‘It’s
real authentic Chicago food’: New hot dog restaurant opens on The Strip
An SIU student and his uncle have opened a new restaurant on the strip. From Saluki Dogs to authentic Chicago food, Chicago Hotdogs and More is offering a new option for Carbondale residents and SIU students.
“It’s real authentic Chicago food. A lot of places have tried to open in the past but they just don’t use the same quality products the way we do. The way we’re successful we use real Chicago food and we get it from Chicago,” said Curtis Spagnola, coowner of Chicago Hotdogs.
Co-owner Elijah Krawczykowski is studying business management and entrepreneurship at SIU. His uncle started the business in Destin, Florida. Over the summer they decided that bringing it to Carbondale would be a good idea for the market.
“Chicago Dogs is a Chicago-style restaurant, there’s a couple in Florida. I just figured if you moved it here, we have a big Chicago population, it’s food that resonates with the market,” Krawczykowski said.
Elijah Krawczykowski makes a Chicago style hot dog Oct. 16, 2024 in Carbondale, Illinois. Alexis Lessman | alessman@dailyegyptian.com
SIU Student dies in auto accident
mylee wAlker @myleewAlkerwrites
EDITOR’S NOTE — Mental health support is available to SIU students through Counseling and Psychological Services at 618-453-5371. An after-hours support line is available at 1-833-434-1217.
SIU freshman Lyric Irby died in an auto accident late on Oct. 20, according to an email sent out by Chancellor Austin Lane. Irby was a student in The School of Business and Analytics. She was an accounting major.
Irby is the fourth SIU student to die this semester, the second to die in an auto accident.
No details were provided about where or when the crash occurred. Updates are pending with more information.
Reporter Mylee Walker can be reached by email at mwalker@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @myleewalkerwrites
“I’m from Carbondale, I grew up here,” Krawczykowski said. “My uncle, my father and the rest of my family is from Chicago. I worked
Krawczykowski is a Carbondale native. His family is from Chicago and relates to with the Chicago crowd that is in Carbondale.
for my uncle over the summer in Florida, where he has one of these restaurants. I just felt like it would do well here in Carbondale since there is a big Chicago population.”
The Chicago Hotdogs menu
consists of different hotdogs, Italian beef, bowls of sausages and pizza puffs. They are going to continue adding to the menu in the future.
“The most popular items would
HOTDOGS 5
New head basketball coach looks to bring the winning spirit back to SIU
During practice, head basketball coach Scott Nagy yells plays at his players, watching intently and keeping them on their toes.
Nagy was hired earlier this year following the departure of former head coach Bryan Mullins after the end of the season with the roundone loss against the UIC Flames at Arch Madness.
The contract he signed has a base salary of $600,000, and if the team makes certain tournament appearances ,such as a bid for the NCAA tournament
or a final game appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference; it could add an increase of $50,000 to his salary.
Previous schools Nagy’s coached at include the one he recently transitioned from, Wright State University, and South Dakota State University which he helped transition from Division II to Division I after their 2003-04 season.
After a long practice, Nagy’s day is just beginning, having meetings, participating in community events and preparing for the upcoming season
During today’s practice, Nagy said
14, 2024 at Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois. Nagy is the new basketball coach for SIU and brings a resume of six conference championships under his belt. Simeon Hardley | @Simshardphotography COACH | 12
‘Injuries are frustrating’: Saluki Football lament on injury riddled season
nick pfAnnkuche
npfAnnkuche@dAilyeGyptiAn com
Football is a volatile game and teams have to deal with injuries every year. But not all teams are affected equally. This season, Saluki Football has been on the wrong side of the battle with the injury bug.
Two quarterbacks went down during the season and one during training camp. The running back room has been banged up. Tight ends, defensive backs, linebackers and some of the players in the trenches have all missed time from getting hurt.
The injuries haven’t been an easy problem for the athletes to grapple with.
“It kinda hurt (to sit out),” said Vontrell Charise, a defensive lineman who began the season on the bench recovering from surgery.
Jon Nalley, an offensive lineman who injured his knee during the
INJURIES 10
CHICAGO
Coach Scott Nagy watches along the baseline during the team scrimmage. Oct.
SIU String Orchestra performs amid budget cuts in School of Music
Mylee Walker @MyleeWalkerWrites
Because of the 9.4 million dollar deficit SIU’s Carbondale campus is running on, the School of Music faces massive challenges. However, the students and staff continue to work hard to create, and one of the leading examples of this is the SIU String Orchestra.
Under the direction of Rossana Cauti, an assistant professor of practice at SIU, the SIU String Orchestra performs many different types of string works.
The two works they played in concert on Oct. 15 were “String Serenade, Op. 4” by Tchaikovsky and “Serenade for Strings” by Wolf Ferrari.
Cauti said that she chose these masterpieces because she wants to equip her musicians with the tools they may need in their professional career.
