John Neese Athletic Blog

Barcelona Rewind

2010-08-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

There were numerous unique sights on the Cowgirls soccer trip to Barcelona. Along with the monastery of Montserrat and the Salvador Dali museum, there was Amy Kuykendall, a fifth year senior. Amy is unique because she made her second international tour in her time at Hardin-Simmons University. NCAA rules allow teams to make a foreign tour once every three years, which means a student-athlete only has the chance to make the trip once. Amy was a sophomore when she suffered an ACL injury in the fourth game of the year. The injury occurred after a stellar freshman season, and the Cowgirls had gone on their international tour in 2007. Since the injury occurred before the end of the first half of the season, she was able to receive a hardship waiver from the NCAA, which gave her another season of eligibility.

“At the time of the injury all of my friends were saying that at least you can make another foreign tour.” Amy mentioned to me as we walked around Gaudi’s Park Guell. “Back then another trip did not seem like that big a deal as I was trying to recover from my injury. Now it certainly seems worth the wait.”

And while many student-athletes have overcome an ACL injury, the rehab process brings out more uniqueness to Amy’s story.

“Amy had the chance to demolish numerous scoring records before the injury,” stated Head Coach Marcus Wood. “The amazing thing to me is that I have never heard her complain about the injury and how it impacted her career. Because of that I have so much respect for her character.”

It’s fairly remarkable for an individual to know that if they had stayed healthy, they could have rewritten the record books. Even more remarkable? Not to complain to your coach and team about your injury. To have the character and resolve to deal with a setback and not use it as an excuse is a trait to be admired. Many of us are quick to blame events beyond our control when the world does not appear as we want it to. I even blamed the paper cut on my finger for the microwave burning my popcorn last night.

The art experts say that Gaudi’s work was under appreciated when he was in the process of creating many of his architectural achievements. We have another year to appreciate Amy’s work on the field. She has already given us a masterpiece when it comes to appreciating the value of good character.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

Barcelona, Spain, 2010 Ipod Mix

1. Holiday in Spain, Counting Crows
2. St. Agnes and the Burning Train, Sting
(None of my friends believe this is Sting when they hear it.)
3. Spanish Horses, Aztec Camera
4. Chico Groove, Gustavo Santaolalla
5. Low Rider, War
6. Looking for Paradise, Alejandro Sanz and Alicia Keys
7. Spanish Bombs, The Clash
(How many punk bands wrote a song about the Spanish Civil War?
Just another reason why I will always love The Clash)
8. Teatro, Willie Nelson
9. Spanish Rose, Van Morrison
10. Big Brother, The Stephanie Wremble Trio
11. Tout Le Monde, Carla Bruni
12. Asturias, Juan Quesada
13. Spanish Caravan, The Doors
14. Dicen Que la Han Visto, Alberto Inglesias
15. The Pan Piper, Miles Davis & Gil Evans from Sketches of Spain

Change

2010-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

Even in this day of instantaneous global communication, there are still reminders that change can take time. As I walked thru the Dallas -Ft. Worth airport last week on my way to Atlanta for the NCAA Convention, I noticed there were several large signs encouraging me to “be a Tiger.” I would guess that Accenture is working to remove their wall-size portrait of Tiger Woods challenging me to take a risk and to go on, be a Tiger. I doubt if my boss or fiancé would approve of me following Tiger’s lead at this stage of his career or this stage of my life.

Then on the plane-there was Jay Leno on the cover of American Way. The title of the story in the publication on the late night comedian? The secret of my success. Things can change in a hurry, for all us regardless of our station in life. As Sinatra once sang, “Riding high in April, shot down in May.”

And there was change at the convention. The business session, where the Division III membership meets to vote on the proposals submitted by various groups, lacked the controversy that we have seen in the past. All nine proposals were accepted by a large margin, including a proposal to allow football to have walk-thru’s during their acclimation period. The business session was brief and lasted less than 2 hours. I have been to conventions where we spent nearly two hours just debating the merits of one proposal.

We also reviewed the first draft of the Division III Strategic Positioning Platform, which is a document that the NCAA hopes will help inform the general public what Division III has to offer. Several years ago when NCAA Division II was looking to help brand their identity the NCAA approved the slogan of “I choose Division II.” The tag line for Division III is Discover, Develop, Dedicate. Expect to see the NCAA promote Division III in the coming months as they make the commitment to publicize what the division has to offer to student-athletes and their families.
Cowboy Up,
John Neese

New York, New York

2009-11-03T08:13:00.001-08:00

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

2009-10-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

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?”

2009-05-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

“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

2009-04-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

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.

He Was A Good Cowman

2008-12-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

He was a good cowman.
One sentence statement that was on the bulletin for Sam Baugh’s funeral.

Before 1990 and the return of football to the Hardin-Simmons campus, there were three names always mentioned with Cowboy football. Clyde “Bulldog” Turner who played at HSU and later had a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. Ed Sprinkle who also played at HSU and for the Chicago Bears, and was known as ‘the meanest man in professional football”. The third was Sam Baugh who passed away last week at the age of 94. Baugh played his collegiate football at Texas Christian University and was the head football coach at HSU from 1954-1959. After he retired from pro football and a phenomenal career with the Washington Redskins, he brought national attention to HSU when he became the head coach.

