Cardiac Cowboys

Something special seems to be brewing with the Cowboy football team.

The Cowboys in the last two weeks have defeated two of the most storied programs in the nation and both times did it with scores on their final drive.

Yesterday felt almost like the opposite of last week. The Cowboys seemed to be the ones in control this week and all of a sudden a couple of good drives by Linfield and HSU looked up at a late deficit. Once again Justin Feaster and the Cowboy offense were up to the challenge.

Feaster appears to be the most comfortable in the two-minute, hurry-up situations. The Cowboys scored three straight touchdowns and a field goal last week in the hurry up. HSU scored at the end of both halves yesterday in a speed-up mode. The Cowboys have come up with ways to make big plays in tough situations.

While the Cowboys offense has come up big in the clutch, it is the defense that is the difference. The unit has forced six turnovers in two games, which have resulted in 28 points. They fly around to the football better and are more confident. The majority of the players playing on defense were on the unit last year. They are just a year more mature and the new scheme appears to be working, especially against the pass.

Overcoming adversity against good teams, teaches you a lot about a team. This team has done that twice and the good thing is that the Cowboys have not fired on all cylinders and are by no means healthy. This team will get better and better.

There are several players that are within a week or two of making it back. M.J. Hatchett, Garrison Hardin and Adam Rogers should be ready soon on the defensive line and that will add some depth especially inside, where the Cowboys have been really thin and playing four freshmen.

Kurston Williams should be back on the offensive line and Adam Podzemny and Matt Fields could be back to play wide receiver. The receiving corps has been productive, but there is little depth.

You add those six players and the depth is improved. All six can and all but Hardin have been impact players for the Cowboys. Things are looking up with this team and by the end of the year could be a national contender.

Just a Few More Things

This is a busy week at Hardin-Simmons. The soccer and volleyball teams will be home for the first time this weekend. All three squads open American Southwest Conference action. The women’s soccer team plays at Abilene Christian on Tuesday.

I am anxious to see all three teams play for real for the first time this season. All three teams have great talent and should all three contend for ASC titles.

For those of you that tried to listen to our game Saturday on the internet, we apologize for the mixup. It is never good to turn on the HSU game and hear the ACU broadcast. There was a communication breakdown between our internet streaming provider and the radio station. Fortunately it was back on for the exciting fourth quarter and the issues have been worked out.

I hope you have been enjoying the photo galleries, video and livestats on the new web site. The video is the viewer on the front page, the livestats can be found on the livestats button on the middle of the front page and the photo galleries are under the multimedia tab.

All of the photos have been taken by my graduate assistant R.C. Waters. He has done a great job with the number of photos we are able to get on the web.
Also the fall sport media guides (football, soccer and volleyball) are on the web. You can see them on each sports page.

Land of 10,000 Lakes

Being from Oklahoma, I always have scoffed at the idea that everything’s bigger in Texas. On our trip to Minneapolis, I think Minnesota should use the logo “Everything’s Bigger in Minnesota”.

Everything seemed bigger to me. The Mall of America is ridiculous. Grapevine Mills would fit in the amusement park area of the thing. I have never seen so many stores. Then there steaks – wow – I have had a lot of good steaks in a lot of places, but I put our pregame steak up there with anything I have had. Not to mention the coconut cream pie. I love my grandma to death, but she got outdone on my favorite dessert.

Some other things that I noticed on the trip to.

The Republicans were leaving and that’s a good thing. They thought the election was apparently held last week. The election can wait until November.

The Metrodome is starting to show its age, but is a great place to watch a game. One question though, is 21 not the drinking limit there, because it seemed everyone over about the age of 14 had a beer (or maybe I am getting older and those 21-year olds look 14).

Saturday night games make Sunday’s very long. We got out of the stadium at Winona State around 10:15 and we got to our hotel about 1:15 a.m. By the time I did some work updating the web it was 2 a.m., which made that 4 a.m. wakeup call come very early. Fortunately we were back in Abilene by 11:30, but that doesn’t matter much when you have a four-year old and naps are not an option.

Chris McNair is probably the smartest person I know and he can explain things to dummies (like me) where they can understand it.

It has been a fast a furious start to the fall sport season, despite the fact that we have not had a home event so far.

The football game was quite an adventure. It definitely had its ebbs and flows. It seemed like we dominated the first quarter and you look up and it is still 0-0. They were able to break a long run to take a 7-0 halftime lead and there was not a sense of doubt at that point.

Two short fields led to a couple more scores for UWL and at 21-0 some doubt had started to creep in. Then a quick score and a couple of turnovers by them and scores by us and suddenly it is 21 all with a little over nine minutes to play.

Then they drive it down to the two and we come up with a big stop to keep the emotion on our side. Then the first play a mishandled snap causes a safety with just over three minutes to play. We get the key defensive stop and a clutch drive and kick for the win. It was the biggest deficit the Cowboys have overcome for a win in the Keeling era.

Men’s and women’s soccer got their first wins of the season last weekend and both of those young teams continue to grow each week. Both coaches say the same thing in the fact that by November they could be scary good.

Volleyball went 2-2 on its trip to Atlanta. Men’s and women’s tennis played at ACU over the weekend and I am still waiting on those results. The cross country teams had their first ever meet on Saturday at ACU. Women’s golf opened the season with a fourth-place finish at the UT-Dallas Tournament.

Losing A Great One

It was a day we have all prepared ourselves for mentally several times over the last several years, but we lost a great friend this morning.

Glen Casselberry not only worked in maintenance for the school, but for many years served as the video coordinator for the football team. He was at ever game and took every win with pride and hurt with every loss.

He loved the Cowboys and he loved the university, but the thing he loved more than anything he loved his son and wife Brenda. Hunter has been the ball boy for the Cowboys since he could walk. I can't believe he is already playing high school ball for the Jim Ned Indians. Their interaction showed love. They both loved the road trips, even in the early days of the cancer.

There is little doubt in my mind that Glen fought the painful disease so long for Hunter. There were things he wanted to see him do and he fought hard to the end to see those things.

Hunter had to grow up all too soon with this, but he is a great kid. Brenda is a loving mom and was a trooper through the whole process. They both need our prayers and our support.

Heaven found another Cowboy today. Glen is in a better place, he fought the fight and should be admired for his strength, toughness, spirit and the love of his family.

I am sure Glen will be up there with a view of the whole field, not just that two inch viewfinder.

An Interesting First Week

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.

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?

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.

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.