Well it has been an interesting first week – in more ways than one.
Football reported last Thursday for its first day of practice. We also took their publicity pictures that day and I was able to finish up the media guide and send it to the printer. Feeling, I was really actually ahead of where I needed to be in preparation for the season. I was pretty far ahead in the soccer and volleyball media guides so I decided to get out of Abilene for the weekend.
The family and I went for a great relaxing weekend on the river and at the Zetsch Ranch in Mason (thanks Jimmie and Susan). Apparently the rain moved in early Saturday and has played havoc ever since with practice schedules and the like.
I was all refreshed and ready for the onslaught of Monday. Then in the middle of the night my wife and I got what we thought was some sort of bug. I missed out on work on Monday and went in on Tuesday but still did not feel great. My wife had kicked her virus and was back to work.
I got the new rosters on the web for soccer and volleyball and was catching up some other items and decided I was going to stop by the clinic for a shot just to get to feeling better. When I went in he sent me straight to the emergency room with a dangerously low oxygen saturation level. He suspected pneumonia, but wanted me to go to the ER.
The ER tested me for several things and they admitted me at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. They did more tests on Wednesday and finally ruled out anything cardiac. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon they diagnosed me with bilateral pneumonia.
I am on the mend, but they will probably keep me around through the weekend (much to my shagrin). I actually feel great now, and am tired of sitting around in the hospital, but they want to make sure my oxygen levels get back to normal and the IV antibiotics work faster than the oral ones.
I guess the fall sport teams are still progressing in their process toward the seasons. The volleyball team is on the new Mabee Gym floor and the soccer teams are finally getting some nicer weather. The cross country teams are running in the mornings. Here are some photo galleries from soccer, volleyball and football. Look for more galleries coming up. They are located on the front page of the new web site under the Multimedia tab.
Hopefully I am back to work next week. I really do miss not being around for this time of the year.
I would be remiss if I didn’t think a few people. My new graduate R.C. Waters has done a great job this week, running the office with little direct training. Those of you that know R.C., know that he is going to do his best to get the job done and with his addition to the office this year we are going to be able to kick out even more content than ever before.
I have mentioned this several times before on this blog, but I work with the best coaches and staff in America. Almost all of them have called, e-mailed or been by the hospital. I thank everyone for all of their gifts, prayers and communication.
Good friends John Neese and Jeff Smith have been by a couple of times and I appreciate that. Not everyone can work under parameters that their boss is also a good friend, but as much time as John and I spend together we better like each other. I really do have one of most unique situations in all of college sports, because not only is he my boss, but he has also been an SID and knows the time commitment and knows what is important for the department (i.e. the commitment to a new web site, a new digital camera, a graduate assistant for the first time, etc.).
Oh well, I guess if this had to happen it is better this week than next, or the week after that, because we are going to have a great fall and I am looking forward to it.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Summer Is Over
There are signs marking the different times of the year. There is Christmas lights telling you it is almost Christmas, there are fireworks for the Fourth of July and the crispness of the morning telling us that the summer heat is a thing of the past.
For me there is no better indicator that the summer is over and it is time for another year like this week. On Monday, we had the conference Sports Information Directors meetings. On Tuesday, we took pictures of the football coaching staff, which is in the middle of what I call their bunker down week before the players arrive. On Thursday, we have our annual beginning of the year staff meeting.
It just means is the anticipation of a new year is finally here. It is my favorite time of the year, even though it is the busiest. To actually see teams back on the field or court practicing and getting ready it gets you fired up for what is in store.
There have been some changes in the offseason – we have a new men’s basketball coach in Craig Carse. I think our fans are going to enjoy his style of play and Chuck Hudson better be practicing punching those scoreboard buttons, especially for when other up-tempo teams like Concordia come into the building.
Speaking of basketball, the Mabee Complex floor is currently in the process of being painted. It was totally stripped down and new markings are being painted for the new 3-point line and permanent volleyball lines.
The track is coming along as well and should be ready sometime in the fall. The soccer and track coaches have moved out to their new home in the Fieldhouse at Grape Street.
We also have the new web site for this year and I am anxious to see some of the new features in place.
