On The Road

I was in a mini-bus traveling with our women's basketball team to Denton, Texas last Friday morning when word started to reach us about the latest Oklahoma State airplane tragedy.

Shocked and bewilderment were my two immediate reactions, followed quickly by sadness and grief. As an OSU graduate, it hit even closer to home and I just couldn't believe such a catastrophe had happened to the school yet again.

But it also made me realize that accidents involving collegiate athletic programs are really rare. I'm obviously extremely grateful for that, but it's also somewhat amazing if you start to consider how many teams around the country are actually out there traveling the highways and airways during any given day.

UCO alone had its men's basketball, women's basketball and wrestling teams on the road last weekend, with the basketball squads both going to Texas and the wrestlers all the way to Nebraska. All three traveled via bus and two of them didn't arrive back until late Saturday night.

I've been on hundreds of trips during my long career at UCO, traveling virtually every way possible -- car, station wagon, van, mini-bus, charter bus, small airplane, chartered airplane and commercial airplane.

And -- knock on wood -- I've made it here and there and back again on all those trips without an accident. Yes, we hit a deer once during a late-night drive back from a wrestling tournament in Nebraska. And, yes, there's been the occasional flat tire or mechanical issue or weather delay that's hampered a trip.

But those were merely inconveniences, blips on the radar that put us behind schedule and perhaps caused us to be late. And I'm okay with late, as long as we get where we're going and back again safely.