About 10 of his former players from HSU attended his funeral on Monday in the community of Rotan. Several of them mentioned how he always said that the HSU job was the best job he ever had. Baugh ran his practices as if he was back home in Rotan at his ranch tending to his cattle. Most days he was on the practice field in blue jeans, western shirt and a well-worn Cowboy hat, which was similar to his attire that he would wear on game day. Baugh coached the Cowboys when they were a member of the Border Conference and in 1958 he led the Cowboys in a brutal non-conference schedule for a small Division I school. The Cowboys played Baylor, Ole Miss, Arkansas and defending national champion LSU all on the road and all for guarantees, which probably helped keep the athletic department in budget for the year. One year during practices a group of high school coaches from the area came to watch Baugh and the Cowboys work out. One of the coaches was current Cowboy football coach Jimmie Keeling.

Many of the speakers at the funeral talked about Baugh and his colorful language. Which he would use at any time and any place. Whether it was the ranch, church, golf course, banquet, Baugh was going to talk like the rancher he was. He was always the same, regardless of the circumstance. I remember a local television reporter asking Sam if he could watch his language during an interview. Sam smiled and said if he had to watch what he was going to say, then there would be no need to interview him. The interview went on with the reporter having to edit the conversation before it went on air.

Sam also had a great sense of humor. When he left HSU to take the job as the first head coach of the New York Titans in the American Football League, the team struggled. They were not very competitive and Baugh quit after two seasons of what everyone would agree was bad football. Toward the end of the second year, a reporter asked Coach Baugh if he was concerned with how the fans might act at the games because of the performance of the team. With perfect timing, Coach Baugh said he was okay with dealing with the fans. After all there were probably more players and coaches on the Titans staff, than there would be fans at the game.

While there might have been a limited number of Titans fans that day in New York, there will always been a huge number of Sam Baugh fans. And the fact that he had numerous fans that never saw him play, speaks to what kind of person he was away from the football field.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

As we mark off the final days of 2008, there is plenty to look forward to for the upcoming year. One thing that the women’s basketball can look forward to this year is their trip to the Bahamas which will begin on Wednesday. The Cowgirls will play two games on this trip, which they spent the last several years raising money for. This will be the first time the Cowgirls have made a trip like this and I know it will provide them plenty of good memories.

In 2009, we will continue work on several projects on the Grape Street Athletic Complex. The work has started on a new parking lot, which we anticipate will have over 150 parking spaces and an area for buses to park. This will help allow us to have ample parking for our athletic events and will improve the overall look of the facility. If everything goes according to plan, we should have the parking lot completed by late February, which will certainly help us during softball season. We are also working on irrigating and adding sod to the infield of the track, which we hope to have done by early January. Across the street from the track we will be building the area for the hammer throw which should be completed sometime in the spring. When we have finished all of these projects we will be the only school in the American Southwest Conference who will be able to host a conference meet with all events at one facility.

The Spring will also bring the chance for the coaches of our fall sports to hit the road as they being the recruiting process. All of our fall teams had strong seasons which should help them as they visit with potential student-athletes. I know that our football program is encouraged by the improvement that was evident this year. Now that several of our coaches have been on campus for awhile, I know that they will work hard to bring in the type of student-athletes that will continue to help us improve.

And while it was a tough way to finish the football season, we do have to tip our hats to our league rivals, Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Crusaders certainly helped the reputation of the American Southwest Conference as they had no problems with two of their playoff opponents after their close win against the Cowboys. And yes, the matchup of the Crusaders and the Cowboys in 2009 is something I am already looking forward to.

When You Think About It, Its Not That Bad

2008-11-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

There has been a significant talk around the Hardin-Simmons community about our recent pairings in the NCAA Division III football playoffs. We have a history of playing Mary Hardin-Baylor in the first or second round of the playoffs because of what the NCAA refers to as geographic proximity. While some could argue it is an unfair way to start the playoffs- having to play a conference opponent right out of the gate- I think it is something that we have to realize is the reality of intercollegiate athletics at the Division III level.

And I think we all have to keep things in perspective about what should bother us and what we should be able to deal with. I hope that you understand that the competitive desire for me to see our athletic programs do well has not waned over the years. I share the goals and dreams that our coaching staff have in regards to not only excelling at the conference level, but performing well on the national stage. I just think that sometimes we all need help in refocusing our vision on what is truly important.

And I bring this up after my recent trip to California for the women’s soccer playoff game at Redlands University. As my flight began its descent into the Santa Anna airport, you could see the smoke rising from the earth from the recent fires. After landing and picking up my rental vehicle, I drove thru smoke and high winds on Highway 91, a road that would be later closed because of bad conditions.

When I got to Redlands, I heard several stories about families who had felt the impact of the day’s events. A college soccer coach from the area and father of five lost his home on Saturday morning. A retirement center burned down with no casualties, but everything in the center was destroyed. How do you start over at retirement age with no home, no belongings and no step by step list on how to begin your life again?

On Sunday, when I left the hotel to drive to the airport, I once again had to deal with the fires and their devastation. Several roads and interstates were closed, which meant I had to take an alternate (and longer) route to the airport. The trip was surreal as for five minutes you would see a beautiful southern California morning and then five minutes later, you would be driving thru white smoke and you could observe where the ground was charred. I heard on the radio that because of the poor breathing conditions caused by the fire, they had cancelled the Pasadena marathon. When I eventually arrived at the airport my clothes smelled as though I had been outside all morning in the smoke. Fortunately my flight was not delayed and I was able to make my way back to the everyday normalcy that so many times I take for granted.

