VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota athletic director
David Herbster is pleased to announce the promotion of
Colby Keegan to Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and the hiring of Zach James, Mandy McCarthy and Rachel Thiner as athletic trainers.
Keegan replaces Bruce Fischbach, longtime USD athletic trainer, as the head of the department. Fischbach retired this summer after 34 years with the Coyotes. Keegan joined the athletic training staff in 2018 as the primary athletic trainer for the Coyote football team. In his new role, he will oversee a staff of five full-time athletic trainers and three graduate assistants with state-of-the-art athletic training facilities in both the DakotaDome and the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
Keegan's full-time staff includes women's basketball athletic trainer
Kylea Sheley, men's basketball athletic trainer
Mo McCrone and the three new athletic trainers.
James, a native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, returns to his home state after four years as an athletic trainer at Presbyterian College (S.C.). He also spent three years as a resident athletic trainer at The Citadel. James graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2014 and completed his graduate studies at California University of Pennsylvania. James will work primarily with the Coyote football team.
McCarthy hails from Newport, Nebraska, and is a 2015 graduate of Doane University. She comes to Vermillion after two seasons as the head athletic trainer at Dakota State. Other stops include a year at Garden City Community College and earning her master's degree at South Dakota State. McCarthy's primary sports will include the Coyote track & field and swimming & diving teams.
Thiner, a native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was a four-year letterwinner on Gustavus Adolphus' gymnastics team. After graduating in 2016, she served as an athletic trainer at Rusk County Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin. A year later, she became an assistant athletic trainer at Mount Marty University before being named head athletic trainer in 2018. Thiner will work primarily with the Coyote volleyball and tennis teams.