I expect that this is going to be another exciting year. Several of our teams are the on-paper teams to beat going into the year. Some of them won’t be. That is why we don’t play the games on paper.
Just seven more days until football practice starts up and about 10 before the rest of the sports get ready to go.
One More Thing
Is the Brett Favre finally over?
For me there is no better indicator that the summer is over and it is time for another year like this week. On Monday, we had the conference Sports Information Directors meetings. On Tuesday, we took pictures of the football coaching staff, which is in the middle of what I call their bunker down week before the players arrive. On Thursday, we have our annual beginning of the year staff meeting.
It just means is the anticipation of a new year is finally here. It is my favorite time of the year, even though it is the busiest. To actually see teams back on the field or court practicing and getting ready it gets you fired up for what is in store.
There have been some changes in the offseason – we have a new men’s basketball coach in Craig Carse. I think our fans are going to enjoy his style of play and Chuck Hudson better be practicing punching those scoreboard buttons, especially for when other up-tempo teams like Concordia come into the building.
Speaking of basketball, the Mabee Complex floor is currently in the process of being painted. It was totally stripped down and new markings are being painted for the new 3-point line and permanent volleyball lines.
The track is coming along as well and should be ready sometime in the fall. The soccer and track coaches have moved out to their new home in the Fieldhouse at Grape Street.
We also have the new web site for this year and I am anxious to see some of the new features in place.
I expect that this is going to be another exciting year. Several of our teams are the on-paper teams to beat going into the year. Some of them won’t be. That is why we don’t play the games on paper.
Just seven more days until football practice starts up and about 10 before the rest of the sports get ready to go.
One More Thing
Is the Brett Favre finally over?
Monday, July 7, 2008
Good Luck Coach
One thing about working in athletics, much like the Texas weather, it is always changing.
John Neese and I were having a conversation the other day about the number of people that have been around the American Southwest Conference since 2000. We came up with about a list of 12-15 people quickly off the top of our head that have been around that long and that is about it. I further looked at it and amazingly there are just 32. Take out SIDs and Athletic Director’s and there are 22 coaches in the league that have been in the league that long.
With 15 schools and each averaging about 12-15 coaching or administrative people and that is a very low percentage that have been in the league at least nine years.
That just goes to show you how much things turn over at small colleges.
We have been very fortunate at Hardin-Simmons to have coaches that stick around. We say it a lot, but Hardin-Simmons is a great place to be. Most of us are not here for the money. We could all go somewhere else and make more money. Most of our coaches could go coach middle school P.E. in the Metroplex and make more money than we get at HSU.
But life is not all about money and for the most part if you get into college athletics you are not into it to get rich. We have a great support system at HSU and have a great camaraderie between our coaches and staff. We for the most part do the jobs we do because we love them. There is little stress on us, we work in a comfortable work environment and are pretty flexible with our work schedules. Every one of us on staff knows when it is time to work, we get the job done. We don’t have to be told we need to put in more effort.
I think that has a lot to do with our success as a department as a whole. All of us have pride in our area and we don’t want to be shown up.
All of that being said change does happen and we lost one of the more veteran members of our staff over the weekend. Head basketball coach Dylan Howard has taken a job at Mississippi Valley State.
Coach Howard has done a great job for us at Hardin-Simmons and has been a very good friend to me. From an up-and-back trip to Colorado College in his first year, to the ASC Tournament three of the last four years it has been a fun ride. He took the team to the ASC final in 2007 and had a shot to win the game. There is one good thing about Coach Howard leaving, those Mississippi referees will be on his side now, because he never could get them on his side while playing against the Choctaws.
We had a lot of good times both at games here and on the road. We often found ourselves after a game finding a restaurant to rehash the game good or bad. Sometimes I would have to tell him we would win another game, or he would say they are getting better. He brought a lot of excitement back to men’s basketball at HSU. He allowed me to get close to the team, even watching practice on a lot of days.
We sometimes disagreed on different players and what they could and could not do, but most of the time he came around to my way of thinking.
If he would ever come around to admitting that Coach K is the most overrated coach in basketball history, we would be getting somewhere.
