After a long offseason, our teams finally hit the courts and fields for the first time this week and what an exciting week it was.
After a shaky first half the Cowboys showed off some of why the preseason expectations were so high for the program. The Cowboys were behind 21-7, but put on a 41-10 rout on Whitworth over the last 31 minutes of the game. We saw some very encouraging signs from a team that has said its goal is to win every game.
The defense recorded four sacks and the top three tacklers for the Cowboys in the game were defensive linemen. I will do some research on it this week, but I can’t remember a time that the Cowboys top three tacklers in a game were all defensive linemen.
The offense also hit its stride after a couple of stumbles in the first half. The kicking game also improved greatly over the game as special teams led directly to 21 points for Whitworth in the first half.
Playing With a Heavy Heart
It was also a sad week around the football program as HSU Athletic Hall of Famer Larry Wartes passed away. Larry has been a fixture at HSU games for the last 20 years as son Alan is the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator and for the last four years grandson Seth Higgins has been a Cowboys on the varsity and and JV team.
In a beautiful ceremony on Friday, it was evident what a great man Larry was and the lives he touched. Seth spoke to the crowd on behalf of the family and it was amazing to see someone so young give a poised and exceptionally poignant message.
Our prayers are with Alan, Sharon, Abbey and Erin along with Seth and the whole Wartes family.
Soccer
The soccer team played to a tie with Division II UT-Permian Basin in its opener. Chris Hunter scored the goal for the Cowboys, who looked like they are poised to compete for a conference title.
The Cowgirls lost in overtime to arch-rival Trinity, but All-American goalkeeper Christi Carr was stellar with 12 big saves.
Both teams are home this weekend for an exciting event on campus. They will host the ASC-SCAC challenge on Friday and Saturday. Friday the Cowgirls will play Austin College at 10 a.m. on Friday and Rhodes on Saturday at noon. The Cowboys play Trinity on Friday at 4 p.m. and Southwestern on 5 p.m. Saturday.
Come out and support the soccer teams this weekend.
Volleyball
The Cowgirls picked up two regional wins on Saturday with 3-0 blankings of Dallas and Hendrix. The Cowgirls are 2-1 on the year after a close loss to perennial South region power Austin College on Saturday.
HSU will play in the Southwestern Tournament this weekend in Georgetown.
Cross Country
The cross country teams will have their first true race of the season on Saturday at Nelson Park. The teams competed in a Twilight relay last Tuesday against McMurry and ACU.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
We're Back
All of the fall sports have reported to campus and practice is under way for everything except soccer. They will start in the morning with testing and will both practice at 2:30 in the afternoon.
All of the fall rosters are on the web site now on the individual home page of each sport.
We will have pictures and previews up in the next few days for everyone.
I posted some volleyball video from the first practice this morning on to the site and you can expect some for soccer tomorrow afternoon.
It is amazing how you go for almost a month after Summer II until everyone gets here and the campus is almost dead, but when all of the freshmen get here for NSO and everyone returns it is a rush to see them back.
Stay tuned for hsuathletics.com, we are adding new content almost by the hour.
It is that time of year and you can start to get the feeling in the air of what is about to come.
Good luck to our teams this season, may they stay injury free and have competitive seasons.
All of the fall rosters are on the web site now on the individual home page of each sport.
We will have pictures and previews up in the next few days for everyone.
I posted some volleyball video from the first practice this morning on to the site and you can expect some for soccer tomorrow afternoon.
It is amazing how you go for almost a month after Summer II until everyone gets here and the campus is almost dead, but when all of the freshmen get here for NSO and everyone returns it is a rush to see them back.
Stay tuned for hsuathletics.com, we are adding new content almost by the hour.
It is that time of year and you can start to get the feeling in the air of what is about to come.
Good luck to our teams this season, may they stay injury free and have competitive seasons.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Put On The Pads Boys
The Cowboys put on the pads for the first time this year.
I have added some Video of that.