Is it appropriate for us to be disappointed that our football team is playing a familiar opponent, which might make this feel like it is not a playoff game? Sure. However anything stronger than disappointment should be reserved for those issues that truly deserve it.

Cowboy Up,

JN

Streaking

2008-10-08T08:15:00.001-07:00

Bill Clinton was still President of the United States. Sarah Palin was the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. The cost of a gallon of gas was $1.26. HSU Senior Morgan Loyd was 14 years old. The year was 2000 and it was the last time a Cowgirl soccer team lost a regular season conference game.

On Saturday, October 4, the Cowgirls tied the University of Texas-Dallas, 0-0, which means they have extended their streak to 100 games without a loss in conference play during the regular season. From my perspective, there are numerous things that make the streak so impressive. The first is that for each opponent the Cowgirls have been “the game” that our conference opponents have highlighted on their schedule. Each opponent has brought their best game out for the Cowgirls and yet they have prevailed. There are numerous things that go into winning and losing a game-and for the last eight years, HSU has done everything that has to happen to not lose a game in conference play. Congratulations to all current and former members of the women’s soccer program for their role in this remarkable streak.

High praise is also in order for men’s soccer coach Dan Heger, who on Friday became the all-time leader in coaching wins for our men’s soccer program. Heger, who had an outstanding career at HSU as a goalkeeper when we were Division One, is in his sixth year as head coach of the Cowboys. Dan has been able to provide a unique insight for our coaching staff as he coached at the high school and college level before coming to Hardin-Simmons. I know that our other coaches enjoy hearing his perspective on motivating a team and I think they also appreciate hearing his humorous stories about growing up in Philadelphia.

The Hall of Fame Banquet is Friday night and if there is someone you think deserves to be nominated, please forward their information to me. An athlete shall have completed his/her playing career at least ten years prior to becoming eligible for nomination. Coaches shall have finished their coaching career at HSU for five years prior to becoming eligible for nomination. The committee has a difficult task as they choose four individuals to go into the Hall of Fame each year. Each year we shuffle the committee members so that there is not an agenda that one member might bring to the discussion every year. We are fortunate to have so many candidates to choose from each spring when the committee meets to discuss the next class of inductees.

Times They Are A Changing

2008-09-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Compared to the destruction that Hurricane Ike caused across the nation, the challenges that we faced as a school because of Ike were relatively small. Two soccer matches were canceled, our men’s golf team had a tournament postponed and we moved our football game time on Saturday. The reason for the change in game times was not because we thought that playing in the afternoon instead of the evening would cut down on our chances of playing in the rain. Instead we agreed with Linfield to move the game time because of concerns over lightning delays. If we had a lightning delay we would rather have the window of having all afternoon and evening to complete the game. Two years ago we attempted to play a night game at Louisiana College that had numerous delays because of lightning. After experiencing that situation, in which the game was not counted because we were not able to complete it, I would prefer not to revisit that scenario.

And before our game started on Saturday, I experienced something new at Shelton Stadium. For fifteen years the pregame agenda at Shelton has always included two hours of listening to the fight schools from various colleges around the nation. While it does get occasionally repetitive hearing the University of Iowa fight song, one can never tire of hearing the Notre Dame fight song. Yet on Saturday after one hour of fight songs, what did I hear over the PA, while the Cowboy football team was warming up? Rap music. I certainly will not pretend that I recognize what groups or individuals we were listening to, but it was unmistakably rap music. Much to my surprise this change in pregame tradition did not cause Abilene Hall to collapse or the swimming pool to turn blood red as if the plagues of Egypt had been visited upon our campus. I made a mental note to check with Coach Keeling about this recent change to our pregame agenda.

“The kids promised me that there would be no bad words on the warm up cd, so I agreed to let them make this change to our schedule” Keeling responded when I asked him about it on Monday. “They said that they wanted something different and I warned them that if there was any inappropriate language, we would go back to the fight song cd immediately”. I asked Coach if warm –up music was ever an issue when he first coached at Dublin, Texas, and he responded that the times have changed.

The times have indeed changed. Is it really that big a deal if the majority of our fans at our home games don’t know that Mos Def is a rapper and not a virus that could attack your house plants? While I cannot start to comprehend all of the musical trends that are currently available, there are numerous things about today’s youth that I don’t understand. And playing rap music before the home opener could very well be one of those things. We ask our kids to make a lot of sacrifices to compete at a Division III school, so perhaps listening to music that we don’t understand is a tradeoff we can make. Besides, I have a hunch, and it is only a hunch, that if we had not won the game on Saturday, that would have been the last time we would have made a change to our pre-game agenda.

Hitting The Road

2008-09-02T14:12:00.001-07:00

Right about the same time Republican delegates will be leaving St. Paul and the Republican convention on Friday, the Hardin-Simmons University football team will be arriving in St. Paul. The Cowboys are flying into St. Paul for their game with Wisconsin La-Crosse on Saturday night. HSU has played several members of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference over the years and perhaps we should be given a temporary membership into the WIAC. Like all of our athletic teams, our football program has to raise the money for any trip in which airline travel is required. We appreciate the support of many of our alumni, friends and football parents who help make the trip to Wisconsin possible. In 1999 after playing Wisconsin-Whitewater, the team flew out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport. As they waited in the terminal, Muhammad Ali made his way through the crowd and stopped to visit with members of our football team. The boxer who once proclaimed himself so mean “that he even makes medicine sick” signed every autograph and posed for numerous pictures with members of the team. It provided a great moment for our players and one that I am jealous that I missed. When we played Menlo in 2001 in California, the late Bill Walsh, who at the time lived near the campus, came and watched the game from the sidelines.

