End of an Era

I could tell there was something on Wendell Simmons' mind when he sat down in my office last week. Sure enough, Wendell soon spilled the news that he had decided to retire at the end of the 2010 baseball season.

So sometime soon -- probably in late April unless the Bronchos mount a late charge to qualify for the Lone Star Conference Tournament in early May -- a UCO coaching icon will move to the sidelines. The end of an era.

Wendell came to UCO in 1992 after a lengthy high school career spent mostly at Edmond Memorial High School. A Central graduate, it didn't take him long to turn the Bronchos into a conference and national power.

UCO had five straight losing seasons before Wendell took over in 1992 and the Bronchos made it to the national tournament in just his third year at the helm. That 1994 team won the program's first-ever Lone Star Conference title and finished 39-14 in establishing UCO as a legitimate national threat.

The Bronchos upset No. 1 seed Delta State in the first round of the South Central Regional and then pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks I've ever seen in any sport at any level, overcoming a 15-2 deficit to beat Southern Colorado 19-17.

UCO lost twice to Delta State in coming up short of a Division II World Series berth, but three years later Wendell would get his team to that event in Montgomery, Ala. That was indeed a memorable time and we made it all the way to the finals in 1997, taking a lead into the bottom of the ninth inning before two errors prevented us from winning the national championship.

It was a crushing loss, even for me. But I'll never forget going up to Wendell after the game and him saying "I've won games like that and lost 'em the same way. That's baseball." I know he had to be hurting inside, but he showed incredible grace and humility in the face of such a devastating defeat.

Wendell won hundreds of more games and took numerous teams to the national playoffs, winning 40-plus games seven times. He'll leave UCO with nearly 650 wins and he's won well over 1,000 games in a remarkable 34-year coaching career.

I know he'll miss being around the sport he loves and invested so much of his life to, but hopefully he'll come back from time to time and walk through my office to check on me like he does most mornings.

Thanks, Wendell, from one Broncho to another.

This and That

The UCO spring sports season is in full bloom, even if the weather isn't.

But before we bid goodbye to winter - which is tough to do when it snows on March 20! - we must first offer congrats to four recent All-Americans. Dauntae Williams earned the distinction for men's basketball, while Dustin Finn, Cody Rowell and Scott Berens did the same in wrestling.

Williams put together one of the finest all-around seasons I've seen in 20-plus years at UCO and was a pleasure to watch. From jumping center to running the Bronchos' potent offense, Dauntae could virtually do it all and he should contend for Division II Player of the Year honors as a senior next season.

Finn capped an amazing grappling career with a third-place finish in the national tournament as he became UCO's first-ever three-time heavyweight All-American. And that's saying something with our school's tremendous wrestling legacy. Hats off to Dustin for a fabulous career.

Berens and Rowell both finished their careers with All-America finishes, Scott doing so for the second straight time and Cody for the first as he ended his five-year stay at UCO on a high note.

Congrats, also, to both basketball teams for making it to the national tournament once again, third straight year for both clubs to qualify for the Division II dance. Wrestling came in an uncharacteristic 15th in the national tournament, but look for the Bronchos to bounce back quickly.

Our spring sports are already well into their seasons, with baseball having played 22 games and softball 24. Both sports have big weekends coming up in Durant, with baseball taking on Southeastern Oklahoma for a four-game league season while softball plays six games in the LSC Crossover Tournament.

Women's tennis is currently on a roll, having won nine straight matches after a season-opening defeat to Division I Oklahoma State and both golf programs have played in two tournaments. Erica Bensch led the Broncho women in their last outing by winning her first collegiate title.

The women's track program is scheduled to start its season this weekend as UCO resumes that sport after an eighth-year hiatus, while the rowing team goes to San Diego for its second week of competition.

Postseason Is Here

The NCAA Division II postseason is here, so congrats and good luck to the Broncho teams and individuals who will be competing this weekend.

UCO's wrestling team will journey to Omaha, Neb. for their national tournament, which runs Friday and Saturday on the Nebraska-Omaha campus. The Bronchos have six qualifiers in Scott Berens, Derrick Adkins, Cody Rowell, Tanner Keck, Jarrett Edison and Dustin Finn.

David James' crew would pretty much need a perfect weekend to be a threat in the team race, but every one of those qualifiers is capable of placing in the top eight and earning All-America honors. Finn has the best chance at an individual title and he certainly should be motivated after coming up just short the past two years with runner-up finishes.

What a story Dustin has been in coming back from a serious back injury suffered in early January that kept him off the mat for several weeks. He didn't return to competition until the regional tournament on Feb. 28, losing a last-second decision in the finals there, and he's ready to go.

And congrats to Cody Rowell, a fifth-year senior who persevered through an up-and-down career to earn a national tournament berth in his final season. It would be quite the storybook finish for him if he could pull a few more surprises and earn All-America honors in Omaha.

Both UCO basketball teams will be in South Central Regional play this weekend in the big state of Texas, with the women in Canyon and the men in Wichita Falls. The teams are identical in a lot of ways, with both having won 22 games and both the No. 6 seeds in their respective regional.

UCO's women will face a familiar foe in the first round in Northeastern State and it will definitely be a tall task, but the Bronchos are obviously capable of knocking off the RiverHawks after the teams split their two regular season meetings.

UCO's men are looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance in last week's league tournament that saw the Bronchos fall to a West Texas A&M team that had routed by 30-some points two months early. UCO goes against Fort Hays State in what should be an interesting battle between a pair of clubs who like to hoist up a lot of 3-pointers.

Both regional tournaments require three wins in a four-day span to win a championship and each UCO team has shown during the season what they're capable of.