“I chose pieces that challenge them,” Cauti said. “Technically, I choose masterpieces that they should have in their repertoire together with masterpieces that broaden their knowledge.”
The music is not the only challenge for the students. School of Music faculty members and students have been impacted by the budget cuts.
Vincent Jones, a freshman at SIU, is a bass player in the orchestra.
“I don’t have a bass teacher because of the budget cuts,” Jones said. “I have to pay for private lessons.”
SIU junior Maya Bennett, who plays viola in the orchestra, has noticed the impact the cuts have had on her classmates.
“A couple of my friends lost their jobs last semester,” Bennett said. “It’s been really hard.”
When a crisis like these budget cuts are happening, the most helpful thing for those impacted, besides financial support, is community support. The SIU community can support the orchestra and the School of Music by going to events held by the school.
“I think it’s really inspiring for them to watch other students’ excellence in their field,” Cauti said. “I think it’s really, it makes you want to be better in what you do, no matter if you’re a musician or not.”
Cauti says the concerts are also a learning opportunity for the audience.
“It also makes you experience
something that it’s out of your day-to-day,” Cauti said. “The concert also involves some interaction with the audience.”
“The School of Music puts a lot of really cool stuff on,” viola player Cohen Poe, a sophomore at SIU and a senator for the Undergraduate Student Government, said. “There’s a lot of stuff we do, and generally it has someone the audience may know in it.”
Poe, along with many other students in the orchestra and Dr. Cauti, invite readers to watch them play.
“If you go, no matter what, you’re going to enjoy yourself,” Poe said. “It’s free and you’re supporting a friend or family member.”
Any questions or comments regarding the SIU String Orchestra can be directed to Dr. Rossana Cauti at rossana.cauti@siu.edu.
Reporter Mylee Walker can be reached by email at mwalker@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @myleewalkerwrites.
Professor Michael Barta plays his violin Oct. 13, 2024 at Altgeld Hall in Carbondale, Illinois
Dr. Rossana Cauti conducts the SIU string orchestra for their dress rehearsal.
Judson Hyink plays the cello.
OPINION-Media literacy is fundamental, especially in 2024
Mylee Walker @MyleeWalkerWrites
When you read an article, what is the first question you ask yourself? Do you think of the potential bias? Do you fact check? In the age of artificial intelligence and fake news, it is even more important to be media literate. It can be hard to notice these things, especially as technology advances and it becomes harder to distinguish truth from fiction.
Media is a part of our life. We absorb information at every moment of every day. We look at media through our phones, computers and televisions. There are pros to most media, just as there are cons. Media can breed creativity, providing outlets for people to express themselves. It can also spread information quickly, allowing people to learn about things faster.
While this is beneficial, it can also be a double-edged sword. The creativity can evolve into deviance, and morally corrupt media can be made. The spread of information can cause the spread of misinformation.
Misinformation is defined by The National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) as false information, while disinformation is defined as false information that is intended to trick or mislead people. NAMLE is an association of educators who place importance of media literacy.
But many Americans are undereducated in media literacy.
According to Media Literacy Now, an organization that researches and releases data on media literacy, a majority of Americans were not taught how to analyze media. In a survey, they found that 62% of respondents felt they did not have an opportunity in class to reflect on media messages, such as advertising or on TV programs, and how they might affect people’s thoughts, beliefs, feelings or actions.
There has been a call for more cohesive media literacy education
in the nation, with the rise in media exposure in younger generations. Younger people are on the internet earlier than ever, so teaching them how to think critically about the media they are consuming is important.
According to Media Literacy Now, children aged 2 to 8 spend an average of two hours per day consuming media of all kinds. Children aged 8 and 12 spend four to six hours. Additionally, adolescents over 12 years old spend an average of seven to nine hours per day.
This education can be beneficial all of the time, but being media literate can benefit people especially during election years. Candidates and their associates can say things that are half-truths or just full-on lies. There are many places to fact check, one being The News Literacy Project. They have a couple of places to find election information, including fact checking. There are plenty more, like Snopes, https://www. snopes.com/; Politifact, https:// www.politifact.com/ (which is a part of Poyner); and RumorGuard https://www.rumorguard.org/ (which is a part of The News Literacy Project).
The trick to finding the balance is finding resources, of which there are many.
The National Association of Media Literacy Education, https://namle.org/about/, is a good resource because it has a lot of information in regard to media literacy. It has a lot of resources for children, including free activities.
Media Literacy Now, https:// medialiteracynow.org/about/ mission/ is similar, providing free media literacy research.
Media literacy is super important for people to know, and not something to ignore. Most people have seen a social media post that they took as a truth when it was not. Knowing how to process information given to you can make the difference in your life.
I know personally I have been tricked by AI images or fake news.
Illustrated by Dena Rendlemen | drendlemen@dailyegyptian.com
It takes one glance and a moment for you to make a decision about something. It takes another to realize that it may be manipulated.
