SMSU’s Bigler brings mental toughness to his program
DAVID MERRILL/DAILY FORUM
Southwest Minnesota State coach Brad Bigler urges his team on during the Mustangs 74-70 win over East Central on Sunday.
For those of you who don’t know, I spent a little over two years in Marshall, Minnesota, where Southwest Minnesota State is located. The Mustang basketball team is Northwest Missouri State University’s opponent in the Central Regional Championship Tuesday night.
Marshall is an hour and a half east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the next round awaits the winner of Tuesday night’s game.
While Sunday night’s game took a break from the edge-of-your-seat dramatics, I expect Tuesday’s game to get back to the close-game thrillers we’ve seen throughout this tournament.
The Mustangs match up well with the Bearcats on the floor, but there’s more to it than that.
Southwest has some of the toughest-minded players I know, and it’s a trickle-down effect from their coach — Brad Bigler.
Bigler is a poster-child for mental toughness and the fact that there is more to life than the game he loves so much.
I’m going to take you to June of 2011.
Bigler took his mother, Diane, on a kayaking trip near Sacred Heart, Minnesota. There were rapids on this river, and when Diane went around a corner, her kayak capsized. Brad, who told her that his wife Heather was pregnant just before they embarked, went to her aid as fast as he could.
He was unable to pull her from beneath some fallen tree branches. She drowned right in front of him.
“I just remember her saying ‘I don’t want to die,’” Brad told ESPN’s E:60 crew in a documentary that aired in 2014. “I was pulling on her life jacket. She was probably three feet under the water. Then she just stopped moving.”
He returned to coaching three months later and guided the Mustangs to a 19-11 season. Basketball was part of his therapy.
Less than a year later — June of 2012 — tragedy struck the Bigler family again.
Brad and Heather were on their way back from a wedding with their five-month old son Drake in the car.
A drunk driver, whose blood-alcohol level was four times the legal limit crossed the center line and struck the Bigler’s SUV head on.
Bigler suffered several broken ribs and a broken shoulder blade. Heather was also hospitalized.
Heather was driving the car and received minor injuries. Bigler’s grandmother was left in critical condition, but survived.
No pain, however, was worse than losing Drake, who was killed in the crash.
The 38-year old man that struck the Bigler’s car received a four-year sentence.
He served just two and a half.
The Biglers didn’t think that was nearly enough. Since that day, they made it part of their mission to get tougher sentences for repeat drunk driving offenses. According to a May 2016 story published by KEYC, a Fox and CBS affiliate in Minnesota, the state books call for a 10-year penalty, but that is the least harsh in the area and surrounding states.
The Biglers are calling their efforts Drake’s Law.
The bill cleared the Senate vote unanimously and was eventually signed by Governor Mark Dayton on May 12 of 2016.
Repeat drunk driving offenders will be able to receiver a maximum sentence of 15 years in Minnesota prison systems.
Being mentally tough and persevering has become an everyday thing for Bigler, his family, and his players — whether on the court or off.
If things get tough on Tuesday, expect the Mustangs to fight until the final buzzer.
“Coaching basketball is more than just wins and losses,” Bigler told E:60. “It’s part of my identity. Most of the time we’re producing young men who will make good husbands and good fathers. It’s those values that we teach them in adversity. We teach them being part of a team, and understanding the big picture. That’s what’s important.”
