Fireball Bling

Posted on May 4th, 2015 under outside of ashland, people. Tags: Coach Craig Howard, football, Max Proudfit, mike beagle, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Raider Red Zone. Comments Off on 6 more from the Raider Red Zone

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football

Today was the annual SOU Football Alumni Club event at Eagle Point Golf Course. I’ll post dozens of additional photos here later. You will want a fast internet connection and large screen to view these. If you want to print any, be sure to click on the image and then save the higher resolution photo for printing.

Posted on May 2nd, 2015 under outside of ashland. Tags: Coach Craig Howard, Nikon D750, Raider Red Zone. Comments Off on 2015 Raider Red Zone Golf Shootout

Coach Craig Howard – 2014 NAIA Coach of the Year

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football

Tomorrow (2/4/15) is the annual SOU football signing day party. Details here.

Posted on February 3rd, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: Coach Craig Howard, football, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University. Comments Off on Signing day party

2014 SOU football team @ Daytona International Speedway finish line

@SOU_Football @SOURaiders @Coachfozz

2014 Rawlings NAIA Coach of the Year – Coach Howard

Aldrick Rosas had eight kickoffs that went for touchbacks in addition to being a perfect 7-7 in PATS and 2-2 in field goals including a 48 yarder

Walking on sunshine after another Melvin Mason touchdown

Alex Stork and Heston Altenbach

JJ Latu

Austin Dodge celebrates his final collegiate game

2014 NAIA Championship Game scoreboard and trophy

Coach Ken Fasnacht enjoys bus ride after the victory

Posted on December 27th, 2014 under people. Tags: Aldrick Rosas, austin dodge, Coach Craig Howard, coach ken fasnacht, football, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Ten more of the champs

Coach Craig Howard on phone with Stan Smith “Mr. Raider” just prior to taking the field in Daytona

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football

Coach Howard had a quick conversation with Stan Smith a few minutes before the game began in which the Raiders won the NAIA National Championship. I’m not sure if Stan answered Coach Howard’s question and gave him his ring size then, but he better tell him now.

P.S. I still have many more photos from the game that I will be posting here. They are now spilling over onto additional pages. To see all of the photos I have posted so far click here, here, and here. For photos from Florida not necessarily directly tied to the game (but sometimes containing SOU football players) click here and here.

Posted on December 26th, 2014 under people. Tags: Coach Craig Howard, football, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED AF-S VR, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, stan smith. Comments Off on “What size ring do you wear?”

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @SloppyJoesDB @DaytonaHilton

After the bus ride back to the hotel, the post-game recap took place in the Hilton rather than the normal location of on the field.

Max Proudfit and Coach Howard

SOU football post game in Hilton Daytona with Sean McShane, Sean Tow, and Grant Torgerson

Before the game, Coach Howard came out to the tailgate to give the fans a speech. ESPNU later aired his words in the first half of the game. Part of what he said included, “Let’s all jump in that ocean together after this game.” He kept his promise.

Coach Howard coming out of the Atlantic Ocean after claiming the 2014 NAIA Championship

Coach Howard shakes hands with Athletic Director Matt Sayre as President Roy Saigo looks on with friends, fans, and family – Sloppy Joe’s Daytona Beach

125+ more photos from the 2014 NAIA Championship can be found here.

Posted on December 24th, 2014 under people. Tags: Coach Craig Howard, football, Matt Sayre, Max Proudfit, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED AF-S VR, Nikon D750, President Roy Saigo, Raider Athletics, sean mcshane, Southern Oregon University. Comments Off on Coach Howard makes good on his promise

offensive line

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football @racetodaytona #NAIAfootball

2014 NAIA Player of the Year Austin Dodge

defensive line

Kelii Padello

Coach Greg Stewart and the running backs

Alex Stork, Mylz Blake, and Tyler Rogers

Coach Nathan Chin and the defensive backs

Senior Bubba Rylance and Coach Howard

shout out to Mr. Raider Stan Smith

outside linebackers

Posted on December 23rd, 2014 under people. Tags: austin dodge, bubba rylance, Coach Craig Howard, football, Greg Stewart, keegan lawrence, Max Proudfit, mylz blake, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Ready for 10 more pics?