Especially during election season, please be careful about the information you consume.
Walker can be reached at mwalker@dailyegyptian.com or on instagram @myleewalkerwrites
Mylee
Column: Beyond the newsroom, the power of interdisciplinary research
Carly Gist CGist@dailyeGyptain Com
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes content related to suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988 or visiting the online chat at 988lifeline.org.
My best friend and I’s futures couldn’t look any different. Justyce is studying to become a lawyer, I’m studying to become a journalist. Yet as members of the University Honors Program (UHP), we pride ourselves on interdisciplinary studies.
UHP has brought me more opportunities than I can count. I’ve studied abroad, volunteered with numerous organizations and completed my core curriculum with hands-on seminars. The program keeps me on my toes and always pushes me outside of my comfort zone. Most recently, it led to me doing something I thought I’d never have the opportunity to do as someone in the arts and humanities: present at a research conference.
It started out as a joke, really. Last spring, Justyce and I attended a roundtable discussion about all of the Fall 2024 seminars being offered by UHP. After the event, we approached Darryl Clark, a professor of theater and dance whom I’ve interviewed for several Daily Egyptian stories, to find out more about the course he would be teaching.
The course was called “Games People Play.” It was described as a semester-long exploration of childhood games in the form of theater, film and dance. While the class ended up not aligning with our schedules, and neither of us were able to enroll, we had a great conversation with Clark about the importance of exploring subjects outside of our areas of interest. Because we were on the topic of film, Justyce made a joke about how the honors program, which allows students to propose course topics, should host a class about her favorite movie, “Heathers.”
For those who aren’t familiar with the movie, “Heathers” is basically “Mean Girls” but with murder. The story follows Veronica Sawyer, a teenager navigating the social hierarchy of her small-town high school. She’s recently become a member of a powerful clique but finds that she hates it. One day, her boyfriend, J.D., comes with her to confront the ringleader, Heather Chandler, but the encounter ends in the girl’s death. To clear their names, Veronica and J.D. forge a suicide note in Heather Chandler’s handwriting. But as history proceeds to repeat itself, Veronica learns that J.D. is purposely killing students he does not like because he knows they will get away with it. Clark laughed at our passion for the movie, and told us that while we probably couldn’t host an honors course solely based on it, if we could figure out what was so educational about it, we could submit an abstract for the Midwest Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association (MPCA/
characters, practice using a typewriter and learn about some of the authors we grew up reading in school.
ACA) conference. While neither of us are film geniuses, we are overanalyzers, and we realized that despite using very extreme examples, the movie does have a point.
Teen suicide had reached its peak in the late ‘80s, according to the National Library of Medicine, and cable television was becoming more compelling. When the popular students died in the movie, the school turned it into a spectacle. Suicide notes were analyzed for English class, grief sessions were televised, and yearbook pages were dedicated to the victims. The glamorizations of their so-called “suicides” led other students to view death as a desirable path to popularity, creating a dangerous chain reaction.
We argued that “Heathers” set out to warn society about the glorification of tragedies in the media in the ‘80s, and with its 2010 musical adaptation drawing parallels to the social media age, it’s clear that not much has changed.
We wrote a quick abstract in May, received our acceptance email in June, and began researching when we returned to campus in August after summer break. We wrote a paper diving into three negative concepts from the movie that still impact teens today: performative activism, peer pressure and lack of adult awareness. Our research explored how these topics can contribute to the glamorization of mental illness, and in turn, suicide contagion.
The conference was held Oct. 4-6 at DePaul University in Chicago. We presented our research on Friday with
a slideshow presentation. We then had the opportunity to sit through other panels, including one in the category “Print Media.” It was so fascinating to listen to research in my area of interest from people from all over the Midwest. I learned about the portrayal of girlhood in 19th and 20th century children’s literature, followed by a showcase of the waning interest from middle-grade readers today. A group of undergrads from Indiana University even presented their analysis of Taylor Swift’s name in the New York Times, and their presentation drew interesting parallels to an article I had written for the Daily Egyptian just a week before. The panel concluded with an examination of how journalists are negatively portrayed in television series.
Our paper ended up winning the Pat Brown Undergraduate Award, so we were invited back that evening for a ceremony. Panel discussions along with guest speakers were held the next day as well. Justyce and I spent quite a bit of time with the mentor we were assigned for the conference. His name was Arthur, and while he is originally from Ohio, he is currently a professor of English at a college in Toronto. Never in my entire life did I think I would be able to make connections with people this far away from home.
And because we had a full weekend in Chicago, we got to spend time exploring the city. We were given a free tour of the Art Institute, courtesy of MPCA, however our favorite place we visited was the American Writers Museum. All of its exhibits are interactive. We got to create our own
The conference was an amazing experience, and we don’t plan to stop there. Clark has encouraged us to see how far our research can take us, and we will be submitting to the National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference as well. It is scheduled to take place April 16-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Submissions are open through Nov. 30, via its website, https://pcaaca.org/.
