MARSHALL, MINN. - Football success has been elusive for Southwest Minnesota State since fielding its first team in 1968. It didn't get easier in 2008, when the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference absorbed Augustana, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State Mankato after the breakup of the North Central Conference.
The SMSU Mustangs were 5-6 overall and 4-6 in the Northern Sun in 2009. They also played powerful Minnesota Duluth within a touchdown, lost in a 42-32 shootout with Mankato and blew out Northern State and MSU Moorhead to finish the season.
There was hope. There was enthusiasm for the offseason workouts. And then on Feb. 12, reserve lineman Ben Bundy collapsed during a team warmup. The cause was an aneurysm. The 20-year-old died five days later.
On Feb. 26, a different kind of shock was delivered to this football team: Eric Eidsness, the Mustangs' head coach for six seasons, resigned to become the quarterbacks coach at South Dakota State.
"That came out of nowhere," said Shane LaDage, a senior tight end from Parker, Colo.
Offensive coordinator Cory Sauter, a former Gophers and NFL quarterback, was named interim coach -- and then a month later was given the job.
The shocks were not over for the Mustangs. In May, LaDage was in Indianapolis for an NCAA gathering of athletes. Kasey Uran, a Southwest Minnesota State volleyball player, also was there.
Uran's boyfriend was Derek Klinkner, a sophomore linebacker described as "by far our best defensive player" both by Mustangs teammates and coaches.