pregame speech by Coach Howard to the future national champions

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football

quarterbacks

Dylan Young’s final TD catch – he holds the SOU record with 33 in just two years

Matt Retzlaff has 21 TD catches and will be a junior next year

apologies that everyone isn’t in this–things were chaos and getting this many in wasn’t easy

Julius Rucker Jr.

receivers

Michael Bryant

Michael is an Emerging Media and Digital Arts student who is also on the football team. He has helped make some incredible videos. Here is the one shown before the game in Chicago:

Here is the one shown before the game in Daytona:

He will be graduating soon so if your company needs someone who can create masterpieces like these, contact him.

This last photo was explained in this post. My favorite part of it is the smile on Jim Nagel’s face. Coach Nagel has won many state and national championships so I’d be curious to hear from him how this bus ride compared to others he has experienced after winning the big game.

Posted on December 22nd, 2014 under people. Tags: austin dodge, Coach Craig Howard, dylan young, football, Matt Retzlaff, michael bryant, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Ryan Retzlaff, Southern Oregon University, sports photography, video. Comments Off on More championship photos (and videos)

@SOURaiders @SOU_Football

Today’s first photo requires a bit of explanation. These were the players’ bus drivers for the entire week. I took this at Tuesday’s practice as our bus drivers watched from the sidelines. That’s CJ on the left and Ean on the right. I asked them how it felt to be the bus drivers of the future NAIA Champions, and they smiled and said I should probably get a photo of them. All week long I asked them how the bus drivers of champions were doing. Perhaps this planted a seed in Ean’s head? More on this possibility below.

The coaching staff at SOU is second to none. Although Coach Howard is not eligible for the NAIA Coach of Character Award, as he hasn’t been at SOU for five years yet, if NAIA officials could have witnessed everything he has done they would certainly make an exception.

I had the unique opportunity of standing on the opposing sidelines for seven of our games this year. I do this so that the SOU sidelines and crowds are in the background of most of my photos. Anyway, I can tell you from first-hand experience that the interactions between our players and coaching staff are very different than they are on other teams. The love, honor, and respect the SOU team has is incredible and a major contributing factor to the team’s success in my opinion.

Coach Howard gets the fact that coaching is about developing better people, better student athletes, and not just about how many TDs someone has. Of course, the former leads to the latter as demonstrated by this team.

Daniel Breaux with the sack

Dylan Young’s fourth catch of the evening would be his last as a Raider and the 159th during his two years in Ashland

Austin Dodge enters the bus after winning the championship and immediately takes photo of championship trophy sitting in Coach Howard’s seat

After the game everyone was in an absolute state of euphoria. We’ve all seen championship celebrations on TV. Sometimes you even get to experience them as a fan at the stadium. But to actually be there, with the players, takes things up several notches.

Back to my first point about our bus drivers…

I boarded Ean’s bus after the game. Spirits were high. As we pulled out of the stadium, without warning, Queen’s “We Will Rock You” pounded out of the stereo speakers, and the bus erupted into a celebration well beyond what I’ve witnessed before, anywhere.

I don’t know if Ean always does this, or if my constant reminders during the week that he was driving the future champions possibly sparked this idea in his head to make sure he had “We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions” at the ready, but either way, thank you Ean for making a special moment that much more memorable for these guys.

P.S. He also hooked up Austin Dodge’s iPod to the bus’s stereo to play “Sweet Caroline” after Queen.

Austin Dodge singing Queen’s “We Are The Champions” on the bus after the game

Coach Howard may not have sung as much as the players, but he still enjoyed the moment with his well-deserved trophy

Posted on December 22nd, 2014 under people. Tags: austin dodge, chris fisk, Coach Craig Howard, coach ken fasnacht, dylan young, football, NAIA National Championship Game Daytona Florida, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University. Comments Off on Bus of champions (and more)