Commissioner’s Corner: Bob Hogue recounts an exhilarating year in the PacWest

HONOLULU, HI - I love this time of year. It’s a time of championships. In the next few days, we’ll crown a new PacWest women’s tennis champion at our conference tournament in Laie, Hawai‘i, and then within 72 hours, we’ll honor the new PacWest men’s golf champion at the conference classic in St. George, Utah. By the first week of May, we should also know who is going to earn the PacWest softball title and the PacWest baseball crown.

The fact that all of these championships will be claimed by outstanding teams with national reputations underscores just how far we’ve come as a conference. It’s why I’ve felt so many emotions during this incredible year in the PacWest.

Here are just a few of the feelings I’ve experienced throughout this unbelievable 2010-11 season in our conference:

Number One is “Proud.” It’s what I felt when I heard CBS-TV sportscaster Tim Brando call us “the powerful Pacific West Conference” on the NCAA DII national championship men’s basketball telecast when BYU-Hawaii got to the national title game after securing five straight upset victories in the NCAA tournament.

Number Two is “Humbled.” It’s what I saw in the face of the Seasiders Jet Chang when he came out of the locker room to accept the Most Outstanding Player award for scoring 100 points in the three games of the Elite Eight, one of the best individual efforts in the tourney’s history, in leading BYUH to the national runner-up spot.

Number Three is “Honored.” It’s what we were when PacWest Player of the Year Samantha Murphy of Grand Canyon was tabbed ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America College Division First Team in Women’s Basketball - the inaugural first-team athlete in conference history - and then went on to win Daktronics NCAA Division II Player of the Year.

Number Four is “Thrilled.” How I felt with the incredible basketball season we experienced in the PacWest, with more teams than ever in the NCAA men’s basketball regionals - three (Chaminade, BYU-Hawaii, Dixie State), including the two teams that played for the regional championship (BYUH and Dixie), and knowing that for the first time in our conference history that three women’s basketball teams (Grand Canyon, Dixie State, Hawai‘i Pacific) were ranked in the Top 10 regional rankings throughout the year, and that Grand Canyon made it all the way to the regional finals.

Number Five is “Uplifted.” The way I felt when some of the top contenders in our Division II conference knocked off Division I teams early in the season. In the women’s game, it was Dixie State defeating three straight D-I teams in Southern Utah, Utah Valley State and Utah State. And in the men’s game, it was Chaminade playing giant-killer again in knocking off the vaunted Oklahoma Sooners in the Maui Invitational.

Number Six is “Impressed.” Seeing our conference champion BYU-Hawaii women’s soccer team become the first women’s team from the PacWest to host a regional tournament game, and then watching the repeat champion Grand Canyon men’s team brilliantly represent us all the way to the soccer regional finals.

Number Seven is “Delighted.” Watching our cross country runners work so hard at the conference championships at the beautiful course at Turtle Bay, Hawai‘i, and then following along as our women’s conference champion BYU-Hawaii Seasiders made it all the way through the regionals and into the national cross country championships.

Number Eight is “Astonished.” Seeing our women’s volleyball race turn upside down in the last two days of a very competitive season, with Hawai‘i Pacific and BYU-Hawaii upsetting defending champion Hawai‘i Hilo in a span of a little more than 24 hours, thus creating a co-championship, with the Vulcans and Seasiders sharing the title.

Number Nine is “Excited.” Realizing that the PacWest has the defending 2010 softball national championship team in Hawai‘i Pacific now playing in a 2011 race that is too close to call - with Dixie State, Hawai‘i Hilo and Academy of Art all playing great ball and trying to take the conference title away from the defending champs this season in a race that will go right down to the wire.

Number 10 is “Exhilarated.” Knowing that our baseball race is as competitive as it has ever been before, with Dixie State, Hawai‘i Pacific, Grand Canyon, Hawai‘i Hilo, and Academy of Art fighting hard for every victory in another a race that won’t be decided until the final stretch drive.

And Number 11 is “Amazed.”  That our Commissioner’s Cup trophy, emblematic of the best overall athletic performance by a conference school in the 11 sports we officially offer, could have its closest multiple-team finish in the four years since the trophy began. Defending 2010 champion HPU and 2009 winner BYU-Hawaii are currently tied for the lead, but Dixie State and Grand Canyon are only percentage points behind in a race that could go down to the final day of competition this spring.

Proud. Humbled. Honored. Thrilled. Uplifted. Impressed. Delighted. Astonished. Excited. Exhilarated. And Amazed. It’s what I feel every day from efforts and accomplishments of the outstanding student-athletes, coaches, and administrators all around our great conference. And it’s why I love being commissioner of the fastest rising conference in Division II - The PacWest!