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The Victoria College. Full-time salaried position with benefits available...
DISTRICT "Champions for Community Wellness" has the following positions...
The Jaguars baseball team, despite its very impressive 29-2 record, appears unlikely to receive an NAIA Region VI tournament berth.
The UHV softball team swept a doubleheader from the NCAA Division III American Southwest Conference West Division-champion Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders on Tuesday to reach the 30-win mark. But Keri Lambeth’s Jaguars may also be home for the playoffs.
Such is life as a first-year NAIA independent.
“I know there is some disappointment and frustration,” UHV interim athletic director Ashley Walyuchow said of the possibility neither team will get a regional tournament berth. “We’re trying our best to raise the awareness of what we’ve done on the field. Whether it changes anything, I don’t know.”
The obvious solution to UHV avoiding the dilemmas facing an independent is to join the Red River Athletic Conference. Under the current NAIA postseason selection system, at least two Red River teams are guaranteed Region VI tournament berths. The Sooner Athletic Conference also gets a minimum of two Region VI berths.
Two at-large berths are available for other Red River or Sooner conference teams or independent teams.
Red River commissioner Tony Stigliano said UHV, Houston’s St. Thomas University and San Antonio’s Our Lady Lady of the Lake University are interested in joining the 12-team conference as soon as next year. But UHV must add at least four more sports to be eligible to join the Red River.
“All new members will be required to have three men’s and three women’s sports,” Stigliano said Tuesday. “Our presidents want to expand, but they also want to have balanced programs. It wouldn’t be fair to allow a school (UHV) into the conference with only two sports while the others have six or more.”
Walyuchow said UHV is studying the possibility of adding three fall sports – soccer, volleyball and cross country. The only winter sport in the Red River is basketball, which could be the biggest problem for UHV.
“It’s my understanding that Houston-Victoria doesn’t have a place to play men’s and women’s basketball yet,” Stigliano said. “They have to address those issues to our presidents.”
“Facilities will determine where we go in the future,” Walyuchow said. “We don’t have a basketball facility or even a volleyball facility.”
Scheduling conflicts would prevent UHV from using local high school gyms for basketball and volleyball games and practices. The Jaguars baseball team has already met local opposition for using Riverside Stadium as a practice site.
Basketball programs at UHV are likely at least two or three years away.
Coy Slavik is the sports editor at the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-574-1206, or e-mail him at cslavik@vicad.com.