Before I get too involved with all of that, let me introduce myself. My name is Ricky Hazel, and I am the new Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications at Stetson University. Officially, I'll be taking over there in the coming weeks but, in the meantime, I am wrapping up my tenure of more than seven years at Troy University.
What I am hoping to do with this blog is to share my experiences as I make the move from Troy to Stetson, and to share my day-to-day activities as I hit the ground in DeLand. Since everything that I will do when I get there will be new for me, I thought it might be of interest to both my new Hatters family, as well as my many friends in Troy.
I will tell you that the decision to leave Troy was not an easy one. My wife Joan and I have made many great friends here, friends we hope will remain close to us for the rest of our lives.
The toughest thing for me was telling Trojans head football coach Larry Blakeney that I was leaving. Coach Blakeney is like a father to almost everyone involved in the Troy football family, and Joan and I are no exception. He and his wife Janice adopted us from the moment we arrived in Troy and my seven-plus seasons working with him have been some of the best of my career.
Winning five consecutive conference titles and going to five bowl games in seven years is a remarkable run and I will certainly miss the relationship we have.
Obviously there is no way for me to name everyone who has been special to me at Troy, so I won't even try.
Thursday was a tough day because I had a meeting with all of my student workers to let them know I was leaving. While Coach Blakeney is like a father to me, these kids become a part of my family as well. They are all special to me in their own way.
If haven't even had the chance to speak with many of the student-athletes yet. People always ask me about whether or not Joan and I have kids. I always tell them that I have more than 400, and get 100 new ones every year.
While I will be leaving behind my Troy family, I am blessed to be joining the Stetson family. During our visit to DeLand earlier this week, Joan and I were welcomed with open arms by everyone we came in contact with.
The excitement level for Stetson athletics is obviously off the charts. The Hatters have the defending Atlantic Sun Champion women's basketball team, a new and exciting coach for men's basketball, legendary coaches in baseball and softball and success in virtually every program.
The future is so bright at Stetson, and the people there were so genuinely excited about having Joan and I join their family, that making the decision to move to DeLand was, in the end, an easy one.
Tomorrow will be my final home football game at Troy. It will be Coach Blakeney's 250th game as the Trojans' head coach and, I might add, the 250th game as head trainer for Chuck Ash. It will be a tough challenge to beat a ULM team that handled the Trojans pretty easily last year, but I am confident that Troy will put another win on the board.
I started at Troy in 2004, with my first game at Marshall, a place where I worked for four years. My first home game with the Trojans was the next week, a thrilling victory over No. 19 Missouri. It has been quite a ride at Troy.
The football ride will take a short hiatus, but will continue in 2013 when the Hatters take the field for the first time under coach Roger Hughes. Between now and then it will be exciting to see how Coach Hughes builds the Stetson program from the ground up.
I am looking forward to being a part of that building process as my Adventures in Hatterland begin.
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