Some players thought they were getting the short end of it. Some finally figured out that he just wanted them to be their best, some didn’t and quit. Some players figured out soon that it was his way or the highway. It took some longer than others to figure that out. I think at the end of the day, his players figured out that if they did things the way he wanted them done they would have no problems.
Coach I wish you the best of luck and I am going to miss you.
John Neese and I were having a conversation the other day about the number of people that have been around the American Southwest Conference since 2000. We came up with about a list of 12-15 people quickly off the top of our head that have been around that long and that is about it. I further looked at it and amazingly there are just 32. Take out SIDs and Athletic Director’s and there are 22 coaches in the league that have been in the league that long.
With 15 schools and each averaging about 12-15 coaching or administrative people and that is a very low percentage that have been in the league at least nine years.
That just goes to show you how much things turn over at small colleges.
We have been very fortunate at Hardin-Simmons to have coaches that stick around. We say it a lot, but Hardin-Simmons is a great place to be. Most of us are not here for the money. We could all go somewhere else and make more money. Most of our coaches could go coach middle school P.E. in the Metroplex and make more money than we get at HSU.
But life is not all about money and for the most part if you get into college athletics you are not into it to get rich. We have a great support system at HSU and have a great camaraderie between our coaches and staff. We for the most part do the jobs we do because we love them. There is little stress on us, we work in a comfortable work environment and are pretty flexible with our work schedules. Every one of us on staff knows when it is time to work, we get the job done. We don’t have to be told we need to put in more effort.
I think that has a lot to do with our success as a department as a whole. All of us have pride in our area and we don’t want to be shown up.
All of that being said change does happen and we lost one of the more veteran members of our staff over the weekend. Head basketball coach Dylan Howard has taken a job at Mississippi Valley State.
Coach Howard has done a great job for us at Hardin-Simmons and has been a very good friend to me. From an up-and-back trip to Colorado College in his first year, to the ASC Tournament three of the last four years it has been a fun ride. He took the team to the ASC final in 2007 and had a shot to win the game. There is one good thing about Coach Howard leaving, those Mississippi referees will be on his side now, because he never could get them on his side while playing against the Choctaws.
We had a lot of good times both at games here and on the road. We often found ourselves after a game finding a restaurant to rehash the game good or bad. Sometimes I would have to tell him we would win another game, or he would say they are getting better. He brought a lot of excitement back to men’s basketball at HSU. He allowed me to get close to the team, even watching practice on a lot of days.
We sometimes disagreed on different players and what they could and could not do, but most of the time he came around to my way of thinking.
If he would ever come around to admitting that Coach K is the most overrated coach in basketball history, we would be getting somewhere.
Some players thought they were getting the short end of it. Some finally figured out that he just wanted them to be their best, some didn’t and quit. Some players figured out soon that it was his way or the highway. It took some longer than others to figure that out. I think at the end of the day, his players figured out that if they did things the way he wanted them done they would have no problems.
Coach I wish you the best of luck and I am going to miss you.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Well, here it is
Well, here it is.
The new and improved version of the HSU Athletics site is finally available for your viewing pleasure. I would like to thank several people that have made this transfer as easy as possible.
First and foremost is Mike Donlin at Presto Sports. He has made the daunting transition process run as smoothly as possible. He was always there to answer my questions and no matter how repetitive they had to seem to him, he never made it seem like I was bothering him. It is a busy time for Presto as they have several launches going live soon with several former CSTV clients like ourselves making the switch.
The Presto design team was amazing. Although I never met them or even talked to them directly, through Mike I gave them my vision of what I wanted to see in the site and they hit it spot on with colors, design, etc.
I have had several people help me throughout the entire process, either indirectly or directly. Corrie Reed is serving an internship with me this summer and she has received a load of work on the site. It may have been more than she bargained for, but I thank her for a job well done. Kirk Ashby and James Sweatman served as interns for me in the spring semester and they did a lot of the record updating in the spring.
I would like to thank R.C. Waters and Josh Bowerman who provided me with great photographs for the site. They take a lot of pictures over the year and I appreciate all the work they have done.
