WKU

I have to admit something I've never really said out loud. Okay, so I guess I don't have to admit it, but I plan to, and that opening sounds a little more dramatic than just starting with, "Listen to this."

Here's the truth. I love to listen to basketball. It doesn't matter who is playing or who is winning. There is just something about lying on the couch with buzzers and sneakers and whistles. It is so peaceful to me and I take the best naps during basketball games! I always wake up in the close games and check out who is upsetting who. It's part of the reason I just love March Madness. I love just putting it on one channel and having game after game after game playing in the background.

Many of you know that I played college basketball. Although some of you have only met me online and aren't aware of this part of my past. I was a basketball and volleyball player in high school who decided to take basketball to college. I attended Western Kentucky University on a full basketball scholarship. It's hard to believe that I graduated from WKU in 1999. I have been gone nearly a decade!!! Where the heck did time go? It's hard to believe a game that was so much a part of my life from the time I was 11 until I was 21 (and even longer if you count my five years of coaching) is now something that I only reflect on during March.

Anyways, I thought I would take a moment to share a few quick pictures from my freshman year at WKU. Newspaper articles don't scan well however, and this was before the digital age, so I don't have a whole lot of photos. Maybe someday, I'll pull out some more memories and reminisce in more depth. But for now, enjoy a few snapshots of my life in Bowling Green.

Here is me outside the back door of our locker room after first arriving on campus for the start of my four years on "the hill". Look at how tan I was folks!

Here's me with my roommate Kristi. Here's the truth. Kristi was very unhappy when she found out I was her roommate. She asked the coaches to change her to someone else. She thought I was totally not compatible with her. That was probably true. But I am so glad that they didn't give her her way. We were night and day -- different in nearly every way, but she became such an amazing friend to me. I am so blessed to have her in my life. She is now pregnant with her THIRD CHILD!!! She is also the one person, other than JB, that I truly tell all my secrets too. Hard to believe we spent two years in this tiny room and didn't kill each other. Kristi won't tell you this, but she won ELEVEN state championships in high school in track, volleyball, and basketball. She is an amazing athlete -- although, my one claim to fame is that I think I am a better volleyball player than she is -- that's the about extent of my bragging.

Here is Bri and me outside of our locker room in November of my freshman year (1995). You can see the date in the bottom right corner. Bri, Joan, and my Mom, Dad, and Brother, came up to spend my first Thanksgiving with me at WKU. I remember we ate dinner in Ol' Charlies. It would be the first of four pretty lousy Thanksgivings. Year two it was in a hotel. Year three catered at the President of the University's home. And Year four, in Cancun. These may sound pretty exotic, but you know, you really just want to be in a home on Thanksgiving, and I didn't get that for my four years at WKU.


Here is my chair in the locker room. Don't look for Kit. folks. I was Huisman my first three years. When we got married before my senior year, I did get a new chair with my new last name!

My locker! Many a day were spent on that stool!