New York, New York

As I sit here on Election Day, I wonder how much money a Division I football playoff (similar to Division III) would generate to help out our sagging economy. A stimulus package revolving around a college football playoff might be one of the few things that our representatives in Washington D.C. could agree on.

As you have noticed on our web site, ZaVious Robbins has received a prestigious award from the National Football Foundation. ZaVious will fly to New York City in December to receive his award alongside Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow and others. The event will be held at the legendary Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the NFF has two full days of activities for ZaVious and the other award winners.

This will mark the second time this year that an HSU student-athlete has earned a trip to the Big Apple ,as Ashley Huston went to New York in June to receive her Honda Woman of the Year award. As you recall, Ashley had to overcome a significant injury before she could accomplish all that she did for our track program. ZaVious is in the process of recovering from a season ending injury that he suffered in the second game of the season. While ZaVious has accomplished a great deal for our athletic program, we hope that next year will allow him to do even more. It’s ironic that two of our most prestigious award winners both had to deal with a major injury during their athletic careers. Perseverance is a word that sometimes we throw around easily; we mention it so much that I think we forget the true meaning of the word. Both Ashley and ZaVious have had obstacles to overcome during their athletic careers. They should help motivate us when we have to deal with difficulties in our everyday lives.

Cowboy Up,
John Neese

Walk Through

The American Southwest Conference received some good news last week when the Division III Management Council gave its support for allowing walkthrough sessions during the opening days of pre-season football practice. The ASC along with the Empire 8 and the New Jersey Athletic Conference all sponsored this legislation for the 2010 NCAA Convention in Atlanta.

The proposal will allow Division III schools to have walkthroughs-consisting of daily one hour instructional periods during the five day acclimatization period without helmets, pads or conditioning activities. Last year the proposal failed to make it to the convention floor as several committees expressed their concern over the safety factor of having walkthroughs during the hottest time of the year. Now with an additional year of research and the expected support of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, the proposal will go to the convention floor in January.

I hope the proposal will pass, because I think this is a good way for our coaches to get some additional opportunities to work with our student-athletes in a safe environment. I think that anytime we can create more opportunities for our coaches to be with our young people, it is a positive thing for both sides.

I realize that some of my colleagues might view this as an attempt by Division III to mirror Division I and Division II, which already has the walkthrough policy in place. Many times I hear representatives from Division III institutions remark that it is bad policy when we try to implement a policy that is in place from the other two divisions. I hear them say that we should be different than the other two divisions because that is where our identity is: we are the only division that does not offer athletic scholarships.

It’s not that we want to be Division I or Division II- we only want to provide our student-athletes with the coaching and support that they have come to expect from their high school. When we attempt to upgrade our facilities or petition the NCAA for more interaction with our coaches and student-athletes, it’s not an attempt to be the University of Texas. It’s an attempt to provide the student-athletes with the opportunities that they have grown up with, whether they compete for a club team or for a high school program.

The walkthrough proposal will not have a financial impact and should not require any additional manpower from athletic training or other support staff. I hope the membership will see the value of this proposal as the Management Council has.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

Time To Exhale After Great Homecoming

It was one of the busiest weekends on campus that I have been involved with and it was also one of our most successful. From Thursday afternoon to Saturday night, Hardin-Simmons was busy with Trustees meetings, homecoming activities and athletic events.

Friday night we had the Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner with over 230 people in attendance. All four of the inductees did a great job with their remarks and I thought it was a wonderful evening. I think several of the highlights for me were Collin McCormick thanking his mother for all of her support and basically saying that it was his turn to take care of her after all the years that she took care of him. Doyle Brunson said that when he was on campus he used to make fun of the Cowboys for Christ group, but that they knew what it took him forty years to learn.

All of our athletic teams were successful as the football, volleyball and soccer teams all recorded wins. What you don’t see in the box scores and game stories is everything that happened behind the scenes. With a hectic weekend like this, numerous people have to work long hours to make sure everything goes right. Thanks to our facilities staff for making sure that the fields were lined and marked and ready to go. Our athletic training staff and sports information folks also deserve a word of thanks for making sure that our student-athletes were taken care of –on the field and on the athletic website. I think all of our support staff should feel a sense of accomplishment for making sure that everything went as smoothly as it did.

So after this long weekend we get a slight chance to recharge our batteries, as everything is off-campus this week; after this past weekend, even the long drive to Alpine will seem easy.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

Centenary Talk

If you are a casual fan of Division III athletics, the fact that Centenary College in Louisiana is making the transition from Division I to Division III might have slipped below your radar screen. The announcement which was made in late July opened the door for the possibility that HSU and Centenary might be reunited as conference foes.

Both HSU and Centenary were charter members of the Division I Trans America Athletic Conference which was founded in September, 1978. The Cowboys and Gents were joined by Houston Baptist, Mercer, Northeast Louisiana, Oklahoma City, Pan American and Samford. When HSU first started traveling to Shreveport, there were no casinos on the river front, so it looked considerably different than it does now. At that time it would have been hard to see Don Henley of the Eagles on a local television station, much less appearing at a casino as he recently did.