This trip wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our academic programs. UHP, School of Journalism and School of Liberal Arts helped in funding our journey, and I don’t think I will ever be able to express how truly grateful we are for that.
This experience has taught me several crucial lessons that I will need not just as a journalist, but in any professional setting. One, networking is so important. Building relationships
with both sources and colleagues can open doors you might not even know are there. Two, a well-rounded education means putting in work in areas that aren’t your expertise. I might not plan to go into film or theater, but entertainment and mental health come up a lot in my journalism and social work classes. And lastly, the experience reminded me that there is always more to the story. Sure, “Heathers” is a dark comedy, but there’s also a bigger picture behind it. I hope that our research was able to remind just one person that mental health should be taken seriously.
Every story has its layers, and as a journalist, it is my job to uncover the full narrative. By continuing to explore new subjects and fields, I hope to become the most versatile writer I can possibly be.
News editor Carly Gist can be reached at cgist@dailyegyptian.com.
Tourists gather at the Cloud Gate Oct. 6, 2024 at Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois. The popular tourist attraction is most commonly known as “The Bean.” Carly Gist | cgist@dailyegyptian.com
Justyce Petty (left) and Carly Gist (right) hold a certificate for the Pat Brown Undergraduate Award Oct. 4, 2024 at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. The award recognizes the best paper presented by an undergraduate at the MPCA/ACA conference each year. Photo Provided.
Several attendees walk along the “Many Voices” exhibit of The American Writers Museum Oct. 5, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. The museum was just one of the many sites visited in Chicago. Carly Gist | cgist@dailyegyptian.com
be the Saluki Dog, Italian beef and obviously the Chicago dog,” Krawczykowski said.
The Saluki dog is an SIU-themed menu item that includes a hotdog with nacho cheese, shredded cheese, caramelized onions and bacon.
The Chicago dog is on a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt.
The full menu includes the classic hot dog for $5. The chili cheese hotdog, mac & cheese dog, BLT dog, pico dog, cheese dog, slaw dog, sauerkraut dog, saluki dog, Chicago dog and pizza puff all cost $6. It has Italian sausage for $9, maxwell Polish sausage for $10 and an Italian beef sandwich for $12, as well as fries for $5.
“So far, we’ve been extremely busy,” Krawczykowski said. “One thing about Carbondale is they show a lot of love here. They definitely do. And coming up or growing up here, I know a lot of the people and everybody comes in. We have a pretty bustling Facebook
Elijah Krawczykowski garnishes a Chicago-style hot dog Oct. 16, 2024 in Carbondale, Illinois. Alexis Lessman | alessman@dailyegyptian.com
page where we share and repost stuff that we put out. But we are a lot more busy than I thought we’d be. I thought it’d do well, but we sold —
we bought a week’s worth of food for what we buy in Florida — and it sold out in two days.”
Chicago Hotdogs is located at 903 S. Illinois
Ave. There is a parking lot behind the building available for customer use. Krawczykowski said they were originally looking to be next to Levels, but thinks this is a “premium location.”
“I went through that for the late night crowd and catch people leaving the bar, but I love our location. I tell people all the time that I’d rather be here than farther down the strip, because we get two ways of traffic and we’re closer to campus,” he said.
In the future, Chicago Hotdogs is planning on doing renovations to the building such as opening a to-go window and the front of the building for outdoor seating.
“Some bigger stuff is coming down the line, we just kind of do a lot of the organic stuff, you know, being here with you guys, social media and putting up flyers around town. But probably getting the bigger things down the line,” Krawczykowski said.
Staff reporter Alli Goering can be reached at agoering@dailyegyptian.com
Elijah Krawczykowski, a student at SIU stands at the counter of his restaurant Chicago Hotdogs and More.
oct 18 - Nov 9 2024
FALL BASEBALL
Saluki Baseball opened up their two-game fall schedule on Oct. 19 as the Salukis faced the Panthers of Eastern Illinois at Itchy Jones Stadium. The Salukis put up 10 runs and were led at the plate by Cecil Lofton who hit two home runs.
Senior Alec Nigut, a left hand pitcher, said that the team is preparing for the fall and spring season in multiple ways.
“We’re just kind of going about our business, you know, doing bunch of team defense stuff, kind of going over different bunt plays, first and third plays on the mound, just throwing bullpens and kind of getting our work in,” Nigut said.
The Salukis close out their fall schedule and face the Tigers Memphis on Sunday, Oct. 27 at Itchy Jones Stadium with a start time of 1p.m.
Alec Nigut (9) back on the mound for fall ball.
Gabe Petrucelli (6) swings the bat at the ball Oct. 19, 2024 at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. Emily Brinkman | erb_photos_
Dylan Petry (10) pitches off the mound as the Salukis face Eastern Illinois.
Mason Schwalbach (17) gets ready to swing as the Salukis face Eastern Illinois for fall baseball.