Things have looked very good so far. The defense is flying around and the Cowboys have added at least two and maybe more gamebreakers on the offensive side of the ball. There was a lot of talk between the offense and defense on the first day of pads and some competitive drills.
The team is working towards its first scrimmage on Saturday, with the young guys going at 10 a.m. and the older guys at 2 p.m. at Shelton.
The cross country team reported on Sunday evening and had their first run at 6 a.m. I was not out there for that one, but I will get some video soon.
Volleyball starts up on Wednesday and the soccer teams start on Thursday. I will have video from all three of those sports on hsuathletics.com.
I have added some Video of that.
Things have looked very good so far. The defense is flying around and the Cowboys have added at least two and maybe more gamebreakers on the offensive side of the ball. There was a lot of talk between the offense and defense on the first day of pads and some competitive drills.
The team is working towards its first scrimmage on Saturday, with the young guys going at 10 a.m. and the older guys at 2 p.m. at Shelton.
The cross country team reported on Sunday evening and had their first run at 6 a.m. I was not out there for that one, but I will get some video soon.
Volleyball starts up on Wednesday and the soccer teams start on Thursday. I will have video from all three of those sports on hsuathletics.com.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
It's Been A While
Okay, I admit it two things are ironic about my last blog. The first it was titled Keeping in Touch and yet I haven’t blogged since May 19th. The other is by not keeping up with the blog over the summertime it just lends itself to the misconception that we just take off for the summer and do nothing in athletics.
I will agree that the pace is a little slower in the summer, but if you kept the pace we do around here in athletics for the entire year the normal person would be totally burnt out in a year or less.
All of that being said I can’t tell you how excited that I can see right around the corner the fact that I will hear whistles blowing and pads popping and the sound of Heger saying you aren’t going to get a ring like that.
When you see over 150 games in about an eight month span and then you go four months not seeing much it all you really do start to miss the games. I have said in this space before that is one of the best things about my job is I get paid to watch a lot of games. By the Fourth of July I start to get the itch again to see a game.
I agree the content slows down in the summer but over the next few weeks you are going to see a lot of new stories and information on the web site, along with all of the schedules for 2008-09 (most of them are already up) and the fall sports rosters will be up soon after everyone reports. I will be updating the season previews in the next week or so and before you know it we will back into the game routine.
One of the things that you will see a lot more of this season is video. Not necessarily video streams of games (although you may see some) we are going to have interviews with coaches and players frequently and we are going to have more video highlights of games as well. I am going to have a new camera this year and we are going to make this more of reality than before.
Here are a few of the things that have gone on since I last blogged in the athletic department.
Ashley Huston won about 100 awards for her amazing season. The most amazing is she was named the Honda Award Winner as the Division III Female Athlete of the Year. She also won ASC Female Athlete of the Year, was the national field athlete of the year, was Academic All-American and was selected as the ASC representative for NCAA Woman of the Year. She truly had an amazing year, including three individual NCAA titles.
The summer time is always a fun time of the year, because not only are there always freshmen announcing they are coming to campus, there is always a buzz about some transfers. We will see some of those in a few weeks at football practice and the Cowgirl basketball team will now feature the two best rebounders in the ASC from a year ago.
On a sad note, Susan Keeling was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and has spent a lot of the summer under chemotherapy and radiation. The chemo part is over, but we still need to pray for Susan and Jimmie and the family.
We have not had any coaching staff changes in the offseason, which is a good thing in building continuity in our programs. We have had some of those years where we were pretty good in a lot of sports and this year seems to be looking that way.
Just wanted to say congratulations to a pair of former Cowboy and Cowgirls that ended up getting married, who have just added future HSU student-athletes.
Zane and Beth (Ulrickson) Jillson and Garet and Becca (Neal) Black have both recently had new additions to the HSU family.
Don’t forget to signup for our Hardin-Simmons Athletic Department page on Facebook. If you are a facebooker and want to join you can click here. Twitter is something new to me, but I think it is a great way to get information out quickly. You can join the twitter page here.
