Spring Recap

I've mentioned here and there on the Maverick Rambler that certain sports don't get the same coverage that others do, particularly the individual sports. It's usually because either they are result-driven sports like cross country and the best I could usually offer is the result (no better than UTAMavs.com) or it's not a sport I have a decent knowledge base in to comment on the team, such as tennis or golf. I understand the basics, but offering anything else would expose that knowledge deficiency. 

So today, I'm going to kind of rapid fire a little about the results with a smidge of commentary about the spring sports. It's at least enough to give them a spotlight, while also setting up the next entry later this month or early June. I'll go in chronological order.

Hoops, Track and Diamond Updates

It's been a while for the Maverick Rambler, there was a perfect storm of factors the last month or so. First, as happens every year, February and March has the most activity from the UT Arlington Athletic Department than any other point. Both basketball teams are in the final stretch, baseball and softball started their seasons as did the tennis teams. The Western Athletic Conference meet occurred for the indoor track teams. That is 8 of the 15 programs (17 now I suppose with the wheelchair basketball teams). I don't really cover golf, as I'm not much of an enthusiast and covering them would be generic at best, but I believe their seasons have started too. I always get paralysis of options this time of year. Several ideas at once ironically leads to less coverage and writer's block.

Secondly, I volunteer at my son's school to do public address for the basketball teams. He just finished his first year on the varsity team in the playoffs and that took a lot of my personal time. These are moments I won't get back as a dad as I walk the path so I'm doing my best to treasure it while it goes on.

Third, I had a personal matter pop up a couple of weeks ago that both required lots of my time and attention, while also stifling my motivation to write.

And the fourth reason... Candidly, things just haven't been going well as a whole. I'll touch on each team in this post, something I generally don't like doing. But I've seen the blasé feeling is shared by other Mav fans too. Some good things are happening as well, so I don't want to sound all bad.

Top Five 2024/25 Moments

 As July transitions into August, the end of the collegiate summer doldrums is in sight. Volleyball opens the 2025/26 athletic season at the end of the month. While many schools have been analyzing the offseason moves of their respective football team or pontificating on whether a new coach was the right hire, we UT Arlington Maverick fans are gauging if UTA can repeat as WAC champs on the volleyball court or looking for pieces to the basketball schedules.

As fall is still a lonely time for Mavs, that doesn't diminish the anticipation some have for the upcoming year. With that constraint, let's look back at past year and see the top five moments from 2024/25.

There will be some guidelines I will impose on the list. First, no team can have more than one moment. Without that constraint, it is probable that one team could own multiple spots and the list would rapidly lose balance. Second, this list will be constrained to athletic feats or milestones. For example, as excited as I am about women's flag football coming next season or as newsworthy as the Western Athletic Conference transforming to the United Athletic Conference was, they will be excluded from this list. Third, it doesn't have to be performance or scoreboard based, just has to revolve around a program at UTA.

With that framework set, let's start the countdown.

Change at the Top

In addition to the new(ish) conference change coming up, UT Arlington will experience some new leadership in two key areas. While I can't specifically say what the moves mean individually, I see any change given the current situation is a positive. 

Jennifer Evans-Cowley was named the sole finalist for the UTA presidency on January 7th. Due to state rules, the UT system Board of Regents completed the formality on February 1st, where she officially became the 10th president. Her official start date is April 28th, though I've heard some rumors she may unofficially begin before that.

She replaces Dr. Teik Lim, who was the interim president for the last two years. He took a position as president of New Jersey Institute of Technology. 

Evans-Cowley comes to UTA from the University of North Texas. She was the Vice President of Academic Affairs and was a Provost. She had applied for many positions across the country and her resume has been circulated.

May '17 Quick Hits

First, congratulations to the UT Arlington Men's track and field team, which claimed its 11th outdoor conference championship this past weekend. In doing so, they also claimed a triple crown by winning the cross country, indoor and outdoor conference championships in the same year. This is the second time the program has accomplished the feat, doing it last in 2013-14. The Mavericks also hosted the conference meet, their first instance of doing so as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

UTA claimed 151 points in the three-day meet, besting second place Texas State by 35 points. They did it the way they have done recently, by dominating the track performance, and getting supporting roles in other events, like Christian Schiemann winning the decathlon. One of the great highlights was the Mavericks placing 1-2-3 in the 5,000 meter run as Michael Guerrero, Craig Lautenslager and Justin Domangue were the top three in the Sun Belt. That garnered UTA 24 points alone. Guerrero was also a multi-event winner.

