Editor-to-Editor: Grant Hubbard Catches Up with Former Spectrum Editor Sam Herder

When you think about North Dakota State's tenure as an FCS powerhouse, you think about the legendary players, coaches, and moments that made NDSU a recognizable brand as a football program and as a university. One former Spectrum editor-in-chief is one of the few who has seen every major accomplishment that the Bison achieved at the FCS level as a student journalist and now as a preeminent voice of FCS football. That person is Sam Herder.

Herder's origin story began like many high school seniors: not sure what they wanted to go to school for, but then a buddy of his changed his trajectory.

"Originally, when I applied to NDSU, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something with sports. When I applied to NDSU, it was exercise science or something like that. But then one of my best pals growing up started as a freelancer and intern for our local newspaper, the Wahpeton Daily News. He enjoyed writing about sports in school, and he told me it'd be a perfect blend." Herder continued, " So I also started to intern at the Wahpeton Daily News, and I liked it. I switched my major before I got to NDSU to journalism."

When Herder got on campus in 2011, he opted to continue his work with the Wahpeton Daily News, writing some columns on NDSU football, but when the Spectrum sports editor left after his freshman year, he applied for the job and held the position for the next two years until he was asked to apply for the editor-in-chief job. He didn't want to apply for it, but the then-office manager, Karla Young, urged him to go for it.

Herder said, "Well, I just want to be a professional sports writer. I don't really want to deal with news, features, opinion, and all that. I just want to keep writing about sports." She said, "Well, you can still do one or two sports articles a week, but this would look good on your resume." So I applied for it. I wasn't really expecting to get offered the job, and when they offered it to me, I asked if I could think about it. They were very encouraging that I should take it. I ended up accepting it, and I was still able to cover Bison football and basketball games, just not in as large of a capacity.

Sam was a student reporter during the years when NDSU was a budding FCS dynasty, and he enjoyed every second of it. "It was the perfect time to start covering NDSU. It was peak frenzy: student tickets would sell out in five minutes online, the server would crash, season ticket waiting lists were super long, single-game tickets sold out instantly, and the tailgating parking lots were packed. I was there to see NDSU go from a sleeping giant into peak frenzy."

Herder continued, "Even after The Spectrum, I covered NDSU for Bison Illustrated and the Devils Lake Journal, and then with Hero Sports. I saw the rise, the peak, and then eventually a bit of FCS fatigue among fans years later. But in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, it was just a wild time with amazing memories of playoff games and making the trip to Frisco the first few times.

While writing for the Spectrum, his favorite article had to do with the former head football coach Craig Bohl: "Craig Bohl announced he was leaving for Wyoming. There was chatter on social media asking if fans should boo him when he ran out of the tunnel for the remaining games. I wrote a column titled something like "Flipping the Bird to Potential Boo-Bird Fans." WDAY ended up coming into our office to interview me about that column."

Herder also had some fun with the headline for the article. "Also, for that issue, the original front-page headline over Bohl's photo was "Bye Bye Bohl." I changed it to "Dis-Bohl-ief" because it was such a shocking story. That headline was way catchier!"

After graduation in 2015, Herder continued covering the FCS for HERO Sports/BetMGM from 2018 to August of this year, but there was no bigger story for him as an alum or a writer than when NDSU made the move to FBS.

Herder said, "It came out of nowhere, but in other ways, it didn't. You always felt it was going to happen eventually, but the timeline was impossible to predict. When Ross Dellenger dropped that Friday night story, it was a shock because usually you see rumors floating around first. But NDSU worked quietly behind the scenes to land a football-only invite to the Mountain West."

Even with the Bison gone from the FCS, Herder still believes the rest of the subdivision will continue to pull its weight. " Some in Fargo think it's a sinking ship, which is an exaggeration. How people in Fargo view the FCS is very different from people in Bozeman, Brookings, Texas, or the Carolinas."

Herder does have some concern over the future of the FCS if some top teams decide to leave for the FBS.

"There's always going to be an FCS because the NCAA oversees the FCS in the playoffs. So even if the top 30 teams move to the FBS tomorrow, the FCS would still be a functioning subdivision. It would just be a lot less competitive, a lot less strong, with a lot less interest, but I think the long-term concern is that Division I athletics gets more expensive and there's more revenue opportunities in the FBS now all of a sudden, especially with the Bison now moving up now all of a sudden; the FBS interest for South Dakota State, Montana, Montana State, while not like super high like NDSU's or Sacramento State's, it's higher now compared to five years ago.

Herder continued, "I think the FCS is not in a perfectly great spot, but I think it's in a fine spot because there's a lot of interest in it still; the TV ratings, the crowds, online analytics and podcast listens and all that are still very high.

While the interest in the FCS remains high for now, Sam does question what would happen if the remainder of the top FCS schools depart for the FBS.

"There's still this great amount of interest in the FCS, but what happens when the Montana schools leave, and Tarleton leaves, and South Dakota State leaves, and UC Davis leaves? Within the next six years. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but if it does, then where does that leave FCS? I think that's more of a concern for the FCS in the future: What happens if more top teams leave?"

Since 2020, we have seen eight FCS schools make the jump to FBS: James Madison, Sam Houston, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Delaware, Missouri State, Sacramento State, and North Dakota State. Sam says to keep an eye on a few schools in particular over the next five years.

In his reporting, he has heard rumors of teams like Tarleton State, UC Davis, and the Montanas (Montana and Montana State) potentially leaving the FCS for conferences like C-USA or the Mountain West. Each school has drawbacks, as Tarleton makes sense for Conference USA, but the league hasn't shared that they are open to expansion. Herder also says that UC Davis isn't ready to make the move up even though they play most of their Olympic sports in the Mountain West already. The Montanas are financially tied at the hip, so until the dollars and cents line up for the Griz and 'Cats. The 41st state in the union will likely stay FCS for the time being.

Herder is continuing his ongoing FCS coverage by going independent with a site on Patreon called "Sam Herder Sports" plus his syndicated podcast, the "MonDak football show".

He also has a message for all young NDSU students who want to get into sports journalism:

"Build connections early. I was naturally quieter as a college student, but networking is crucial. It’s not just what you know, but who you know. Having connections to local editors or national writers can help you get your foot in the door when that first job opening pops up. Build out your clip portfolio, write as much as you can, and talk to people in the industry."