It is memories such as this that help make this trip such a unique event for our student-athletes. It’s funny, but when our football players from the era of the 1940’s to the 1960’s come back to campus, they hardly ever talk about the football games they played. Instead they spend most of the time talking about the way they went to the football games. At the time, the Cowboys, a member of the Border Conference, played schools in Arizona, New Mexico and California and travelled to all games by train. The stories they tell from the trips have aged well over the years. It is obvious that the camaraderie that was built from the travel have helped the friendships grow as the decades fly by. I hope that the students who have travelled in the Division III era of HSU athletics will also have some stories that can be told at future class reunions.

We did however lose one member of our travelling party recently when Glen Casselberry passed away after an extended battle with cancer. Glen travelled to numerous football games and was the official videographer of our football program. He also travelled to many Cowgirl basketball games just so he could help the officials see things from a different perspective. He was a devoted friend who loved his family, his faith and Hardin-Simmons. He left all of us with some examples of his loyalty to all three.

Cowboy Up.

Rain, Rain Go Away - For Now

2008-08-21T13:19:00.001-07:00

Earlier in the year I discussed in one of my blogs about our timetable for the completion of our new track facility. Now as we are days away from the start of the school year, we are disappointed that we have not reached the goal of having the track completed. There are various reasons for the delays, but the bottom line is that we will not have the track finished until late October. I know that Coach Smith and his athletes are frustrated; however, we will do the best we can with what resources are available to us. And we know that once this project is completed, it will play a major role in transforming the athletic facilities at Grape Street. While I am annoyed by the delays, I am still amazed at what we have been able to do at Grape Street over the last six years. What was once home to red ants and tumbleweeds has become a great facility with an even greater future.

One of the reasons for the delay for the track facility is the rain, which this week has also caused numerous logistical headaches for our football and soccer programs. Trying to balance a practice schedule, while worrying about the upkeep of our fields, is not a dilemma that any coach relishes. At this time of year all of our coaches have bookmarked the weather.com website so they can check the hourly forecast for rain and potential lightning. Fortunately we have not had to delay any practices because of lightning this week. Our cross country teams have been able to avoid much of the bad weather, which is the least Mother Nature could do for them since they are practicing at six a.m. Longtime Abilene residents will remember that we could always count on the rain to hit during the West Texas Fair and Rodeo in September. Now as we have had rain for the third time in the last four years during New Student Orientation, we might have a new traditional forecast for rain each year.

The rain also caused issues for the new students who were moving into the dorms today. I saw many parents and students struggling with numerous boxes and suitcases as they attempted to move in during one of our many showers today. The rain will add to the many memories that this week will bring for both parents and students. And I am sure that in the case of our male students, today will likely be the cleanest that their dorm room will be for the rest of the semester.

Welcome To HSU

2008-08-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Looking For A New Coach

2008-07-07T11:39:00.001-07:00

As you have likely heard by now, Hardin-Simmons is in the market for a new men’s basketball coach. Dylan Howard, who has been on our campus since the spring of 2001, is leaving to take a coaching position at Mississippi Valley State, a Division I program that competed in the NCAA Tournament last year. When Dylan interviewed with us seven years ago, he told us then that his long-term goal was to coach at the Division I level. We congratulate him on reaching this goal and we thank him for all that he has done for our basketball program, our university and the local community. We wish Dylan, Nicole and Danielle the best of luck as they make the move to Mississippi.

We now begin the process of finding his successor and I thought that I would share with you how we look at potential candidates when we have an opening in the athletic department. Once we decide on a candidate that we are interested in, we bring that individual to campus for a full day of meetings. The candidate will meet with several of our vice-presidents to discuss the administrative aspects of working at HSU. We also try to schedule meetings for the candidate with Enrollment Services so they can learn about our admissions process, we schedule a meeting with Dr. Chris McNair, our Faculty Athletic Representative and we have the candidate meet with several members of our coaching staff and the athletic training department. In this case we will also attempt to have the candidate meet with members of the men’s basketball team as we solicit their input. Finally the candidate and I will spend a great deal of time discussing the strengths of Hardin-Simmons, the areas we need to improve on, and what our long term goals are for the athletic department. We strive to make sure the candidate knows exactly what our situation is here at HSU. It is an exhaustive ordeal for both the candidate and our department, but it is a process I am a big believer in. As I have said to every coach we have brought on campus, the last thing we want to do is bring an individual and his/her family to Abilene and then they find out something about the job that they were not aware of. We preach the doctrine of no surprises on both sides of the interview process and I think it has helped our new coaches with the transition to Hardin-Simmons. After all of this, there is a great deal of thought and prayer on my behalf on which candidate to invite to come to HSU.

There are only 48 days before the first day of school, so we will have our work cut out for us to find our next men’s basketball coach. As they say every April in the leadup to the NFL Draft, “we are on the clock” as we begin the process of evaluating candidates. We look forward to the challenge of not only finding the right person for our basketball program, but also finding the right person for our campus.

