Oklahoma Panhandle State University rodeo team members are blessed to be coached by a living legend in Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame member Robert Etbauer. Etbauer took the reins of the Aggies storied rodeo program in the fall of 2015, after serving as an assistant coach from 2011-14 under Craig Latham, bringing his pedigree in the sport to the cowboys and cowgirls who don the Red & Blue vest.
Etbauer is also a member of the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He and his brothers were inducted together in 2013.
With Etbauer as its head coach, the OPSU men have never placed lower than third in the nation. Etbauer has been a part of three of the Aggies’ seven national championship teams (2013, 2017, 2018). In the regional rankings, the Aggies men have placed either first or second with Etbauer as a part of the program’s coaching staff, while the women have been in the regional top-5 in all but one year (when they finished eighth).
Etbauer-coached cowboys have four College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) individual national titles to their credit,
including two – Clay Elliott (2015) and Jake Finley (2018) – in his Saddle Bronc specialty. Additionally, OPSU cowgirl Shelbie Weeder earned the highest honor given by the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association – the Walt Garrison Award – in 2015. Weeder is currently Etbauer’s assistant coach, as well.
Born July 10, 1961 in Huron, South Dakota, Etbauer was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2012. He won back-to-back Saddle Bronc Riding World Championships in 1990 and 1991.
Below is a career synopsis about Etbauer from the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame:
Etbauer was the first of the legendary Etbauer brothers to venture out from their home in rural South Dakota and establish himself as a champion on the rodeo road – the eldest brother who took the lead. He was the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding Rookie of the Year in 1985 and won back-to-back world championships in 1990-91.
A dozen times he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (1988-92, 1994-2000), and he competed at such a high level that 11 of those times he finished among the world top 10 and was seven times in the top five. In addition to those two gold buckle years, he was reserve world champion in 1992 to his brother, Billy Etbauer.
The three brothers, Robert, Billy and Dan, along with their friend Craig Latham – often referred to as “the fourth Etbauer” – dominated the event through the 1990s. Over an 11-year span, Robert and Billy accounted for seven world championships.
They traveled together, pooled their resources and thought of themselves as a team. They performed as a team in much the same way that the 1950s Yankees or 1960s Packers did. Together they accounted for 52 NFR qualifications, including 10 for Dan Etbauer and nine for Latham.
The Etbauers set of three brothers qualified for the NFR in the same roughstock in the same year eight times!