Saluki quarterback turned coach returning to the field
Ryan GRieseR RGRieseR@dailyeGyptian com
A familiar face is returning to SIU’s quarterback room.
Michael Lindauer, who had been serving as a graduate assistant on the defensive side of the ball this season, was approved Tuesday by the NCAA to return to college football.
Lindauer previously played five seasons of college football. Two were at the University of Cincinnati, where he backed up current NFL quarterback Desmond Ridder.
His final three were spent with the Salukis, where he backed up longtime Salukis standout Nic Baker. Lindauer missed the 2021 season with a medical redshirt due to a shoulder injury.
Lindauer’s only game action as a Saluki came in a single game during the 2023 season, but he will be the primary backup to freshman Jake Curry. Curry recently completed his first career start in SIU’s homecoming game, a 24-3 loss to longtime FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
Lindauer, who has served as a
scout team quarterback because of the injuries, was able to return due to being granted a waiver by the NCAA.
“It’s been fun to see him out there,” Saluki head coach Nick Hill said.
Hill also spoke about Lindauer’s selflessness to delay his coaching career by returning to the field.
“I think it says a lot about his character of just whatever the team needs right now, I’ll go suit up and play,” Hill said. “For Mike to be able to do that, it’s given us a boost.”
Lindauer’s tenure as a graduate assistant also helps to give a different perspective to both playing and leadership. Not many players begin coaching and return to the field after.
“A lot of players don’t have that experience, and so you’re better for that,” Hill said. “We wouldn’t have hired him as a GA if we didn’t think he could be a coach and respected like that… and so for now to have him suited up, being back down in the locker room every day… you
feel pretty good as far as trusting that leadership.”
The Dawgs have been hit hard by injuries this season. Besides losing multiple starters on the defensive side of the ball, they lost their top two quarterbacks, DJ Williams and Hunter Simmons. Williams, who injured a finger against Incarnate Word, has a chance to return this season. Simmons broke his fibula against Illinois State and will miss the remainder of the season.
SIU’s other quarterback, ET Harris, was injured in training camp and will not play this season. The third-string, or emergency quarterback, is wide receiver Vinson Davis.
The Salukis, who sit at 2-5, 0-3 in conference play and on a fourgame losing streak, are on a bye week and will look to pick up their first conference win when they return to the field in Terre Haute against Indiana State on Oct. 26.
Sports consultant Ryan Grieser can be reached at rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com.
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About Us
The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale on a weekly basis. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale, Carterville, and Springfield communities. The Daily Egyptian can be found at www.dailyegyptian.com or on the Daily Egyptian app!
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The Daily Egyptian, the student-run news organization of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.
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SIU Water Ski Club makes history
Joslyn Cole JCole@dailyegyptian Com
The SIU Water Ski Club recently achieved a big milestone and made its mark on the collegiate water ski community; for the first time in its over 40-year history, the club qualified for Syndicate Nationals, the national championship tournament for collegiate water ski teams from all across the country.
Alex Graves is a member of the Water Ski Club who dedicates his summers to waterskiing. “Everyone did great and continued to improve. It’s crazy that this is even real,” Graves said.
“This is the first time this is happening in school history, so I’m really excited about it.”
Water skiing is composed of three events: jump, trick and slalom. In the jump event, skiers must try to travel the longest distance. The trick event requires skiers to perform stylish tricks, while also not repeating the same tricks. In the slalom event, skiers must complete a multi-buoy course, and be as agile as possible.
SIU’s team is not large, with only about 15 consistent members. While many other schools have around 20-25 skiers and can often have members specialize in specific events, the SIU water skiers compete in all events, due to a struggle to recruit members.
Sean Freitag, the previous president of the team who returned this season as a graduate student, knows all about these recruiting struggles.
“The states like Michigan and Wisconsin or Kansas, where water skiing is super popular… Everybody grew up on a lake or has a cottage or a cabin of some sort, whereas, I feel like a lot of our students come from Chicago or St. Louis,” Freitag said.
A linchpin for the success of the team has been their return to the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, which historically has
INJURIES
season, said, “Injuries are frustrating.”
Cameron Dye, another offensive lineman for the Salukis, understands that injuries can be a tough thing to deal with. He does his part to be a good teammate by offering an open door to those who need it.
“I’m always here for those guys that are hurt,” Dye said. “If they need anything, they can come to me.”
But even though they aren’t able to be on the field, players still want to find a way to contribute for the betterment of the team.
“You try to find how you can contribute… sharing some input on what you saw,” Nalley said.
Though it’s never something players want to deal with, the time off the field can also be a valuable time for the athletes to work on themselves.
“Injuries can definitely deter you sometimes. I feel like it also gives you a chance to build character and have value in other places,” Charise said. “You gotta take it as a learning experience and use the
been a world-class site for water skiing.
The fairgrounds hosted numerous national championship events in the 1970s and 80s, and has recently become home to the SIU club again.