I promise it won’t be two months before I update again.
I will agree that the pace is a little slower in the summer, but if you kept the pace we do around here in athletics for the entire year the normal person would be totally burnt out in a year or less.
All of that being said I can’t tell you how excited that I can see right around the corner the fact that I will hear whistles blowing and pads popping and the sound of Heger saying you aren’t going to get a ring like that.
When you see over 150 games in about an eight month span and then you go four months not seeing much it all you really do start to miss the games. I have said in this space before that is one of the best things about my job is I get paid to watch a lot of games. By the Fourth of July I start to get the itch again to see a game.
I agree the content slows down in the summer but over the next few weeks you are going to see a lot of new stories and information on the web site, along with all of the schedules for 2008-09 (most of them are already up) and the fall sports rosters will be up soon after everyone reports. I will be updating the season previews in the next week or so and before you know it we will back into the game routine.
One of the things that you will see a lot more of this season is video. Not necessarily video streams of games (although you may see some) we are going to have interviews with coaches and players frequently and we are going to have more video highlights of games as well. I am going to have a new camera this year and we are going to make this more of reality than before.
Here are a few of the things that have gone on since I last blogged in the athletic department.
Ashley Huston won about 100 awards for her amazing season. The most amazing is she was named the Honda Award Winner as the Division III Female Athlete of the Year. She also won ASC Female Athlete of the Year, was the national field athlete of the year, was Academic All-American and was selected as the ASC representative for NCAA Woman of the Year. She truly had an amazing year, including three individual NCAA titles.
The summer time is always a fun time of the year, because not only are there always freshmen announcing they are coming to campus, there is always a buzz about some transfers. We will see some of those in a few weeks at football practice and the Cowgirl basketball team will now feature the two best rebounders in the ASC from a year ago.
On a sad note, Susan Keeling was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and has spent a lot of the summer under chemotherapy and radiation. The chemo part is over, but we still need to pray for Susan and Jimmie and the family.
We have not had any coaching staff changes in the offseason, which is a good thing in building continuity in our programs. We have had some of those years where we were pretty good in a lot of sports and this year seems to be looking that way.
Just wanted to say congratulations to a pair of former Cowboy and Cowgirls that ended up getting married, who have just added future HSU student-athletes.
Zane and Beth (Ulrickson) Jillson and Garet and Becca (Neal) Black have both recently had new additions to the HSU family.
Don’t forget to signup for our Hardin-Simmons Athletic Department page on Facebook. If you are a facebooker and want to join you can click here. Twitter is something new to me, but I think it is a great way to get information out quickly. You can join the twitter page here.
I promise it won’t be two months before I update again.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Keeping In Touch
One of the things that I have set as a goal for the sports information department is to get more of our former players and coaches back in touch with Hardin-Simmons. I just want to let you know of several different things that we are doing on the web site to help you stay involved.
First, we have set up a Hardin-Simmons Athletic Department page on Facebook. If you are a facebooker and want to join you can click here. We are also adding a twitter page. Twitter is something new to me, but I think it is a great way to get information out quickly. You can join the twitter page here.
Another thing I am going to try to do is add articles about former players and coaches that have gone on to other places. If you see articles that have HSU athletic-related ties, send me the address and we are adding them on the web site.
All of this information can be found under the Keeping In Touch Tab on the web site.
I also encourage you to sign up for the letterman’s golf tournament that will be held on June 19 at Fairway Oaks.
You can contact me by phone (325) 670-1473 or e-mail (cgrubbs@hsutx.edu) or you can contact anyone on the staff through our athletic department directory.
First, we have set up a Hardin-Simmons Athletic Department page on Facebook. If you are a facebooker and want to join you can click here. We are also adding a twitter page. Twitter is something new to me, but I think it is a great way to get information out quickly. You can join the twitter page here.
Another thing I am going to try to do is add articles about former players and coaches that have gone on to other places. If you see articles that have HSU athletic-related ties, send me the address and we are adding them on the web site.