Athletic Administrative Assistant Kim O’Dell has been a great help as well. She has helped me track down things I needed for the site. John Neese has been valuable to me as he basically gave me the free reign to go out and find a new web site company and bring us to this point. I appreciate the trust factor for this exciting challenge. Assistant basketball coach and resident computer expert Melanie Orsak also has been my go to person on this project. She gave valuable comments and suggestions and it is always good to have a professional eye that your trust.
Last but not least, I have to thank my wife Lori. She had a major surgery last week (she is doing great by the way) and I have been working from home the last two weeks. I have basically been stuck to my computer for the last two weeks, but she has been understanding and also appreciative that I was able to work from home during this time (although she is probably ready for me to go back to work).
As for the site, we hope you enjoy the new look. This is an ever-evolving site and there are things on it that will not work yet, because we haven’t had games. We will still have livestats for our home games, a lot of our games will be on the Internet and one thing I am excited about is we will have the ability to put video highlights on the web for the first time.
If you see something out of whack or you have a comment, query, question or complaint, please drop me an e-mail. We look forward to a great year.
Did I mention that it is just 50 something days before our teams start reporting for fall camps. I guess I better get to work on some media guides.
The new and improved version of the HSU Athletics site is finally available for your viewing pleasure. I would like to thank several people that have made this transfer as easy as possible.
First and foremost is Mike Donlin at Presto Sports. He has made the daunting transition process run as smoothly as possible. He was always there to answer my questions and no matter how repetitive they had to seem to him, he never made it seem like I was bothering him. It is a busy time for Presto as they have several launches going live soon with several former CSTV clients like ourselves making the switch.
The Presto design team was amazing. Although I never met them or even talked to them directly, through Mike I gave them my vision of what I wanted to see in the site and they hit it spot on with colors, design, etc.
I have had several people help me throughout the entire process, either indirectly or directly. Corrie Reed is serving an internship with me this summer and she has received a load of work on the site. It may have been more than she bargained for, but I thank her for a job well done. Kirk Ashby and James Sweatman served as interns for me in the spring semester and they did a lot of the record updating in the spring.
I would like to thank R.C. Waters and Josh Bowerman who provided me with great photographs for the site. They take a lot of pictures over the year and I appreciate all the work they have done.
Athletic Administrative Assistant Kim O’Dell has been a great help as well. She has helped me track down things I needed for the site. John Neese has been valuable to me as he basically gave me the free reign to go out and find a new web site company and bring us to this point. I appreciate the trust factor for this exciting challenge. Assistant basketball coach and resident computer expert Melanie Orsak also has been my go to person on this project. She gave valuable comments and suggestions and it is always good to have a professional eye that your trust.
Last but not least, I have to thank my wife Lori. She had a major surgery last week (she is doing great by the way) and I have been working from home the last two weeks. I have basically been stuck to my computer for the last two weeks, but she has been understanding and also appreciative that I was able to work from home during this time (although she is probably ready for me to go back to work).
As for the site, we hope you enjoy the new look. This is an ever-evolving site and there are things on it that will not work yet, because we haven’t had games. We will still have livestats for our home games, a lot of our games will be on the Internet and one thing I am excited about is we will have the ability to put video highlights on the web for the first time.
If you see something out of whack or you have a comment, query, question or complaint, please drop me an e-mail. We look forward to a great year.
Did I mention that it is just 50 something days before our teams start reporting for fall camps. I guess I better get to work on some media guides.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Summer Time
The athletic seasons are over and we are set for a three-month throw-your-feet-up vacation.
Of course that would be great, but to the surprise of many that is not really how it goes around here in the summer time.
Yes, there are some vacations taken, and yes there is more down time, but it is the time of year that we are the most normal as far as working hours. At least hours the rest of the non-athletic world enjoys for most of the year. There is not a lot of weekend work to be done and of course no games to attend, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
There are the media guides for next year, finishing up the schedules for next year, reworking the archives from the past year and adding and updating records. We have a letterman’s golf tournament, the Hall of Fame selection committee meets and there are conventions over the summer as well.
Before you know it you look up and the kids that are leaving this week are back on campus and it is time for the first days of soccer, volleyball and football practice and it all starts again.
