Brett, Nick Young weigh in on South Dakota State University baseball coach Ritchie Price's resignation

Talk about it

By LUKE HAGEN

The Daily Republic

Brett and Nick Young will have a new coach with the South Dakota State baseball team.

SDSU coach Ritchie Price resigned Thursday, leaving the two Mitchell natives and brothers wondering who will lead the Jackrabbits next season.

“We kind of knew he had a lot of potential and he’d go somewhere big,” said Brett Young, who was a sophomore with SDSU last season. “We kind of knew it was coming sooner or later. He’s a great coach and he taught us a lot of things. He kind of put (SDSU) on the map as far as being (Division I).”

Brett, who received surgery on his right elbow last year and has not played in a game for the Jackrabbits, is a pitcher/third baseman for SDSU.

Nick Young is a pitcher for the Mitchell Legion team, but said a few weeks ago that he intends on playing for SDSU as a freshman. He said, because he hasn’t played for Price and hasn’t had time to form a bond with him, it wasn’t much of a shock.

“He called me (Thursday) and told me,” Nick Young said. “I think I’d talked to him twice and once was about him leaving and the other was a couple of months ago.”

Price is leaving South Dakota State to return to his alma mater, Kansas University, as an assistant coach. He was the youngest Division I baseball coach when he took over the SDSU program at age 24 in the summer of 2008.

He was with the Jackrabbits for three seasons, compiling a 103-71 overall record. He guided his teams to berths in the Summit League championship tournament each year.

“I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had here at South Dakota State,” Price said in a press release. “It is a difficult time for me having to leave the players I have grown so much respect for. They gave me a chance at a young age and listened and bought into what our staff was trying to do.

“Along the way, we accomplished some great things and there is no doubt South Dakota State baseball is in as high a place as it has ever been. That can be attributed to the players’ work ethic, mentality and toughness. They deserve all the credit for where this program is.”

At Kansas, Price will work with the team’s offense, infielders, handle recruiting duties and also be the team’s third base coach under his father, Ritch Price.

“I think he had a lot of more opportunity, but he just wanted to back with his dad,” Brett Young said.

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