All of this information can be found under the Keeping In Touch Tab on the web site.
I also encourage you to sign up for the letterman’s golf tournament that will be held on June 19 at Fairway Oaks.
You can contact me by phone (325) 670-1473 or e-mail (cgrubbs@hsutx.edu) or you can contact anyone on the staff through our athletic department directory.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Busy Weekend Ahead ... Come on Out
I apologize for taking so long to update the blog, the spring is just such a hectic time for me.
It is not like I haven’t had some things to write about. First of all Ashley Huston needs to get a tip of the cap for her performance at the indoor NCAA Championships. She placed fourth in the high jump and won the pentathlon to score enough points for HSU to finish eighth as a team. She has already automatically qualified for the outdoors in the heptathlon and has provisionally qualified in the high jump, long jump and 100 hurdles. The Cowgirls could have two or three other qualifiers for the spring outdoor meet and right now RaceBerry Jam has them picked to placed third, based on athletes that have qualified so far. Not bad for a first year program.
Congratulations to the two diamond sports. They both have a chance to clinch ASC West Division titles this weekend. The Cowboys will play Texas Lutheran at Hunter Field this weekend and if they win the series they will be the No. 1 seed from the ASC West and will have their second straight ASC West title. This team is exciting to watch, they have already set the record for home runs in a season in the Division III era and Regan Dixon has hit a school-record 14 home runs this season. Come out and enjoy the nice weather and support the Cowboys this weekend.
The softball team is in first place in the ASC West and has won 19 of their last 20 games. They play second place Howard Payne this weekend at Ellis Field starting at 2 p.m. on Friday. If you did not see it, freshman Taylor Namey had a huge weekend at Concordia last week, especially the Friday doubleheader when she hit five home runs in the two games. She has tied Arin Spence’s school home run record with 11 this season.
The tennis teams will compete at McMurry this weekend in the ASC Tournament. The women won their 11th straight ASC West title and they are the favorites in the women’s tournament. They will play at 8:30 on Saturday morning. The men play Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
The spring sports are starting to wind down their season’s and before you know it summer will be here. We have had another good year at Hardin-Simmons that could turn out to be great over the next month and a half.
I hope to see you at the games this weekend.
It is not like I haven’t had some things to write about. First of all Ashley Huston needs to get a tip of the cap for her performance at the indoor NCAA Championships. She placed fourth in the high jump and won the pentathlon to score enough points for HSU to finish eighth as a team. She has already automatically qualified for the outdoors in the heptathlon and has provisionally qualified in the high jump, long jump and 100 hurdles. The Cowgirls could have two or three other qualifiers for the spring outdoor meet and right now RaceBerry Jam has them picked to placed third, based on athletes that have qualified so far. Not bad for a first year program.
Congratulations to the two diamond sports. They both have a chance to clinch ASC West Division titles this weekend. The Cowboys will play Texas Lutheran at Hunter Field this weekend and if they win the series they will be the No. 1 seed from the ASC West and will have their second straight ASC West title. This team is exciting to watch, they have already set the record for home runs in a season in the Division III era and Regan Dixon has hit a school-record 14 home runs this season. Come out and enjoy the nice weather and support the Cowboys this weekend.
The softball team is in first place in the ASC West and has won 19 of their last 20 games. They play second place Howard Payne this weekend at Ellis Field starting at 2 p.m. on Friday. If you did not see it, freshman Taylor Namey had a huge weekend at Concordia last week, especially the Friday doubleheader when she hit five home runs in the two games. She has tied Arin Spence’s school home run record with 11 this season.
The tennis teams will compete at McMurry this weekend in the ASC Tournament. The women won their 11th straight ASC West title and they are the favorites in the women’s tournament. They will play at 8:30 on Saturday morning. The men play Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
The spring sports are starting to wind down their season’s and before you know it summer will be here. We have had another good year at Hardin-Simmons that could turn out to be great over the next month and a half.
I hope to see you at the games this weekend.
Monday, March 2, 2009
10 Years And Counting
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.
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.
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