This week marks my 10th anniversary at Hardin-Simmons and what a topsy-turvy ride it has been.
We have had great teams and bad teams, gone through tough times and shared the thrills of victory and the agony of defeat. I have been very fortunate to be along for the ride for the last 10 years.
I have seen seven new sports added to the lineup with men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and cross country as well as softball. I have seen the Grape Street Complex go from a rocky, dirty lot that was full of horses to a beautiful athletic complex – with a softball field, a pair of soccer fields, a track and two fieldhouses.
In 10 years I have seen coaches come and go and for the most part I have been in the athletic department longer than anyone other than coaches Keeling, Coleman and Wartes and athletic director John Neese. Marcus Wood and I came at the same time. When you work in athletics for a living you see plenty of people come and go in your life, whether it is coaches or players or support staff.
In my time at HSU I have seen games in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, Wisconsin (more times than I want to count), Minnesota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Massachusetts. I also don’t want to count the number of miles I have driven to scenic outposts like Alpine, Clinton, Miss., Pineville, La.; Clarksville, Ark. It is crazy when you take a four and a half hour trip to East Texas Baptist and you feel like it is a home game.
All of those times on the road also are some of my best memories as well. I have seen many memorable things and many humorous things. To the road crew over the years – John Neese, John Wilson, Phil Ashby, Jimmy Pogue, Al Pickett and Tim McCarry it has been a blast and it is one of the favorite parts of my job.
Traveling on the road is not all about the games for the Road Crew. We usually find interesting things to see or do. We have seen baseball games in Oakland, Chicago, Minnesota and Milwaukee. We saw a humongous airplane (the Spruce Goose) in Oregon and they some big Art place in Chicago, while I sat in the car. We saw the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn.; along with the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield and the Space Needle in Seattle. We have seen the Mississippi River, the Pacific Ocean and Mt. Rainier.
Traveling is a fun part of the job, but my favorite part of working at Hardin-Simmons is the students. Getting to play a role in their collegiate playing experience gives me a huge amount of gratification. With very few exceptions we have been blessed with good kids at Hardin-Simmons. Do they always do the right thing? No. They are 18-22 year olds and they make mistakes. However, for the most part they do the right things on and off the playing venue and it is a blessing to have my daughter grow up around such great role models.
Do I have my favorites? Of course, that is only human nature. Do I have the ones that I don’t like? I can count on probably less than one hand the number of players I have come across in 10 years that I can say I don’t like.
I have had the opportunity to publicize 78 All-Americans, 35 ASC Titles winning teams and 36 teams that have played in the NCAA Tournament. We have had two teams make it to the NCAA Semifinals and two more to the Elite Eight.
The thing that I get to see every day that most casual fans don’t is what our kids go through to be at Hardin-Simmons and the sacrifices they make to play sports. They work hard year round to stay in the best possible condition and many are doing that while taking a full class load and working a part-time or even a full-time job.
After working in a Division I school, I saw the type of people and athletes that are on that level and it makes me appreciate where I am even more the older I get. Are the D1 kids more athletically talented? For sure. Are they better people? Not even close. I get to work with great kids every day and I thank each of them for letting me be a small part of their lives.
From the star All-American to the last player on the depth chart they all serve their roles and most importantly they all play because they love the game. It is not about being on television, or playing in front of thousands of people. For our kids it is about playing for their teammates, their schools and themselves. They do it for little public notoriety, but if you think that they don’t do it for the love of the game go to a locker room after the season has ended and you know exactly what it means to them.
Another great thing about my job is working with a great group of coaches and administrators. We have coaches that work very hard at what they do and they have great pride in maintaining the great legacy and reputation we have at Hardin-Simmons. There is a reason that HSU has more than 20 more ASC titles than the next closest competitor. It is because we have great people, who work hard and do things the right way. I appreciate all of the coaches for letting me do my job. They all are very cooperative to my needs and they always allow me to get close to their programs.
I also want to thank John Neese. He hired me to come here and we have a great relationship in and out of the office. He used to be an SID and he knows how the job needs to be done. He basically has given me all of the tools that I have needed over the years to run the sports information office and we have been on the cutting edge of sports information at the Division III level.
We were the first Division III school to do livestats for our home events and we were the first school to have an outside company host our web site. We also broadcast a high number of events on the Internet.
To all of the parents out there it has been a pleasure getting to know your child. I have had the occasional psycho-parent that likes to complain for no apparent reason, but I have had far more positive feedback from parents. I always encourage factual corrections and more often than not those come from parents.
I would like to give a special tip of the cap to Pat and Mitchell Harris. I have been at HSU for 10 years now and for nine of those there has been a Harris either coaching or playing on the women’s basketball team. Kristen played her final game on Sunday and it will be sad not to see them at games as often, because they did not miss many over the last nine years.
I also want to thank my wife Lori for putting up with me for all this time. She has spent lots of lonely weekends at home while I have been working events both home and away. When we first came here we thought we would be here three or four years and be on down the road. However, we have started to really put down our roots and Abilene and would like to be here forever. Our daughter was born here and we love Abilene.
I really can't believe it has been 10 years since I stepped out of the hotel I was living in and saw a orange sky and the wind was blowing 30 MPH or more and I thought ‘What have I done?’. It has been a great ride and I hope it lasts a lot longer.
