Football Comes to Hatterland

It has been quite a while since I last penned a blog, but I promise I will do a better job of blogging in the coming year.

Here is a quick recap of what has been going on since I last blogged back in January.

Basketball season, baseball season, golf season, tennis season, softball season, sand volleyball season, hosted the A-Sun Baseball Tournament, had a heart attack, got my wife and all our belongings moved from Alabama to DeLand, went to the CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis, hired two new members to my staff, had lots of meetings (that continues) and started football practice.

I won't bore you with all the specifics, but I do really appreciate the outpouring of support and concern I received after my "little" heart attack. Was certainly not the way I expected to spend Memorial Day.

Fast forward to last night's debut of the Stetson Football team. I have been involved in college athletics for 19 years, all working with football, but this was the most excited I have seen a school for the first day of practice.

There is always some anticipation from players and coaches to get to work. There is also the anticipation of seeing what the new crop of recruits looks like on the field. That anticipation was multiplied 10 fold last night because the entire team was made up of a fresh crop of recruits.

It was interesting to watch. There is always some uneasiness among new players and coaches for the first day of camp. Everyone has to know where to go, when to go there, and what to do once they get there. While there was certainly some of that last night, there was so much excitement in the air that no one noticed. Besides, no one other than the coaches knew what was supposed to happen anyway.

One thing I have learned over the years is that no two head coaches are the same.

When I was in college at Alabama, Ray Perkins and Bill Curry both spent time as head coach. No two people could possibly be more different in their approach to coaching.

At Southern Miss, I worked with Jeff Bower, who had his own style, as did Bob Pruett at Marshall and, most recently, Larry Blakeney at Troy. Roger Hughes is certainly no different. His coaching style comes from a completely different background than any of the other coaches I have worked with.

Like I said, no two styles are the same. There is also no way to evaluate if one style is better than another because there is no one right way to do things.

Tuesday evening's practice for the Hatters was also different from most others I have attended in the buzz among members of the community who were in attendance. The Libby's, the first family of Stetson University, were there. They mayor and many civic leaders were in attendance. There were parents, brothers, sisters, girl friends. There was also a good bit of media coverage.

Many of the people there had never before attended a college football practice, and none had ever done so in DeLand. The excitement about the Hatters football program was easy to sense.

The other thing about the start of football practice at Stetson is the fact that the new Athletics Training Facility is almost complete. There are still a lot of final details to be finished, but the players were able to use their locker room.

The entire building should be ready for occupancy in the next couple of weeks, and that will be a big milestone for not just football, but the Stetson soccer and lacrosse programs, which will share the facility.

I am sure the crowd that gathers for practice will slowly dwindle as camp moves forward, but I hope the excitement over the return of football to Stetson continues to grow.

After all, we only have 389 days before toe meets leather for the first game.

Watch the Stetson Hatters YouTube Channel for videos from practice as well as special features throughout the year. Also, I'll be posting photos from practice on our Stetson Athletics Facebook page.

Please feel free to load your own photos and videos so that we can share the complete experience with all Stetson fans across the world.