are a part of it and you'll get that here too, but that's not the reason you're coming here."
 
Ockinga will spend much of May on the recruiting trail, then back to campus in June for summer camps and ready to tackle a new season by mid-July. Aside from the July Fourth holiday, that doesn't leave a lot of extra time to spend at home.
 
"I may not be around as much as some parents and I get that there's a give and take," said Ockinga. "But what my kids will see is my work ethic. My father worked on the rail and was as tough as they get. He had a second job as well. He was around enough, but I got to see that work ethic and it was probably more important than anything else."
 
It's 3.5 hours from Vermillion to Hastings which makes this job closer to home than any he's had since leaving Hays. He and Kelsie bought their first house, perhaps the couple's first step in putting some roots in the ground. Here's to hoping Kelsie keeps the moving boxes in storage for the foreseeable future.