There will be a great deal of work for Centenary as they plot their course for Division III. Like HSU, they will have to work hard to win back some of the fans they lost because of the decision to discontinue athletic scholarships. The coaches who will succeed at this level will realize that recruiting at the Division III level is difficult work. We are constantly recruiting our student-athletes, even when they are on campus and are enrolled. And it appears that Centenary does have the facilities and the location to recruit and retain talented student-athletes. These student athletes will be able to give the school local and regional exposure once they begin to succeed at the Division III level.

There is speculation about which conference Centenary will join when they are granted full membership into Division III. Both the American Southwest Conference and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference can offer valid reasons for Centenary to join their respective leagues. The Presidents of both conferences will be responsible for making the final decision. If they join the SCAC, it will still be a positive move for our league as we will have one more potential regional opponent for either the regular season or the post-season. If they join the ASC, it will balance out the eastern division of the league and help provide another scheduled Division III opponent for many of our sports that struggle to find D-III games.

We wish Centenary the best of luck as they go through this difficult process. I hope their fans and alumni will be patient as the administration made a tough decision during this current economic crisis. And while we don’t know when and where they will be as a Division III member, we look forward to the chance to compete with them.
Cowboy Up,

John Neese

“You really are from the South aren’t you?”

“You really are from the South aren’t you?”

Reporter to Ashley Huston after interviewing her at the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships.

Yes Ashley Huston is from the South and yes, Ashley added to her NCAA Championship totals at the NCAA Division III Track championships. The fans and competitors were talking more about her accomplishments than her southern accent. In 72 hours Ashley set the NCAA Division III record for the Heptathlon, placed seventh in the long jump and won gold in the high jump.

The reporters and fans might have had even more to talk about if the schedule had given her a break. Twenty minutes after running the final event in the heptathlon, the grueling 800 meter race which took place with temperatures reaching 92 degrees, Ashley raced in the first heat of the 100 meter hurdles. If she had run in a later heat, which would have given her more time to recover, she might have qualified for Saturday’s finals. Instead she failed to make it out of the heat. However the event did provide a wonderful moment of sportsmanship. As Ashley prepared to run the hurdles, the athletes that she had been competing against in the heptathlon lined up on the inside of the track. As she sprinted down the track, her former competitors cheered her on and shouted out encouragement. A sure sign of respect for what Ashley had accomplished at the championships and as a person.

On Saturday morning at breakfast, a tired but motivated Ashley talked about her chances in the high jump. She was banking on two things to help her through the competition. A complimentary massage offered by the NCAA later in the morning to help stretch out her back and leg muscles as she prepared for the high jump. The second was using five words to motivate her that she had received from Coach Smith.
“Each trip Coach Smith says that we have to act better than we feel.” Anyone can compete when they are feeling good. Perhaps one of the keys to great performances is those individuals who can compete on days when they do not feel 100%. Act better than you feel. Obvious solid advice for someone on the day they are trying to win a national championship. And probably good advice for each of us as we make our way through our day to day existence.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

I'm Back

I wish I could give you some noble reason for why I have not visited this space for over two months. I wish I could tell you that I have been doing something heroic like fighting pirates or working on a stimulus bill for college students.

Instead I can only say that I have not been disciplined enough to be consistent on doing this blog. Our student-athletes have given me plenty to write about; I simply haven’t made the time.

I wish I could write about our baseball team heading to the final round of the conference tournament. Unfortunately the Cowboys season came to a close on another windy day at Hunter Field on Saturday. I have never seen a baseball season at HSU where the south wind was as consistent as it was this year. Years ago we had an assistant coach who had the following theory on the jet stream at Hunter Field. He believed that the south wind would slow down when it hit the Mabee Complex, then build back up and grow even stronger as it blew thru Shelton Stadium and into Hunter Field. This individual was also our pitching coach, so perhaps his theory was built more on a feeling instead of aerodynamic research.

One thing I have been working on over the last several weeks is a student-athlete experience evaluation that we are distributing to all of our athletic teams. Our coaches and I hope this will give our students the opportunity to let us know what we are doing well and what we need to improve on. After our students have completed the survey, I will visit with our coaching staff to evaluate the results. The survey should give us some direction on what we need to work on for the upcoming school year.

With the summer break coming up, many of our students will be heading home. I hope they will stay in contact with us thru our website as we are looking at several new options for the upcoming school year. Maybe they will not be as big a stranger to our website as I have been to the blog for the last two months.

Cowboy Up.

