In my ten plus years as Director of Athletics here at Hardin-Simmons, one aspect of the job that I have truly enjoyed was serving on the NCAA Division III National Football Committee. I enjoyed serving on the committee for three reasons: one, it allowed me the opportunity to see up close how the championship selection process works. I might not always agree with the NCAA on issues such as geographic proximity, but I can at least understand why the NCAA makes the decisions that they do. Second, I had the opportunity to work with some great athletic administrators from around the country who provided me some great insight on how to do your job on a college campus. Finally, serving on the committee allowed me to see firsthand student-athletes achieving the goal of competing in a national championship game, which is a thrill only a handful of athletes get to experience.
Last week I learned that I had been appointed to the Division III National Women’s Soccer Committee and I hope this work will be a rewarding as serving on the football committee. The purpose of the committee is to develop policies and procedures governing the administration and conduct of the NCAA. The committee evaluates and ranks the teams throughout the eight regions and helps with the administration of the Final Four Championship weekend, which will be in Orlando over the Thanksgiving weekend. I know that serving on a committee also means spending countless hours on conference calls discussing the rankings and the selections for the playoff bracket. Many times the conference calls go deep into the wee hours of the morning as the committee attempts to select the right teams and place them in the right bracket. Just as with the Division I selections for the basketball tournament, there are always schools who are left out. I can empathize with them as HSU has been on the outside looking in on several occasions when it comes to the post-season.
I look forward to the challenges that serving on the committee will provide over the next four years. I believe that serving on NCAA committees is a great learning experience and a wonderful way to represent our campus on a national level.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
2007-08 - Blog 2
The students might have moved into their dorm rooms and classes might have started, but the school year doesn’t seem to really start for me, until the first weekend of athletic events. It is at that time that I seem to get into a routine, a set schedule, which seems to include athletic events every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
The first football game of the year saw our Cowboys play a very solid team from Wisconsin-La Crosse. While the coaching staff is disappointed with the outcome of the game, we do not have to worry about our season ending on the same day it started. Automatic qualification allows the conference champion to secure the berth into the NCAA Playoffs, so the season is still very young. HSU would like to join the list of teams who have stumbled out of the gate, but regained their footing in time for the stretch run during the months of October and November. The road to recovery began the day after the La-Crosse game as the Cowboys prepare for perennial power, Linfield, in Oregon on September 15.
Remember the, Creedence Clearwater Revival song ‘ Who’ll stop the rain?” popular during the 1970’s? Many of us in Abilene asked that same question as we had a record breaking summer of rain, which helped put us behind on several building projects The soccer/ track fieldhouse, which we had originally hoped to have finished for the Fall semester, should now be completed by January. While it is disappointing that the building is not complete, we should all remind ourselves that the rain and floods from the summer caused major problems for many people in our area. There are many families, farmers and ranchers who suffered much more than we did because of the record setting rain.
Congratulations to former volleyball player, Virginia Aguilar who recently was named one of thirty National semi-finalists for The NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Aguilar joins former Cowgirl basketball standout, Kendra Anderson, who was also a semi-finalist for this award in 2003. Aguilar will receive an all-expense paid trip to Indianapolis in October for the Women of the Year Banquet. The banquet is one of the NCAA’s major events and will provide Virginia a chance to meet some of the top student-athletes in the nation from Divisions I, II and III.
The first football game of the year saw our Cowboys play a very solid team from Wisconsin-La Crosse. While the coaching staff is disappointed with the outcome of the game, we do not have to worry about our season ending on the same day it started. Automatic qualification allows the conference champion to secure the berth into the NCAA Playoffs, so the season is still very young. HSU would like to join the list of teams who have stumbled out of the gate, but regained their footing in time for the stretch run during the months of October and November. The road to recovery began the day after the La-Crosse game as the Cowboys prepare for perennial power, Linfield, in Oregon on September 15.
Remember the, Creedence Clearwater Revival song ‘ Who’ll stop the rain?” popular during the 1970’s? Many of us in Abilene asked that same question as we had a record breaking summer of rain, which helped put us behind on several building projects The soccer/ track fieldhouse, which we had originally hoped to have finished for the Fall semester, should now be completed by January. While it is disappointing that the building is not complete, we should all remind ourselves that the rain and floods from the summer caused major problems for many people in our area. There are many families, farmers and ranchers who suffered much more than we did because of the record setting rain.
Congratulations to former volleyball player, Virginia Aguilar who recently was named one of thirty National semi-finalists for The NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Aguilar joins former Cowgirl basketball standout, Kendra Anderson, who was also a semi-finalist for this award in 2003. Aguilar will receive an all-expense paid trip to Indianapolis in October for the Women of the Year Banquet. The banquet is one of the NCAA’s major events and will provide Virginia a chance to meet some of the top student-athletes in the nation from Divisions I, II and III.
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