By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

SIOUX FALLS — When Ernie Kuyper was a senior at Mitchell High School in the late 1990s, he had a front row seat to the behind-the-scenes recruiting process of his cousin Mike Miller. 

Miller, at the time, was the most heavily recruited basketball player to come out of South Dakota with scores of NCAA Division I coaches making their way to the Corn Palace to watch him play every night. 

Fast forward nearly 30 years, and Kuyper is on the cutting edge of the ever changing landscape of college athletics that has seen drastic changes recently with name image likeness and revenue sharing from conference and television revenue.    

“It’s completely different,” Kuyper said when comparing the college recruitment process of today versus what it was like in the late 1990s. “You have revenue sharing contracts now. Back in the 1990s they wouldn’t give you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because you were breaking rules. Now you can do contracts and do business and it’s great for the game, it’s great for the kids and it’s great for everyone involved because it’s a business.” 

After spending 20 years being a part of the Memphis basketball community in which he helped established Hoop City Basketball, an AAU-affiliated basketball program that has grown to include teams in South Dakota, he took over the newly created role of general manager of the Murray State Men’s basketball program after his cousin Ryan Miller took over the head coaching duties.  

“It’s a dream come true when coach Miller calls you and offers you the general manager’s position at Murray State,” Kuyper said following the Racers’ season opening win over Omaha on Nov. 3 at the Pentagon. “I’ve been in basketball for 20 something years. Basically it's a dream and you jump at it.” 

Murray State Racers general manager Ernie Kuyper and head coach Ryan Miller react to action on the court during the first half of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon Monday, Nov. 4 2025 at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)
:

When Billy Donovan recruited Miller to come play for the Florida Gators in the late 1990s, it was during a time in college athletics where coaches had salaries of $1 million and schools and conferences were racking in millions more from broadcast rights and the selling of rights to have the school and conference’s image to be featured in video games. 

Meanwhile, in return the athlete would receive a scholarship to attend school and get an education. At the same time they would walk by the bookstore and see their jersey number being sold or get back to the dorm room and play a video game that featured their likeness while eating Top Ramen.  

However, things began to change when former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA after seeing his likeness from the Bruins’ 1995 national championship team being used in a video game without his permission.

A few years later another class-action lawsuit in NCAA v Alston was filed and challenged the NCAA’s rules on educational related expenses and argued it violated the Sherman Antistrust Act by having the NCAA and its members fix the price of their labor to zero. In 2021 the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court in which the court ruled against the NCAA. At the same time states like Calforina which is home to numerous NCAA colleges passed a state law that allowed college athletes to profit off their name and image — thus challenging the NCAA’s stance on amateurism.  

“That’s the hardest part of my position, you’re waking up at 3 a.m. because there’s changes and you try to stay out ahead of it,” Kuyper said.  

Under the old set of rules, the head coach was responsible for recruiting and handling everything on the court, while at the same time being in charge of the program’s operations off the court — travel plans, fundraising and media appearances.  

However, as college athletics continue to adapt to a new world of NIL deals and transfer portals, the role of the college coach is changing — taking them more into the business side of the game and less time on the court and the Xs and Os. 

It’s a place where Kuyper feels he can be the biggest assist for Miller. 

“My role is dealing with contracts and I take anything related to business off of coach Miller’s shoulders and let him coach basketball,” he said. “I try to help in all the departments and we have a wonderful team with huge staff and our AD Nico (Yantko) is amazing in giving us the resources to be successful and I just help wherever they need. Help recruiting, help with contracts, help raise money and do whatever it takes to win.

“There weren't any contracts. There wasn’t NIL. There wasn’t revenue sharing. That’s a whole new department for the colleges and us at Murray State we are fortunate and blessed that we have that department. I believe I’m the first general manager in the Missouri Valley Conference and mid-major basketball.” 

Murray State Racers general manager Ernie Kuyper looks on to action on the court during the first half of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon Monday, Nov. 4 2025 at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)
:

As part of his new job, Kuyper had to relinquish his roles with the Hoop City Classic held every December in Mitchell. This year the event will be overseen by Emery’s Brad Bartscher and Buffy Kersey, who has worked closely with Kuyper in other endeavors in the Memphis area. Kersey and Scott Robinson will also take over for Kuyper for the Jack Jones Classic in Las Vegas on December 13. Murray State will open the first game against Akron and includes Santa Clara vs Arizona State, UNLV vs Tennessee State and UC San Diego vs Tulane.   

“I had the time of my life doing that, but this is a step up vertically and you have to step away from it,” Kuyper said of leaving the Hoop City Classic and the Jack Jones Classic. “They are going to be great and we started something great and they will take it to a whole new level.” 

In the meantime, Kuyper said he’s thankful for both Yantko and Miller who both had a vision and understood the role of a general manager to a successful college program.      

“Pretty soon all schools are going to have it. It’s so critical to win if you don’t have it,” Kuyper said. “There’s so much involved in basketball from a business side of things. Even helping put together the charter (flights) and if you’re flying from Nashville to Sioux Falls on Allegiant Air and everything from a business standpoint with budgets.”

Miller added having Kuyper being a part of the program is truly special. 

“Growing up in Mitchell, South Dakota and him getting into basketball, working with Mike for many years, and things have come full circle. It’s a pretty neat deal," he said.   

As for the future of college sports as it continues to move away from the old model and into a new model, Kuyper is pleased. 

“I think this is great. It’s heading in the right direction,” Kuyper said. “The revenue sharing, the NIL deals. This is long over due. It’s going to keep moving forward with the TV revenue and the conference revenue and the ticket revenue. This is long overdue. I love the direction this is going.”

—  605 Sports staff writer Ryan Deal contributed to this story