Why Butler grad Nick Stazer uprooted to coach college football in South Dakota: ‘Takes someone that loves football’
Even when not pitching his college’s football program, Nick Stazer sounds like a brochure reads.
The 2018 Butler graduate, now the tight ends coach at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., speaks glowingly of his current station, six hours away from the nearest major city, Denver.
The area reminds Stazer of Pennsylvania. He said it has a Midwestern feel.
“The town, it’s actually incredible,” Stazer said. “I know I sound like I’m recruiting, but I do love it here.”
Stazer, a former three-year offensive line starter at Slippery Rock University, realizes he’s in the infancy of his coaching career. He’s happy with the progress he’s already made, taking the small step from being a graduate assistant to coaching the Yellow Jackets’ tight ends in just one season. He’s in it for the joy the journey brings him.
“It definitely just takes someone that loves football but also is willing to do the rough work,” Stazer said. “A lot of guys, I think, that want to get into coaching, they want to be immediately a position coach that just coaches football. At the Division II level, you’re never just going to coach football.
“Unless you’re the son of a NFL head coach or you’re a guy who played in the NFL for 12 years, you have to be willing to load buses, fix helmets, do all the stuff that you don’t necessarily think about. ... You have to love the little, stupid moments that aren’t necessarily what you signed up for.”
Black Hills State competes in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. It went 6-5 overall last year and 5-4 in league play. Stazer also serves as a recruiting coordinator for the program, dealing with all of the logistics that go into hosting prospective players. His responsibilities aren’t as glamorous as the scenery around him is beautiful.
His apartment, he said, “is 200 yards from the (Black Hills) National Forest. It’s a big touristy area. We’re 20 minutes away from Sturgis, South Dakota.” The town has a downtown-type hub with shops and restaurants. Stazer’s girlfriend, Reena, moved in with him recently after graduating from SRU. He’s enjoyed showing her around.
“There’s stuff to do. It’s not completely remote or anything,” Stazer said. “It’s like a suburb without a city.”
It’s also the latest stop on a road he wouldn’t have stepped onto without taking a risk.
Stazer dealt with concussions playing football in junior high, leading him to give the sport up. His mother didn’t want him to play for his own safety, but he felt the itch and joined the Golden Tornado his senior year.
After a season starting as a lineman on both sides of the ball, he spent a year on Pat Narduzzi’s Pitt team as a walk-on before transferring to Slippery Rock University. He started 26 games at guard and another six at offensive tackle for Shawn Lutz’s crew.
While at the Rock, Stazer developed an appreciation for the team aspect of the game and eagerly anticipated Monday game plan meetings after poring over film. At that point, he planned on being a teacher, but he changed course, applying for several graduate assistant jobs. A former SRU teammate of Stazer’s knew of Black Hills State head coach Josh Breske, lending a hand.
Stazer’s been tasked with advertising the Yellow Jackets to recruits in Southern California. The state doesn’t have any Division II football programs, so options are limited for players who aren’t plucked by Division I schools.
“The thing about Division II is it kind of ends where we’re at,” Stazer said. “There’s nothing, really, west of us.”
Thirty-two of the 121 players listed on Black Hills State’s 2025 roster are from the Golden State.
“We’re not the closest, by any means,” Stazer said. “But we’re one of the closest schools for them. It’s, like, two hours worth of flights. Unfortunately, not a connecting flight. ... If we can get those Southern California guys out on an official visit in the winter, they almost always commit because they’re totally in awe of what they see.
“I tell them it’s a beautiful area, and then they get out here and they’re like, ‘Wow, you weren’t lying.’”
Stazer isn’t in a hurry, but he does have career objectives on his college coaching path.
“At some point in my life, I want to be an offensive line coach and I want to be an offensive coordinator and I want to be a head coach,” Stazer said. “I don’t know if that’s five years from now or 20 years from now. I’m sort of just on the ride right now and figuring it out.”
