Welcome To HSU

He can tell you stories about Shaquille O’Neal. He can tell you about coaching basketball in the Philippines. He can tell you numerous yarns about the “Preacher Man”, Dale Brown. Coaching basketball for over thirty years all across the world gives you a chance to have as many stories as last month’s issue of Readers Digest.

But it is not the stories or the Division I background that led us to choose Craig Carse as our next men’s basketball coach. What makes us believe that he is the right person for HSU is his desire to work with the Division III student-athlete. In both the telephone interview and the on-campus interview, Craig demonstrated that he wants the chance to recruit for Hardin-Simmons and continue to build this program where it can stay competitive in the American Southwest Conference. Did we question him on could he adjust to Division III after being at the Division II level the last 13 years? Only about 75 times. Did we ask him would he be willing to work with a relatively young staff in a league that is just eleven years old? Sure we did. Did we ask him if he would be willing to drive a van to all parts of Texas? Yes. That is just standard operating procedure for life in the American Southwest Conference, where the road trips have none of the glamour that the Southeastern Conference provides. And we stressed to Craig that to be successful at Hardin-Simmons, you need to work well with everyone. Not just the athletic department, but the entire campus community. He understands that this is a special place, where all of us need to support each program and all of us are recruiters.

I hope you get the chance to meet Coach Carse at our reception/ press conference on Monday, August 11 at 3:00 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Johnson Building. I think you will sense the energy and excitement that he has for HSU and to coach at the collegiate level. It is our sincere hope that this will be a place for him to create many more stories for his collection.