Cowboy Up,
John Neese

Welcome Aboard

2008-06-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

It was 1995 and my first year at Hardin-Simmons University. As we were reviewing the role of Sports Information in the Athletic Department, someone mentioned that we might look at having an athletic web site. At this time, I did not own a home computer and I was unsure if devoting time to something called the internet was worth the effort. We put a student worker, Drew Altom, in charge of updating the athletic web site once a week, which is about how many times I would check my e-mail. On my lunch hour, I would jog around Shelton Stadium listening to Tom Petty on my no-skip cd player.

It is now 2008 and I can get e-mail on my telephone, I now listen to Tom Petty on an I-Pod, and if our website were only updated once a week, instead of running around Shelton Stadium, I would be worried about my boss running me out of town. There are numerous days when our athletic web site receives hundreds if not thousands of hits as people want to read about the latest news on our student-athletes. It consistently amazes me how many people from all over the world will follow our athletic program through the website. I believe that our website helps us with the two R’s of campus life, recruiting and retention. The website helps tremendously with recruiting potential students as the website many times will provide the first impression of our campus. And it helps with the retention of our current student-athletes as they appreciate the recognition that the website provides. On the positive side, we have had people compare our website to a Division One athletic website. On the negative side, we have had people ask why our website does not have the features that a professional sports team website does. I answer that question with the response that a professional sports team will likely spend the equivalent of our entire athletic department budget on their website.

And now we mark a new chapter in our website history as we have joined with Presto Sports to help us with our internet content. Chad Grubbs, our Sports Information Director, has worked with this company to provide us with a new look and some features that were not available in the past. We will continue to offer many of the services that you have come to expect from the website, and as in the past we will make every effort to update the website as quickly as possible. We look forward to hearing your comments on the new website, as we value your opinion. And if you are in the market for a no-skip cd player, I can cut you a great deal.

Cowboy Up,

JN

For the HSU Athletic's Web site Please Click Here.
For the HSU Web site Please Click Here.

70.3 Miles

2008-04-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, one of my former college roommates and fraternity brothers, Mike McMaude, will be one of three individuals who will receive the Young Alumni Award from Hardin-Simmons. Mike has been a highly successful businessman since he left HSU as he has developed numerous home health care corporations around the country.

Since Mike now lives in Colorado, we do not have the chance to do as much together as we used to. So it was a great experience last weekend when he and I participated in a triathlon in San Diego. While we were there he mentioned that when he receives his award on Friday night, he was going to give a brief speech on life lessons learned at Hardin-Simmons. He then challenged me to come up with life lessons learned during the triathlon from Saturday. Since I am never one to back down from the challenge of a former pledge, I agreed to provide the following life lessons.

1) Things are never as bad as they seem-The swim portion of the event was certainly the hardest of the three events. At one point as I was dog paddling my way thru the harbor I thought that it would take me ninety minutes to make it back to the shore. I truly believed I would be the last of the 2,000 participants who would get out of the ocean. Once I refocused I was able to concentrate on my swimming and actually finished in 47 minutes.

2) Age is only what you make it- As I was riding my bike up the first of three major hills, I noticed a man who was 66 years old who was competing in the triathlon. The bib on the back of his jersey identified him as Rodger.
“Rodger you are my hero” I shouted to him as we gasped our way up the hill. He laughed and asked if I would tell his wife that.

3) Never underestimate the power of encouragement On your racing bib, the organizers of the race put your first name on it along with your number. It was amazing when anybody would shout out my name-how I seemed to gain some energy and run just a little bit faster. None of us probably realize how far just a few words of encouragement will go with a friend or co-worker.

4) Be thankful for your friends I doubt if 20 years ago I thought I would be doing marathons and triathlons with my college roommates. However over the years, Mike McMaude and Jeff Ballenger have remained two of my best friends. The friends you make in college can last long beyond your time on campus.

5) Be thankful for the men and women in uniform A significant part of the bike ride went thru Camp Pendleton, one of the first Marine bases on the West Coast. As you ride thru the camp, you become aware of the many sacrifices our military makes on a daily basis. Many of the Marines helped out as volunteers for the all day event and as always their help was appreciated.

6) In and Out Cheeseburgers Rule Best. Burger. Ever. Especially after the completion of a triathlon.

Remembering A Legend

2008-03-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Fred Jacoby, the first commissioner of the American Southwest Conference, passed away after suffering from cancer. Jacoby was the commissioner of the Southwest Conference in the 1980’s and had a distinguished career in college athletics and was known as a true advocate for the student-athlete.

Jacoby will receive many well deserved tributes as we reflect on his career. There is likely no athletic director in our conference who did not count Fred as a friend and who valued his expertise. He enjoyed passing on his considerable knowledge of NCAA legislation to anyone who needed his guidance. Before his health began to cause him problems, he loved to attend conference athletic events as he was a regular at the conference softball tournament. When he first took over the conference, he made a point to visit as many of the schools in the league as possible. Not bad work for somebody who had taken over as commissioner in his seventies when many thought he had retired.

And while Fred deserves all of the accolades from the professional world, it was the dignity that he showed in the last two years of his personal life that will always stay with me. Fred never complained about his illness and the pain he had to endure as he went thru chemotherapy. I talked to him once after a grueling session of chemo and he refused to talk about his pain. Instead he told me the story about how he as he and his wife sat in the waiting room for his session. In the hospital waiting room with him were the parents of a nine year old boy, who was awaiting treatment for brain cancer. Fred was quick to the point.“How can I dare complain about my circumstances after seeing a nine year old boy suffer with this disease?” I think it took me a full minute to respond.