“Throughout the club’s history, we’ve had a lot of really good guy skiers, but it takes both the women’s and a men’s team. So this year, everyone was just playing their role,” Graves said. “The girls did a great job. The guys did a great job. With that together, we were able to accomplish going to nationals.”
The team worked extremely hard to achieve their goal of making it to Nationals. Everyone got to watch their teammates develop and improve their skills.
Sammy Varness, who serves as the secretary of the club, is one of the members of the women’s team who has greatly improved and become a big-time scorer for the team.
“I think to see how much work that all of my teammates have put into qualifying just makes it so much more satisfying that we get to go and it’s something that we’ve never done. It’s our first time in university history going to finals and it’s not an easy thing,” Varness said.
A major part of being able to qualify has been the growth of the team’s abilities.
“We’ve got two jumpers that jump over 100 feet on our men’s team and at regionals, we’ve had two of our girls land their jumps, which is huge for our points.
| @lyleegibbsphoto
time to your advantage. If I’m not able to go physically, then mentally I have to be a step ahead.”
Something that certainly hasn’t helped the outcomes this season has been losing locker room leaders, as three of the four captains have missed games.
Colin Bohanek, a fifth year linebacker, was named one of the captains of the Salukis, but went
down after two games and has been out since.
“A guy like Colin, that’s a pretty special guy to have in the locker room, he’s a pretty vocal leader,” Charise said. “It’s hard to see him go down.”
But as players have gone down, others have risen to take their place. Take redshirt sophomore
Starting to get recognized for the talent on our team is the most satisfying thing,” Varness said.
Recognition for the club began 3 years ago, when SIU qualified for midwest regionals off a technicality. The team continued their rise from there, steadily becoming more known for fielding a strong team and culminating in their placing seventh at regionals in 2024 and earning a wild card berth to nationals.
Several members made the most of the opportunity. Graves placed in the top 10 after scoring a 1310 in men’s trick, Freitag an 800, and Varness a 570 in women’s trick. In the men’s jump, Freitag placed third after jumping 116 feet and Graves placed fifth after jumping 107 feet.
linebacker Ben Bogle for example, who has been a key presence on the defense. In the absence of players like Bohanek, Bogle has stuffed the stat sheet, tallying 54 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 to this point in the season.
“(Bogle) really got a chance to step up with Bohanek going down,” said Charise.
On the offensive side of things, Hunter Simmons embraced a leadership role after DJ Williams was sidelined with a fractured finger against Incarnate Word. However, Simmons’ own season ended prematurely with a broken leg against Illinois State, giving Jake Curry a chance to step up.
Dye said, “Hunter did a great job stepping up for the offense. He came in and he brought that energy. And Curry, he brought the energy as well, really stepped up for us.”
One position group in particular has been able to provide a familiar presence week in and week out: the wide receivers.
Leading the wide receivers is Keontez Lewis. The Wisconsin transfer is first in the Missouri Valley and sixth nationally with
Anyone is welcome to join the club as no experience is required. Those who are interested can contact the club on Instagram @siuwaterski or visit the club’s page on Presence to learn more.
“I feel like people are scared to come out because they don’t know how to do it or they never did it growing up, but I want people to know that that’s actually the case with the majority of the people on the team,” Varness said. “They had no idea this existed and they just tried it and loved it. So I want to encourage people to step out of your comfort zone and you’ll probably end up finding something you love.”
Sports reporter Joslyn Cole can be reached at jcole@dailyegyptian.com.
611 receiving yards and has three total touchdowns in the 2024 campaign. Vinson Davis III, a preseason All-Conference pick, has been a consistent presence too, racking up 319 yards on 31 catches.
The ability of the receivers to consistently get open and make plays has been a stabilizing force to an otherwise shaky offense.
Dye said, “We have great receivers that make the offense. They have really stepped up.”
Even in the midst of a four game slide, Saluki football is not using the injuries as an excuse for poor play.
“We can’t take steps backwards because one guy goes down,” said Nalley. “Anybody’s got to be able to step up to maintain the same level of play.”
With only five games left in the regular season, the Salukis will look to compete down the stretch. Their next action will be on Oct. 26 at Indiana State.
Dye said, “We have the pieces to win games, we just have to execute.”
Senior Jon Sears rips through the slalom course at the National Collegiate Water Ski Association Syndicate Collegiate Nationals in San Marcos, Texas. Photo provided by Clare Johnson.
Quarterback Hunter Simmons (18) is driven off the field after an injury that later was revealed to be a broken leg as the Salukis faced the Redbirds of Illinois State at home Oct. 5, 2024 at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.
Lylee Gibbs
Vulture Festival
Photos taken by Enan Chediak | @enanchediak
The Vulture Fest was held this year Oct. 19, 2024 - Oct. 20, 2024in Makanda, Illinois. Originally, the festival was held on the 3rd weekend of October to watch the migration of turkey vultures south, but now the festival’s name tells a story about what used to be. According to some, the change in the vultures’ migration pattern is a testament to a greater issue – climate change.
