The Joys of Summer

When the final out was made in the Lady Tigers' second loss at the conference tournament last Friday, my "summer vacation" officially began.

No, ETBU doesn't shut its doors for the summer. We will be here at work, getting ready for next year, getting ready for the future. But things will slow down noticeably with the absence of the bulk of our students.

But before I get into the summer schedule of preparing fall media guides, sorting out schedules and photo arrangements, and getting ready for the launch of our new website, and just some plain vacation time at some point, I wanted to look back at some of the highlights for our programs this past year.

It's no secret that this wasn't one of our best overall years in terms of championships. We won't be hanging any banners in Ornelas Gym for the 2007-08 athletic year. There are a lot of reasons for that, but at the top of the list probably is the fact that we've hit a cycle in which most of our programs at ETBU are in rebuilding mode. Also, we play in what I believe is the toughest league in NCAA Division III, top to bottom, in the American Southwest Conference. Good teams from this league didn't make the postseason in several sports, including a couple from ETBU.

But the rebuilding thing is intriguing. Of the 10 sponsored sports on campus this year, four had new head coaches. Two of those -- football and softball -- finished with at least .500 records. Softball, under Janae Shirley, of course won 26 games and kept alive a streak of every year of the program having at least 25 wins. If that's not a big deal for you, just ask those programs around our league that struggle to get 10 or 15.

I think I'm on record in this blog about our baseball team being on the right track. Coach Blackmon's bunch had a six-game improvement over last season, and with a few runs here or there, the Tigers would have inched to at least the .500 or even slightly above the break-even point. Newcomer of the Year in the ASC East, Kyle Pope, is just a sophomore and is already one of the top leadoff hitters in the league. The Tigers also lose just three seniors who were classified as starters late in the year.

Going back to the fall, it's easy to forget that the Tiger football team won five straight games and was tied for first place in the conference race in late October. ETBU carried playoff hopes into November, even, under first-year head coach Mark Sartain. And while recruiting is definitely an inexact science, especially at D-III, the Tiger coaches are cautiously optimistic about the chances for a nice, talented haul this fall. ETBU will be young again in the fall, but the talent level up and down the roster should be much, much better.

Lady Tiger soccer is also rebuilding under coach Paul Grant, who had about two weeks to get his team ready for the season opener after being hired in early August last year. You always want your team playing better at the end of the year than it did at the first, and Coach Grant's Lady Tigers fit that description. Recruiting also has been a key part of the offseason, and Paul thinks this year's team will be much better at the beginning of the year than last year's was at the end.

Tiger soccer will be in its 14th year under Coach Jose Alonzo this next fall. ETBU had a disappointing finish last season, dropping its final three games in conference play to just miss qualifying for the conference tournament. The Tigers have not played in an ASC men's soccer tournament since becoming eligible to win the conference championship in 2001, but back-to-back solid recruiting classes have ETBU poised to break that streak. Another solid group to be added could push the Tigers into the postseason in 2008.

Lady Tiger volleyball did make its seventh straight ASC Tournament appearance, and the Lady Tigers were this close to winning the ASC East for a second straight year. Coach Mashe has been busy on the recruiting trail this year and has already received commitments from several top-notch young players, and ETBU will have a very good veteran core of returners that includes ASC East Player of the Year Katie Graves, team offensive and locker room leader Jane Hays and four-year setter Traci Twardowski. ETBU must replace senior libero Jill Boyd, the team's defensive whiz, but the Lady Tigers will most certainly be in the conference mix.

Not to forget ETBU's cross country teams, which had good, solid seasons last fall. The ladies lose top runner Natalie Bach off last year's squad, but the men return their top performer in junior Kenneth Webb. ETBU should be competitive in both next fall.

And finally, to basketball. The Lady Tigers had the growing pains/adjustment time with a new coach in Jay Bowen last year, but ETBU still was in the race for the ASC tournament until the final week or so of the regular season. I know for a fact that Jay and his staff have been tearing up the roads recruiting, and ETBU women's basketball will be back and rolling next year. The Lady Tigers may be young again, and the ASC East is getting more and more competitive every year, but the results will eventually become because this new staff works as hard as anyone.

And Tiger basketball, of course, went through that young phase last year with a group of talented, young freshmen playing high minutes for Coach Bert West. The squad finished with just nine wins, but slipped into the playoffs. The Tigers were within a bucket of nationally-ranked and eventual ASC champion Mary Hardin-Baylor with eight minutes to go in the first round of the tourney, only to see the Cru finish strong and cruise to a win. But that experience could prove to be invaluable for this bunch, which will be led by a very exciting young frontcourt player in East Freshman of the Year Josh Chambers.

Recruiting has been going very well for the Tigers since the end of the season, and it's all about rebuilding still. Pile another solid class on to the one from last year, and ETBU men's basketball is again becoming a bigger factor in the conference race.

That's a look back at the 2007-08 year in sports here at ETBU. The disappointment of not winning a championship remains, but the future is not bleak by any means. The wheel will turn -- it always does -- and the cycle will once again land for us.

Have a great summer, everyone.