I will be the first to admit that I go stir crazy after about the first two or three weeks of the summer. After nine months of seeing as many games as I see, just watching the Rangers on TV is not enough. I am ready to see our teams getting after it and getting ready for another exciting year.
This was a down year for athletic’s at Hardin-Simmons, with only one conference championship. After losing as many great players as we lost last year and the success of the previous two seasons prior to this last one, it was somewhat of a predictable outcome.
The thing that all of the teams had is a strong young nucleus this year that will be back next year and several teams should be the favorites to win league titles this next year.
As many of you know we have taken great pride in our relationship with CSTV now CBS. We were the first Division III school to go with them back in 2002. Our relationship with them is ending and we will be going with a new company. They have been a great solution for us in the past, but they have made it impossible for us to maintain the relationship with a doubling of the rate we have to pay.
What does that mean for you? It means we are going to have a brand new athletic web site. We are targeting a launch date of June 30th. There will be very little updating of archival information or anything like that the we usually do at this time of the year on our current site. We are full steam ahead in the design process of the new site and there is no need to double the work load.
There are some things about the new company Presto Sports that I really like. One, they already do a lot of Division II and Division III schools sites and they understand us more than CSTV did. CSTV was more geared toward to Division I schools with huge staffs.
Next, is they are not just a cookie-cutter site. We have had some initial design discussions and we were able to go from the top down and give ideas that we wanted the site to look like. We are going to have the ability to show video clips and we will still have live stats for our home matches.
I think this will be a good relationship for us in getting the word out about our school to you.
Don’t forget to get your registration in for the Letterman’s Golf Tournament on Friday, June 27. Come back to Abilene, enjoy a round of golf and lunch and help support the HSU Athletic Department. We want to see you there.
Of course that would be great, but to the surprise of many that is not really how it goes around here in the summer time.
Yes, there are some vacations taken, and yes there is more down time, but it is the time of year that we are the most normal as far as working hours. At least hours the rest of the non-athletic world enjoys for most of the year. There is not a lot of weekend work to be done and of course no games to attend, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
There are the media guides for next year, finishing up the schedules for next year, reworking the archives from the past year and adding and updating records. We have a letterman’s golf tournament, the Hall of Fame selection committee meets and there are conventions over the summer as well.
Before you know it you look up and the kids that are leaving this week are back on campus and it is time for the first days of soccer, volleyball and football practice and it all starts again.
I will be the first to admit that I go stir crazy after about the first two or three weeks of the summer. After nine months of seeing as many games as I see, just watching the Rangers on TV is not enough. I am ready to see our teams getting after it and getting ready for another exciting year.
This was a down year for athletic’s at Hardin-Simmons, with only one conference championship. After losing as many great players as we lost last year and the success of the previous two seasons prior to this last one, it was somewhat of a predictable outcome.
The thing that all of the teams had is a strong young nucleus this year that will be back next year and several teams should be the favorites to win league titles this next year.
As many of you know we have taken great pride in our relationship with CSTV now CBS. We were the first Division III school to go with them back in 2002. Our relationship with them is ending and we will be going with a new company. They have been a great solution for us in the past, but they have made it impossible for us to maintain the relationship with a doubling of the rate we have to pay.
What does that mean for you? It means we are going to have a brand new athletic web site. We are targeting a launch date of June 30th. There will be very little updating of archival information or anything like that the we usually do at this time of the year on our current site. We are full steam ahead in the design process of the new site and there is no need to double the work load.
There are some things about the new company Presto Sports that I really like. One, they already do a lot of Division II and Division III schools sites and they understand us more than CSTV did. CSTV was more geared toward to Division I schools with huge staffs.
Next, is they are not just a cookie-cutter site. We have had some initial design discussions and we were able to go from the top down and give ideas that we wanted the site to look like. We are going to have the ability to show video clips and we will still have live stats for our home matches.
I think this will be a good relationship for us in getting the word out about our school to you.
Don’t forget to get your registration in for the Letterman’s Golf Tournament on Friday, June 27. Come back to Abilene, enjoy a round of golf and lunch and help support the HSU Athletic Department. We want to see you there.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Well here it is, we are headed down the home stretch for the athletic season and all of the teams have either qualified for or are still in contention for a playoff spot.