Jim Shoftsall from the Free Again Wildlife Rehabilitation Center says that the center has been coming to the festival for at least 25 years. “This weekend is when the turkey vultures would migrate south,” he said. Fifteen years ago a couple hundred vultures would land in the treeline near the Makanda Boardwalk, but it doesn’t happen anymore, according to Shofstall. “Climate change is real,” he said.
Now, the festival continues without the vulture migration and attracts visitors because of its vendors, arts and crafts and live music.
Garrett Burris (left) and Kasey Lee Rogers (right) sing and play during a live performance at the public park during the Vulture Festival Oct. 19, 2024 in Makanda, Illinois.
Diane Kreup walks down the stairs from the road to the Makanda Boardwalk toward the Vulture festival. Diane and Don Kruep drove from O’Fallon, Illinois to the vulture festival and said that they came to the festival because they were looking for something to do and that they love small festivals.
Festival goers walk down the street to the Makanda Boardwalk for the Vulture Festival.
Two vultures sit in an enclosure from the Free Again Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The two vultures were unable to fly and cannot be released into the wild.
the main thing the players need to focus on is less turnovers.
“Too many turnovers right now, some of that just comes from none of these guys have played for me, so they’re still trying to learn the system,” Nagy said. “There’s some unsureness that goes with that and that leads to turnovers, so they’re learning that we’re getting better.”
Nagy said it’s a lengthy and difficult process for him to get the athletes to play the brand of basketball he’s used to, but that’s simply the cost of building a program in the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) era.
“When I left Wright State, for example, I had six players last year that had been with me for four or five years. We were one of the top countries in scoring. We led the country in field goal percentage,” Nagy said. “But those guys knew our offense intimately, where our guys now aren’t even close to, you know, none of them have had any of the experience those other guys had.”
One of the biggest challenges Nagy and his staff are facing is getting the players to be comfortable offensively. Many of them aren’t used to running the type of offense Nagy wants to implement.
“Most people aren’t used to throwing the ball opposed. The game has become more one on one, and everybody stands around and watches that player play,” Nagy said. “I don’t like to play that way. And so I’m having to change the way guys think; I’m having to get them to see the way I see the game. It just takes a while.”
Out of all schools Nagy coached at, he said SIU is the most similar to his time at South Dakota State, as both SDSU and SIU are the only big sports schools in their respective regions.
Wright State came with many other big hitting athletic programs in neighboring cities.
“Where I was in Dayton didn’t have football. We were a small fish in a big sea because we had Ohio State and Xavier and Cincinnati and Miami,” Nagy said. “This has a different feel to it.”
Something Nagy’s learned while coaching is whatever schools he’s at, he has to sell it on the strengths it already has, he said.
“I like being back (at a) school that has football. I think it gives it a better campus feel,” Nagy said. “We had more of a city campus at Wright State (and) didn’t see students a lot, so I like seeing people out on campus walking around looking like it’s busy.”
While Nagy is seeing more students, there’s one important group that he isn’t seeing as much of: his family. Leaving
them in Dayton after building and growing there for eight years was the hardest part about coming to SIU, Nagy said while looking at a picture of them on the wall of his office.
“They were all near us, within 30 miles, granddaughters, and now we have another one on the way,” Nagy said. “But the three boys in that picture are my three oldest, and then the two girls on the end our daughters Naika, we adopted from Haiti when she was two and a half.”
Nagy came here with just his wife, Jamie, and hopes that conveys his commitment to this job, he said.
“That we would be willing to leave that because we kind of had it where we wanted it. We got to see our grandkids all the time around our family,” Nagy said. “But this was too good opportunity for us we felt like.”
According to his staff profile on the SIU Website, Nagy played at Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi in 1988 after helping the team get to three Division III tournament appearances. In recognition of a standout career, Nagy was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
The only thing that’s changed since Nagy played was the introduction of the three-point line, he said.
Nagy said after popular NBA players like Stephen Curry came into the game, the three-point shot has become more of the norm.
“They put (the) three-point line in when I was a junior. You know, it’s been expanded since then, it’s moved farther away from the basket,” Nagy said. “That’s probably the biggest change, the threepoint line has just, continue to become more a part of the game where everybody that plays thinks they have to be able to shoot the three.”
Nagy also notes some key differences between the DI and DII levels isn’t the coaching, but the extra work that comes with it.
“I would say what a coach has to do at the Division II level compared to what a head coach has to do at Division I level.
You’re more of a figurehead,” Nagy said. “I mean, there are just so many more things that are on a plate, and you’re more visible… don’t have anything to do with really coaching the basketball team or recruiting.”
With being a figurehead for the program, Nagy said it’s essential to have a good staff behind him.