Fred’s family and friends would talk about the pain that Fred endured and that was the only way many of us knew about Fred’s suffering. I am sure that he would have scolded anyone for letting details out about his health; he did not want your sympathy, Fred only wanted you to be the same person you had been with him before the cancer attacked. In the last week of his life the doctors asked him if he wanted any medication to ease the pain. Fred responded that if the medicine was for research purposes and could possibly help somebody in the future, he would take it, otherwise, he politely told the doctors that he would prefer to do without.

There are many of us in the professional world who admired Fred and the way he was able to resolve issues and find a common ground when there appeared to be none. We will always admire him for a life well-lived; we can also only hope we will have the courage he displayed when our time comes.

Track Comes Back

2008-02-18T13:53:00.001-08:00

It’s finally here. After years of discussion, planning and research, Hardin-Simmons made the step today to officially reenter the world of collegiate track and field. At an afternoon press conference, the school announced we would bring back track and field after a forty year absence and that cross country would be a varsity sport for men and women in the Fall, 2008 semester. We are the twelfth school in the American Southwest Conference to sponsor Cross Country and we will become the seventh school in the ASC to sponsor track. This will give HSU 16 varsity sports, the most that the school has sponsored in the modern era of athletics.

While I know that we will experience growing pains as all first year programs do, I am still excited about the potential of adding the four sports to our athletic department. I think this will allow us to recruit more student-athletes and help provide us with another opportunity to bring recognition to the school on a national level. Track is immensely popular at the high school level in Texas, and I am optimistic about the number of quality student-athletes we can recruit. Years ago there was a saying among high school coaches, which went something like “My sport is your sports punishment.” Track was simply something you did either in the off-season or for missing an early morning practice. In this day and age of specialized training for high school athletes, I don’t know if the saying is still applicable, but I do know there are a large number of student-athletes looking for a place to compete at the Division III level.

We were impressed with the large number of applicants we received for this position. We are fortunate to have the ability to bring Rodney Smith to our campus. We have complete faith in his ability to be the coach of all four teams and help us navigate our way as we purchase new equipment, build the track facility and recruit student-athletes. Coach Smith has experience at the high school and college level and has numerous contacts throughout the state. We are impressed with his track knowledge and his commitment to take care of our athletes. Everyone I visited with about Coach Smith mentioned that he has a reputation for running a quality program. We anticipate that he will quickly fit in with our department and campus community.

For now we hope to have the track completed by early June which will help the overall look of our athletic facilities at Grape Street. Little did I realize when we started work on the softball field and fieldhouse in 2002, how much would happen in just six years. I can only hope that the return of track to our university will match the success that football and softball has enjoyed since both sports were brought to our campus.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

Remembering Brentdrick

2008-01-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

The images on my television screen were from the NFC Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. The images gave me a brief break from the pictures I had seen over the weekend. I would watch a couple of plays and then the numbness would return, a numbness that was equal if not greater than the Wisconsin cold I saw on the television. Less than twenty four hours beforehand I had received word that Brentdrick Walker, a member of our football team, had died in a motorcycle accident.

The images that my mind would constantly go back to: the video of a motorcycle on the side of the road shown on a local news channel, the picture of Brentdrick’s jersey hanging in his locker, a locker room filled with young people asking questions that no one has the answer for. Then my mind would accelerate to visions that I had not seen: Brentdrick spending time coaching a youth basketball team on his last day on earth and the horrified shock that his family had to have felt when they received the news. These images were difficult for me to comprehend; I began to realize that my mind was on overload and that I was not ready for all of the mental images that this event would cause.

The rest of the week was busy preparing for the campus memorial service on Thursday and the funeral on Saturday. There is no handbook on how to prepare and handle a situation as tragic a young person dying in his prime. All of us are concerned with not only finding the right thing to say, but also trying to avoid saying the wrong thing.

The funeral was a wonderful tribute to Brentdrick. There were several songs that the congregation sang that gave me goose bumps and raised my spirits. There were numerous individuals who gave examples of how Brentdrick strived to be a role model, how his parents were so proud of him for wanting to go to college. It was obvious that Brentdrick touched so many people in such a short time. After the funeral, the congregation was led outside for a final goodbye to Brentdrick. His father was given a dove, and then a poem was read to celebrate Brentdrick’s life. At the conclusion of the reading of the poem, Brentdrick’s father released the dove. The bird flew to the south and was quickly outlined against the blue sky that was filled with sunshine. It was one image that helped me make it through that day, and the days to follow.

NCAA Convention Recap

2008-01-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

The 2008 NCAA Convention for Division III will be remembered for many reasons for our division. For the first time, the talk about subdivision and NCAA Division IV went from hotel lobby talk to being a part of the conversation on the convention floor. There has been much speculation about the future of Division III and the college landscape as we know it will likely change in the next three to five years.

One major factor behind the potential change is that the television contract the NCAA has signed with CBS to cover the Division One Basketball Tournament will expire in 2013. The NCAA would like to negotiate the new contract within the next 16 to 24 months. If there is a new division or subdivision for Division III, that would be an issue to include in the contract negotiations. Currently, Division III receives just over 3% from the multi-billion dollar contract that CBS pays the NCAA for the broadcast rights. This money is used to help pay for championship travel for teams when they advance in the NCAA post-season.

