This is always the strangest time of the year for me.

With the running of the NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend, the 2006-07 sports season has officially come to an end for me. Sure, there are a couple of academic teams that will be announced in the coming weeks, but for the most part the 2007-08 season is already well underway.

The most popular question I have put to me these days are about my summer plans. The load does lighten during the summer, but there is still plenty of work to do. If you haven't checked out the football web site, we already have the 2007 roster loaded, so you can scan through it and learn the names of the 128 young men who will be on campus in about 2-1/2 months to begin football camp.

That's even harder to believe. As fast as the academic year went by, how fast will it seem these few weeks will rush through before we once again have students in the Allen Center, heading out to practice, talking about their class schedules.

Some of our athletes are staying on campus this summer. Geoff Lambert, who just finished his season last weekend trying to battle through a hip injury while running at the Nationals, is working in the library once again this summer. Adi Pynenberg, an All-American linebacker and an equally accomplished student, is one of 12 students participating in a summer business immersion learning program. He and teammate Andy Deig are hitting the weights and the track every morning before heading out at 8 a.m. to learn about the business world every day. And Justin Gardiner is back a semester in Europe, serving as a summer assistant in the archives department. If you know what a Civil War buff I am, imagine the conversation JG and I had two days ago as he was going through the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, part of several books in the Wabash Civil War collection.

So we say farewell to last season, remembering fondly the accomplishments on the field, in the pool, and on the track, court, or mat of the outstanding young men who chose to become a part of the great history of athletics at Wabash.

A new chapter --- the 2007-08 season --- is just around the corner!