In the video posted on UTAmavs.com, Coach John Sauerhage said something that really stuck out to me. As I was keeping updated on the meet (I had surgery the previous Friday and couldn't go), I was mildly put out at the number of sixth, seventh and eighth placings I was seeing. Yet, he was saying how much that meant to him and the team. I'll paraphrase, but not everyone can win or even medal. So the fifth-year player who finishes in the top eight and gets points for the team as a whole is very rewarding for the participant, and it helps the team out. Very well put by a very classy coach.

May '16 Quick Hits

The UT Arlington baseball season ended with two consecutive losses in the conference tournament. The Mavericks upset regular season co-champion South Alabama in the opening round, 4-2, behind 6.1 innings from starting pitcher Kadon Simmons. Jacob Moreland pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief for the save. That set up a second round match up with Georgia Southern, a team that beat UTA 2-1 at Clay Gould ballpark during the regular season.

UTA's Joel Kuhnel, part of a powerful 1-2 punch with Simmons, was injured during that regular-season series. He was in good health for the conference tournament and was slated to start. His performance looked good early, giving up 1 run in 2.2 innings on one hit and no walks. However, the UTA offense was listless and couldn't do anything themselves.

I've commented on how it seemed this team was one hit or pitch away from big things. In a very unsurprising way, even mother nature seemed to confine this team to mediocrity as a lightening delay called the game for the day. Despite pitching only 29 pitches, Kuhnel was done and with it, so were UTA's chances.

The blueprint would have been similar to the conference series' at the end of the year, Simmons and Kuhnel to pitch deep, then hope the offense can get one more run in game three. As soon as a I saw that Kuhnel was not going to pitch the next day, I just knew UTA's chances were done. Sure enough, Georgia Southern claimed a 6-0 win, thanks to five runs in the eighth inning to blow the game open.

Too Much to Discuss

When I last left, the UT-Arlington men's basketball team was preparing for a conference tournament berth, the women were wrapping up a rebuilding season which showed promise but ended in disappointment, the baseball and softball seasons were beginning, the men's indoor track team was prepping for an eventual conference championship run and various other sports were on the verge of competing in or starting their seasons.

Sadly for this blog, but thankfully for personal reasons, I started a new job at the end of January that requires an extensive amount of training, all away from a computer, much of it on my own time. Come the end of October, there will be more time to get these reports consistently out there, but til then, I will try to get out what I can.

Baseball had a fan-frustrating year. At the beginning of the year, the team was receiving votes in the pre-season top 25. They had several poor showings early in the year, losing to two D-I transitional schools and having a 3-7 record against old Southland Conference foes, supposedly inferior competition to the new Sun Belt Conference. These losses ruined their chances for an at-large spot, despite winning three games against top 25 competition.

The odd thing was it was never the same MO in losses. One day the offense wouldn't show (they have the second best offense in the conference), the next it was the starting pitchers. Then the starters would pitch well and the offense would give them a lead, then the bullpen would blow it. The only consistent thing the team displayed was their inconsistency.

They started conference play by getting swept in San Marcos and losing the series to Arkansas State. I really wrote the team off at that point.

However, they have gone 15-6 since then and have beat everyone in the conference at least once, including UL-Lafayette, who was #2 in the country at that point. They are now in sole possession of third in the SBC after tonight's win against Texas State.

After this weekend is the conference tournament, and after tonight's game against the Bobcats, they have to win one of the final two games, both at home to clinch third in the standings.

The softball team was disappointing, but there is no question this years SBC was the toughest conference lineup UTA had ever been a member. ULL and South Alabama were top 20 teams all year and Georgia State and Western Kentucky fielded really competitive teams. They struggled and finished last, but unlike baseball, UTA won enough non-conference games to not hurt the league's overall RPI.

The Offense was much better than the 2013 version, but the pitching was really lacking this year. Callie Collins just didn't deliver her potential. As a freshman, she carried a 1.72 ERA and was the pitcher of the year. Not freshman, but pitcher, as in the best in the conference. As a sophomore, the ERA ballooned to 3.28. Last year, it was 2.64, but she had a lot of hard luck losses where the offense just didn't show. This year, after spending time behind Shannon Carrico, who would eventually leave the team, her ERA as a senior was again over 3. For those that don't know, an ERA of 2.5-2.75 in softball is average at best. An ERA of three needs a lot of offense to compensate. It just wasn't there.

Her numbers are probably inflated more than they would have been otherwise because at the end of the season, she was it in the circle. Collins started 30 games. The rest of the team combined for 24. 19 of that was Carrico earlier in the year. Hopefully second year Kristie Fox will have a better showing next year with more of her recruits.

Since it is so out of season, I don't really want to get into the basketball teams, except to say for the men, just read my critiques of the team throughout the year and you'll see what got the men in the tournament. The women recently announced their recruiting class was the highest rated in the SBC, so here's to better results in the future.