There are many institutions at the Division III level who are happy with the division as it is and do not want to see a split. I believe there are a significant number of institutions which would like to see the return of redshirting, the return of more non-traditional playing dates and more skill instruction for our student-athletes. Then there are schools which would like to see even more restrictions placed on the role of athletics on a college campus. Finding a mandate between these three groups will be a daunting task that will likely leave many in the membership unhappy with the final decision.

As of now, the timetable calls for the NCAA to send out a survey to Division III schools to find out their opinions on the future of our division. There will be discussion between university presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners about the positives and negatives of a potential split. After a year of discussion, the vote could be put before the membership at the 2009 convention in Washington, D.C. It is only appropriate that one of the polarizing issues for the NCAA could be decided in a city that lives and breathes politics.

The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times” That is exactly what our membership will be doing for the next 12 months.

Cowboy Up.

John Neese

Merry Christmas

2007-12-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is here and with that, the constant pressure to come up with resolutions for the start of the new year. One of my resolutions for 2008? To be more faithful at turning in a blog on a regular basis. The last blog of this year will focus on the many things I am thankful for as the year comes to a close. The holidays remind me that I am thankful for the following:
1) The twenty seconds before a big game starts on our campus. The sense of anticipation and the realization that each game is different, that we never really know who will win, helps makes this job fresh each day.
2) The feeling that most days coming to work is like being with friends instead of workers.
3) The fact that I still get goose bumps each time I hear Baba O’Reilly by the Who.
4) Mom’s cooking.
5) Mom.
6) The feeling of accomplishment after a long run on a cold morning. That and the hot shower that follows, which leads to
7) Indoor Plumbing.
8) A glass of sweet tea on a hot August day.
9) Chips and hot sauce on a cold December day.
10) The smell of fresh-cut grass at John J. Hunter field in April.
11) The inspiration of seeing the work-ethic of our student-athletes. I wonder if people really understand how difficult it is to be successful in the classroom and college athletics.
12) The thrill of seeing my favorite sports team on the cover of Sports Illustrated when it arrives in the mailbox.
13) Road Trips for HSU Athletic Events – There have been a few rough adventures over the years; however, there have also been trips where the game lived up to the hype and the fellowship was memorable. I doubt if it would be a good movie, but some of the events could at the very least be humorous enough for a Fox sitcom.
14) Forgiveness.
15) The chance to meet new students in my Student Success class. I wish I had been as on the ball as some of our current freshmen.
16) Finding the movie To Kill a Mockingbird on television .
17) The look on my golden retrievers face when I give her a chew bone.
18) The look on my face when the waitress brings me my steak.
19) Being raised by a father who lived by the simple belief that “it takes just as much time to do a job right as it does to do a job the wrong way.”
20) Seeing a family welcome home a member of our armed forces at the airport.
21) No matter how many disappointments that 2007 might have brought, the belief that 2008 will be better.
22) The Sunday paper (I know it sounds archaic in this age of the internet, but one of my simple pleasures is picking up a printed copy of the Dallas Morning News)
23) Being old school.
24) A two week Christmas vacation.

I hope the hectic season of the holidays will allow you a chance to be thankful for the many wonderful things in your life.

Best wishes for 2008.

John Neese

John Neese Blog 5

2007-10-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Since 2003, I have been fortunate to travel to Indianapolis twice for the NCAA Woman of The Year Banquet as we have had two student-athletes receive this honor. Four years ago the NCAA honored women’s basketball player, Kendra Anderson as the Texas Woman of the Year. On Saturday night they recognized Virginia Aguilar, a former volleyball player at HSU, as one of the top 30 Women in college athletics for the 2006 school year. It was a special weekend for Virginia as she had the chance to work on a house for Habitat for Humanity on Saturday morning with the other nominees in Indianapolis. On Saturday night the banquet was co-hosted by Sage Steel of ESPN and Debbie Antonelli, a National Basketball Analyst. Virginia was one of five nominees who recorded a perfect 4.0 grade point average during their collegiate careers. Virginia was a computer science major at HSU and also had 18 hours of math as she was one of our top student-athletes. Like Virginia I had 18 hours of math at HSU, with the difference being I only passed three of them. The NCAA Woman of the Year banquet will be shown on Friday, December 7 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN 2.

One final thought on Indianapolis: the new stadium that is being built next to the RCA Dome for the home of the Colts appears to be a phenomenal building. It already towers over the RCA Dome and the structure has a beautiful brick façade with cathedral style windows. The Colts will move into this facility in 2008, and I am sure it will capture the national attention until the Dallas Cowboys move into their architectural masterpiece in 2009.

Congratulations to our football team for their win on Saturday against an inspired Sul Ross football team which was playing before a large homecoming crowd. The Lobos have received plenty of national recognition this year thanks to the efforts of 59 year old Mike Flynt, who is utilizing his last year of eligibility nearly 38 years after he last played college football. Flynt is a grandfather who has been featured on ESPN, NBC News and Sports Illustrated. Maybe it’s because I am getting older, but I have found a new respect for anyone over 40 who is still pushing him/herself in the athletic arena. Fifteen years ago I did not see what the big deal was when Nolan Ryan was pitching in his forties. Now I am just happy to be mowing my yard in my forties.

Cowboy Up,

John Neese

Why Do We Watch?