John Neese

Goodbye To A Good Friend

Game management is accomplished by staying alert and then reading and reacting to potential problem situations before they materialize. It all boils down to paying attention to details. Jim Evans

During the week I was in Indianapolis for the Division III Women’s Soccer Meetings as I serve on the NCAA national soccer committee. While I was there I had a chance to visit with Wayne Burrow, who has served as a Director of Championships for the NCAA for 17 years. Wayne and I became acquainted when I served on the regional football committee in the late 1990’s and then we became good friends when I served on the Division III national football committee.

Wayne is stepping down today from the NCAA and I know he finds some humor that he is leaving the organization on Friday the 13th. Wayne was always quick with a one liner and enjoyed the friendly banter that comes with working with the committee members of the respective sports.

However it would be incorrect to portray Wayne as someone who just did his job only because it was fun. Wayne is perhaps the best detail person I have ever worked with and seemed to be prepared for anything. For someone who was involved with numerous championships, Wayne was always interested in making sure that the same principles were applied regardless whether the event was Division I or Division III. He worked hard to make the championship (especially the Division III Football championship) a unique event that the students and their families would remember for the rest of their lives. Wayne was always the person in the background who made the events happen and normally without any problems. He loved to take care of the logistics involved with hosting a championship and could quote you the NCAA football handbook as easily as he could recite the dates of his family member birthdays.

And because he was a Director of Championships, Wayne was also the contact person when people were unhappy with the logic of selection process. Wayne fielded numerous phone calls and e-mails from University Presidents, Athletic Directors, Coaches, Reporters, Cheerleaders, Girlfriends and irate grandmothers. He would always explain the rationale behind the selection process and then listen to their beliefs that their team not getting in was part of a universal conspiracy to keep their students from getting a fair deal. He took a call like that from me in 1998 when our football team went 9-1 and did not make the playoffs. While I disagreed with the policy, I knew that Wayne had at least listened to me. In the end that’s all we can really ask for in any situation. And in time, I realized that there was no conspiracy against Hardin-Simmons.

Like many of my colleagues I will miss seeing Wayne at the NCAA office and knowing that he is helping make a championship event the best it can be. He has left a legacy that will be tough for all of us to follow. We wish him the best for this next transition in his life.

Nickels and Dimes

Over the years David Jones has collected more quarters than your local car wash. While most of us pay little attention to the nickels and dimes that jingle in our car consol, David is quick to point out how all of the small change can lead to big changes.

David is responsible for publicizing the Kiwanis Club of Abilene Annual Basketball Shootout between Hardin-Simmons and McMurry University. The game is Monday, February 2 at McMurry University. This is the 12th year for the Shootout, which raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network. One of the aspects of the Shootout is that athletes from both schools, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and First Financial Bank all serve as “Change Bandits, who rob people for a good cause” by collecting donations for the game. They encourage people to give all the loose change that might be in their car, in the drawer in their office or in their piggy bank. At halftime of next Monday’s game a local Boy Scout troop will go through the stands collecting change as well.

And while it’s easy to dismiss the money raised from small change, the numbers might surprise you. Over $27,000 has been raised by the change bandits and their friends in the past eleven years to help local children served by the Children’s Miracle Network. The region’s only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit was also made possible by the Children’s Miracle Network, and if you have given a dime or a dollar over the years, you have helped make that possible.

I have known several families that have had a child stay at the Meek Children’s Hospital, and they will tell you that the change goes a long way. When your child has been bitten by a rattlesnake or when your child has trouble breathing, you want the best help available. Obviously the folks at the Meek Children’s Hospital are regarded as some of the best in the country-and it’s good to know that we are helping with their mission.

With the daily deluge of bad news about our economy, it’s second nature for us to decide to pull back on what we spend money on for entertainment and for eating out. While you might pass on going out to the movies this weekend, I hope you won’t pass on your chance to give when the change bandits come to visit you.

Cowboy Up.

JN

NCAA Convention

In 2008 the NCAA Division III convention featured a weekend long discussion of the future of the membership that is composed of over 450 members. And while there was some discussion of splitting Division III, that possibility collapsed when the membership responded to an NCAA survey in the spring. Nearly 90% of the Division III membership claimed they were in favor of the status quo and not exploring any potential change.

So the potential political theatre in Washington, DC for this year’s NCAA convention quickly evaporated. Instead the Division III membership voted on less than 12 proposals in less than ninety minutes. Many long time administrators said they could not recall a day when the voting went so quickly. The only proposal that generated any discussion revolved around the potential of having August 15th be the start date for practice for all fall sports except football. The proposal failed 297-154 and the members quickly moved on to the next proposal.

One thing that was consistently mentioned at the convention was the challenging economic crisis that we are all facing. I visited with several Athletic Directors that are having to make tough decisions about cutting sports, budgets or staff. I doubt that the majority of Division III schools have been frivolous with their budgets over the years. Many schools will be cutting budgets that are already tight.

So the 2009 NCAA convention will not be remembered as the landmark convention that many thought it would be. It is possible that the economic times we are currently facing will provide more changes than any legislation ever will.