The tennis teams continue on their amazing streak of American Southwest Conference victories and they will put those streaks on the line this weekend at UT-Tyler in the ASC Championships. The Cowgirls are looking for their eighth straight title and the Cowboys are looking for their seventh. The Cowgirls have a 74-match ASC winning streak and the men have won 68 matches in a row.
This year will mark the first time that either team will face another ranked team as UT-Tyler is ranked in both men and women. The finals are slated for Sunday. Both teams have first round byes and would need to win a semifinal match on Saturday.
The golf teams will play the ASC Championship next week in Anna, Texas. Freshman Ashley Luecke is one of the favorites for the individual title on the women’s side and the Cowgirls should be one of the contenders for the league crown. The Cowboys will be one of about six teams that could win the tournament.
Softball has their backs against the wall and need to come up with wins at Howard Payne and the final series of the year against Mary Hardin-Baylor, which wall mark senior day for Lydia Bradley and Sadye Hill. Only the top three teams in the ASC West make the tournament and currently the Cowgirls are in fourth place, two games behind Howard Payne for the third slot.
The Cowboy baseball team is hot and has won nine straight games heading into this weekend’s three-game set at Texas Lutheran. The Cowboys can finish anywhere from second to fifth in the ASC West. The Cowboys need one win to secure a playoff berth. There are several scenarios for the Cowboys this weekend. Those games can be heard on the Internet at www.hsuathletics.com.
One key date for former Cowboy and Cowgirl athletes is the Lettermen’s Golf Tournament on Friday, June 27. It will be played at Fairway Oaks and it is a great opportunity to catch up with old teammates and also support the HSU Athletic’s Department. You should be getting an invitation in the mail in the next few days, if you do no please contact us and we will make sure you are invited.
There was a reunion of sorts last weekend as former Division III Player of the Year Kendra Anderson got married in Abilene. Several former teammates were in town for the event and I got the chance to see former Cowboy baseballer John Schlaffer and his new son at the baseball game on Saturday. John was handling baby duty very well. Schlaffer is married to former Cowgirl basketballer Terri Robinson (the 6,000-point scorer out of Ira) and they live in the Metroplex. Both are physical therapists.
The tennis teams continue on their amazing streak of American Southwest Conference victories and they will put those streaks on the line this weekend at UT-Tyler in the ASC Championships. The Cowgirls are looking for their eighth straight title and the Cowboys are looking for their seventh. The Cowgirls have a 74-match ASC winning streak and the men have won 68 matches in a row.
This year will mark the first time that either team will face another ranked team as UT-Tyler is ranked in both men and women. The finals are slated for Sunday. Both teams have first round byes and would need to win a semifinal match on Saturday.
The golf teams will play the ASC Championship next week in Anna, Texas. Freshman Ashley Luecke is one of the favorites for the individual title on the women’s side and the Cowgirls should be one of the contenders for the league crown. The Cowboys will be one of about six teams that could win the tournament.
Softball has their backs against the wall and need to come up with wins at Howard Payne and the final series of the year against Mary Hardin-Baylor, which wall mark senior day for Lydia Bradley and Sadye Hill. Only the top three teams in the ASC West make the tournament and currently the Cowgirls are in fourth place, two games behind Howard Payne for the third slot.
The Cowboy baseball team is hot and has won nine straight games heading into this weekend’s three-game set at Texas Lutheran. The Cowboys can finish anywhere from second to fifth in the ASC West. The Cowboys need one win to secure a playoff berth. There are several scenarios for the Cowboys this weekend. Those games can be heard on the Internet at www.hsuathletics.com.
One key date for former Cowboy and Cowgirl athletes is the Lettermen’s Golf Tournament on Friday, June 27. It will be played at Fairway Oaks and it is a great opportunity to catch up with old teammates and also support the HSU Athletic’s Department. You should be getting an invitation in the mail in the next few days, if you do no please contact us and we will make sure you are invited.
