University of South Dakota Athletics

Ted Schlafke, who quarterbacked Bob Nielson's undefeated Minnesota Duluth team in 2008, has been Nielson's quarterbacks’ coach and play caller since 2013. The 2021 fall season is Schlafke’s sixth with the Coyotes.
 
In Schlafke’s first two seasons in Vermillion, the Coyotes were led by quarterback Chris Streveler, the 2017 FCS National Offensive Player of the Year who led one of the best offenses the MVFC has seen. USD took down FBS Bowling Green on its way to a school record for FCS wins (8) and was ranked as high as fourth in the country during its 11 weeks in the national polls. Offensively, USD averaged 38 points per game and a Valley-record 523 yards per game while setting a school record for most total yards in USD football history with 6,807 total yards.
 
The 2017 team qualified for the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history and earned its first ever FCS Playoff victory with its 38-31 win over Nicholls. Streveler, the MVFC Offensive POY and Walter Payton Finalist, went on to win the Grey Cup with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, spent two years on NFL’s Arizona Cardinals roster and is a current member of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
 
Austin Simmons took over in 2018 and had the Coyotes ranked as high as 22^nd in the country. In his two years under center, Simmons finished as the Coyotes’ second all-time leading passer with 6,487 yards and with the fourth-most touchdown passes (52). Simmons, a current member of the CFL’s Montreal Alouttes, was an all-Valley honoree in 2019 when USD featured the league’s top passing attack and number two offense which earned them the 20^th overall ranking in the national polls.
 
The Coyote offense led the MVFC in passing for three straight seasons (2017, 2018, 2019). Streveler’s 4,134 yards in 2017 and Simmons’ 3,124 yards in 2018 are one and two, respectively, in USD history for passing yards in a season and the pair combine for seven of USD’s top-10 all-time passing yards in a single game (led by Simmons with 537 yards).
 
The 2020-21 season was reduced to four games in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was enough time to introduce Carson Camp to the offense. The Bloomington, Illinois, native became the first true freshman in USD recorded history to start a season opener at quarterback. Camp finished as the Valley's second-leading passer and was named to the conference's all-Newcomer Team while the Coyotes ranked as high as 20^th in the national polls.
 
Camp once again took the reigns of the Coyotes’ offense in the fall of 2021. His performance as the most efficient regular season quarterback in the MVFC with an efficiency rating of 155.6 and league-low four INTs helped lead USD to their second ever FCS Playoff berth. The Coyotes were the only team in the country to have wins over three top-15 teams in the Massey Ratings, were ranked as high as No. 16 nationally, and used its second straight win over rival SDSU to earn USD’s first home playoff game since 1986.
 
Schlafke helped Nielson and Duluth capture the first national title in program history in 2008. Schlafke was a four-time team Most Valuable Player award winner, three-year team captain and led the Bulldogs to a 33-14 record while not missing a start in his four-year career.
 
Schlafke set UMD records for passes attempted (1,692), completion percentage (.624), passing yards (11,587) and touchdowns (106). His 1,055 career completions set an NCAA Division II record. Schlafke passed for 3,018 yards and accounted for 42 touchdowns as a senior when he was a consensus first-team All-American and finished fourth in the voting for Division II Player of the Year.
 
Schlafke graduated from Minnesota Duluth in 2008 with a degree in finance and a minor in psychology. He began his coaching career as an assistant offensive line coach at Southern Illinois University in 2009 working under Phil Longo, current offensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina. That year, the Salukis finished 11-2 while winning the MVFC title and earning a spot in the FCS playoffs. SIU averaged 219 yards rushing that season, the third-best average in the nation. Schlafke remained in his same role in 2010 serving under offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer, current head coach at University of Washington.
 
Former Coyote defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell hired Schlafke to be his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Montana Tech in 2011. In year two under Schlafke and Morrell, the Orediggers improved to 8-3, won a conference championship and secured an NAIA playoff berth.
 
Schlafke became the play caller for the Western Illinois’ staff when Nielson became head coach there in 2013 and immediately the move paid dividends. The Leathernecks, which ranked last nationally in total offense and next-to-last in scoring in 2012, jumped nearly 30 spots among the national leaders in rushing, passing and total offense in Schlafke’s first season. In year three, Western Illinois returned to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010 and advanced to the second round to culminate a seven-win season.
 
Schlafke’s quarterback in 2015, all-Valley performer Sean McGuire, went on to win a Grey Cup with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has competed in the CFL since 2019.
 
Schlafke is originally from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where he was an all-conference football, basketball and baseball player at Stevens Point High School. He and his wife, Jenna, have a daughter, Jules, and reside in Vermillion.