2007-10-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

We were in the hotel room in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday afternoon passing time until our football game with Mississippi College that evening. As we were channel surfing the various college football games that were on television, our traveling party noticed that Colorado was making a comeback against the number three team in the nation, Oklahoma. I had more than a passing interest in the game as one of our former football coaches, Jeff Grimes, is now the Assistant Head Coach for the Buffaloes. It also seemed like a game to watch just because of the upset factor of seeing a heavily favored team fall from the ranks of the undefeated.

As you know by now, the Buffs completed the improbable comeback and defeated OU 27-24 on a last second field goal. It was only one of several upsets on the last Saturday in September that will certainly alter the BCS landscape for the rest of the season.
So we have another reminder that it does not matter if it’s Division I, II or III you watch, no matter how much we think a game is going to play out, no matter how much we just “know” a certain team is better than another , it means nothing once the game starts. I am in the middle of my 12th year here at HSU and I have seen a countless number of games involving our teams. I have seen us win games that nobody thought we would have a chance to claim a victory. On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen us fall in competition that I am sure our student-athletes, coaches and fans cannot believe that we lost. The rankings, the records and all of the pre-game hype rarely deliver once the contest starts and it is up to the student-athlete to decide the outcome. And that is why we keep coming back to watch the competition, whether it’s the volleyball team or the football team participating as Teddy Roosevelt loved to say “in the arena.”

I think all of us believe that we have an extra sense that helps us determine how our favorite teams will do. When we are right, the grass is greener, the sky is beautiful and we believe that we can chart the course for the free world. When we are wrong, our food doesn’t taste good, the weather is horrendous and we get a speeding ticket on the way back from the game. And as frustrating as it can be, we always come back for more. I never have really enjoyed the reality shows on television that have become so popular, due in part to the fact that watching athletic competition every weekend has enough twists and turns for an O.Henry short story, much less a reality show. We might think we know how a contest will play out, but most of the time we are just kidding ourselves. The speculation is fun, but watching those in the arena is what makes us come back every weekend.

NCAA Committee II

2007-09-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-08 - Blog 2

2007-09-04T08:22:00.001-07:00

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.

John Neese 2007-08 Blog 1

2007-08-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my athletic blog. I look forward to another outstanding year with our teams and hope to see you at the games. In this posting I will write about our recent trip to England with the Cowgirl soccer team.

The NCAA allows an athletic team to make a foreign trip once every three years. Recently our women’s soccer team spent just over one week in London. Here are a few thoughts from a hectic eight days that left all of us with numerous memories.

1) The soccer team stayed in the dorms at Chigwell school,
which has been in existence since the 1600’s. William Penn is the school’s most notable graduate and the school motto is “Find a way or make a way,” which is highly appropriate since each of the ladies had to raise over $2,500 to make the trip.

2) It’s hard to complain when you spend a week training, playing and sightseeing in August and the temperature never breaks 78 degrees. I don’t know if it is worth going a week without chips and hot sauce-but it’s still nice.

3) The alumni line of Melanie Muir, Kelley Wood and Becca Neal helped pace the Cowgirls thru the three matches, and Neal scored a goal in the final match.

4) Great Britain might have made major strides in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became the first women prime minister. They have not made such noteworthy strides in women’s soccer. The women’s professional league is viewed more as a curiosity and the support seems lukewarm at best.

5) Harrods’s of London is known as the store that has “everything, for everyone, everywhere.” Except Tour De France merchandise. As a cycling fan I thought that Harrods would still have some memorabilia from the tour that started in London this year. “We weren’t allowed to sell the merchandise” a salesman in the bicycle store of Harrods’s explained. Possibly because I can barely afford anything in the store--it made me feel good to know there was at least something the store did not have.

6) Our tour guide was a friendly woman named Bethan who never got tired of all of our annoying questions (“Now explain one more time, who will be the next King of England?”), Bethan was a natural fit for our team-she took no guff from anyone and is a second generation Arsenal ticket holder.

7) Trust me, the folks in London are just as annoyed with the Beckham circus as you have become. We were told that Beckham once played on the pitch (Brit for soccer field) at Chigwell that the Cowgirls played on. Hard to verify but easy to turn into a good story.

8) While the Cowgirls were busy looking for new music to bring back for their warm up cd, I did just the opposite. It just seemed appropriate to fill up my IPod with music from my favorite British groups. There’s something about a morning jog in Great Britain while you listen to The Clash’s London Calling.

9) Imagine sitting on the dugout bench at Yankee Stadium. Or being able to slap the Play like a Champion Today sign at Notre Dame. Those are similar to the emotions the Cowgirls felt as they got to take a tour of the Chelsea Football Stadium. Not only did the Cowgirls get to see the locker rooms and press room of the 2007 FA Cup Champion, but they also got to sit where manager Jose Mourinho and his team sit during a match. I don’t really know if Mourinho is the “special one’’ but it’s obvious that seeing a match at Chelsea is a special event.

10) On our last night in London we saw a football match between the Bolton Wanderers and the Fulham Football Club. The match was played in a wonderfully archaic stadium which is one of the oldest in the Premiere League. So old that there is no jumbotron to watch replays-even though LG is one of their major corporate sponsors.

11) Finally I want to thank all of the Cowgirls for helping make this such a unique journey. I know that this trip helped improve your soccer skills and team chemistry. I also hope that the trip will help you in your next history, literature or humanities class. Or at least help you in your next game of trivial pursuit.

Cheers,

John Neese