There was a reunion of sorts last weekend as former Division III Player of the Year Kendra Anderson got married in Abilene. Several former teammates were in town for the event and I got the chance to see former Cowboy baseballer John Schlaffer and his new son at the baseball game on Saturday. John was handling baby duty very well. Schlaffer is married to former Cowgirl basketballer Terri Robinson (the 6,000-point scorer out of Ira) and they live in the Metroplex. Both are physical therapists.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Make The Big Time Where You Are
Coach Keeling is known for his crazy sayings and quirks. One of the first things you notice on his desk is a “Make The Big Time Where You Are” plaque. Those are the words of former Pacific Lutheran coach Frosty Westering and the title of one of his books. Those words were ringing home as I realized yesterday how great it is to be at Hardin-Simmons.
Anybody that really knows me knows that I am a die-hard Oklahoma State fan. I earned a bachelor’s from there (albeit with a gentleman’s D in Spanish), spent four years there (after two years at junior college), met my wife there, worked four years in the sports information office there. I totally enjoyed my time there and love the place.
However, today I am ashamed by the fact that is my school. They fired (don’t buy the resigned line) a legend’s son after two years with a winning record. No one in the history of Division I men’s basketball has been fired after two years with a 10 game over .500 record.
There are many reasons flying around about the reason for the dismissal. From everything I gather it had to do with a conflict between the athletic director and Eddie Sutton. Even if there are some long term grudges it makes little sense to take it out on Sean.
I could ramble on forever, but it just made me realize is the glamour of Division I what it is all about. If firing a coach because he did not make the NCAA Tournament with a roster that included only one senior that played and two juniors makes it the big time then no thank you.
I am blessed to work every day with hard-working coaches that could make a lot more money at “the Big Time” that make a lot of sacrifices to be at Hardin-Simmons.
I feel pretty confident in saying that you will not be fired at Hardin-Simmons if you have a winning record for two consecutive seasons for your job performance.
One of many things that makes Hardin-Simmons a great place, is that it is not all about winning, but winning is nice, too.
Around The Campus
Make sure to make it out to the baseball and softball fields as the two teams are fighting hard for postseason berths. Both teams are having solid seasons, but as I say in this blog a lot the league just keeps getting better and better.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams are through the rugged non-conference section of their schedule and now return to ASC play. Golf is winding down its season as well.
There is a chance for the second straight year all 12 HSU teams will qualify for some sort of postseason play. HSU became the first school in the conference for that to happen to last year.
Anybody that really knows me knows that I am a die-hard Oklahoma State fan. I earned a bachelor’s from there (albeit with a gentleman’s D in Spanish), spent four years there (after two years at junior college), met my wife there, worked four years in the sports information office there. I totally enjoyed my time there and love the place.
However, today I am ashamed by the fact that is my school. They fired (don’t buy the resigned line) a legend’s son after two years with a winning record. No one in the history of Division I men’s basketball has been fired after two years with a 10 game over .500 record.
There are many reasons flying around about the reason for the dismissal. From everything I gather it had to do with a conflict between the athletic director and Eddie Sutton. Even if there are some long term grudges it makes little sense to take it out on Sean.
I could ramble on forever, but it just made me realize is the glamour of Division I what it is all about. If firing a coach because he did not make the NCAA Tournament with a roster that included only one senior that played and two juniors makes it the big time then no thank you.
I am blessed to work every day with hard-working coaches that could make a lot more money at “the Big Time” that make a lot of sacrifices to be at Hardin-Simmons.
I feel pretty confident in saying that you will not be fired at Hardin-Simmons if you have a winning record for two consecutive seasons for your job performance.
One of many things that makes Hardin-Simmons a great place, is that it is not all about winning, but winning is nice, too.
Around The Campus
Make sure to make it out to the baseball and softball fields as the two teams are fighting hard for postseason berths. Both teams are having solid seasons, but as I say in this blog a lot the league just keeps getting better and better.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams are through the rugged non-conference section of their schedule and now return to ASC play. Golf is winding down its season as well.
There is a chance for the second straight year all 12 HSU teams will qualify for some sort of postseason play. HSU became the first school in the conference for that to happen to last year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)