One of those major differences came about within the last couple of years: NIL, deals, which allow players to profit off their image. When it comes to those deals, Nagy said he’s not convinced it works well in the player’s favor.
NIL is for student athletes to be a brand and receive payments from sponsorships and other third parties separate from their school.
“It’s become almost a mercenary mentality, where whoever pays me the most, that’s where I’m going,” Nagy said. “I’m not saying that money’s not important, but if that ends up being the only decision over everything else, and I think it happens quite a bit, then what?”
Nagy believes sometimes players leave a basketball situation already good for them for somewhere else offering more money, but not the same level of basketball, he said.
“They’re used to being the star here, now they’re just a role player,” Nagy said. “So…, even though they’re making a bunch more money, they’re unhappy because the basketball is not the same.”
Nagy also holds a somewhat unconventional belief, at least among coaches: he said he believes that players should have contracts and buyouts similar to what coaches have.
“If a player’s going to come here and get NIL, then I think he should sign a contract, and there should be a buyout,” Nagy said. “If he goes somewhere else, he should either have to pay us, or the other school should have to pay us for him to go there for you know, because we’re putting investment in him.”
Nagy said he does feel that NIL is important, but wants to make sure that the principles of the sport are still considered.
“So we have to understand and consider that money is important. Get as much money as we can for NIL, but we also have to merge it with our values,” Nagy said. “We can’t just throw our values out the door and just go throw a bunch of money at people, because they could not be the right people.”
When it comes to people’s expectations for him as a coach, he said he hopes in due time people expect the best from the team. Nagy said he prefers to not concern himself with the media and news, because if he’s worried about outside opinions, it impacts his coaching.
“I’ve learned to shut all that out, all the outside noise, and really limit the information I get,” Nagy said. “If I want to know something, I ask my assistant coaches because they keep track of all of it.”
Nothing is different about the basketball besides the players, Nagy said. Carbondale does mirror Brookings, South Dakota — home to South Dakota State — with a more rural feel than Dayton, Ohio.
“We like living in a more rural area, and we still have plenty of options. We
Coach Scott Nagy watches along the baseline during the team scrimmage Oct. 14, 2024 at Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois. Nagy is the new basketball coach for SIU and brings a resume of six conference championships under his belt. Simeon Hardley | @Simshardphotography
don’t live far from Marion,” Nagy said. “There’s some things about a city like Dayton that are convenient, that you can get to and and you know, we were close to Cincinnati, so we would just, you know, outside of basketball, we had more options and more cultural things.”
Nagy said he spent 21 great years in Brookings and it was a good place to raise his children, but he and his wife will be happy wherever they are.
When it came to building his staff, Nagy said it was mostly interviews. Only two members of the staff from the previous season were retained.
“A couple of guys we kept that were on staff last year,” Nagy said, listing assistant coach Jevon Mamon as an example. “It just helps to have somebody that knows the system here, knows the players that stayed, and so then the other one was Justin Endsley, he’s our director of basketball operations.”
Mamon is going into his sixth year with the team, after working with previous coach.
“Transitions (have) been pretty good, obviously, two different personalities,” Mamon said. “I mean…30 years as head coach, he has a great idea of how he already wants things done.”
Mamon said Nagy’s one to stick to how he does things but is also open to suggestions from staff. He’s someone he’s excited to learn from him as they continue to work together.
“I think the guys know what they expect from him. He does a great job of connecting with him individually,” Mamon said. “I feel like it was one of the easy transitions, even though when you’re learning 13, 14 new personalities and new guys and everybody’s trying to learn him and what he demands from guys, it definitely takes some time.”
Expectations that the entire staff holds for the team are for them to be able to complete every hard possession and keep
a high level of physicality throughout the game, Mamon said.
“We want to be the most competitive, the most physical group, to almost where we will the other team to break,” Mamon said. “As every coach… when you start talking about plays and things of that nature, obviously want a high level execution. But if the effort isn’t there, it’s going to be hard to execute anyway.”
Endsley is going into his second year as director of operations after being a student manager for the team for four years.
“It’s obviously been a big change, obviously with the staff transition back in March, my future was uncertain,” Endsley said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I was fortunate enough in early April to get a call from Coach Nagy, and got to meet with him, and he offered me the position to stay back and be his director of operations.”
The process of rebuilding the team was a big task, but a good learning experience for Endsley to learn more about Nagy and his way of coaching, he said.
Endsley also noticed what seems to be a common factor: Nagy’s intensity.
“He demands a lot out of his players and staff as well, but he gives everyone a little bit of freedom to do it the way they want to do, as long as everyone does it the right way,” Endsley said.
With a lot of new players comes athletes that play different types of basketball, so a big focus is making sure the team meshes well together while on the court, Endsley said.
“He’s a man of faith, man of few words, but he expects a lot out of his staff and players,” Endsley said. “I think that part is really going to help us grow as a team and into the culture that he wants to create here at Southern Illinois.”
Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com.
