10. Ch-ch-changes












The Southern Oregon University athletic department welcomed two new coaches into the mix in 2014, as Jenni Rosenberg was chosen to take the reins of the Raider women's soccer team in January and Jessica Pistole became the new SOU softball coach in June. Another very visible change was made at Raider Stadium, pictured above, where new synthentic turf was installed and the Raider soccer team took up permanent residence. A new track will be added in the new year.



9. The SOU women's basketball team broke the Cascade Conference scoring record
















Head coach Lynn Kennedy's prefered up-and-down style for the SOU women's basketball team resulted in a new conference scoring record of 84.2 points per game over 18 contests. The Raiders were at their most potent offensively during a tournament run that featured an upset of top-seeded Eastern Oregon and brought them to the Cascade Conference title game.



8. Eric Thompson and Brian McDermott hit milestones and the Raider men hit the books

















The 2013-14 SOU men's basketball team won 22 games on the court but was even more effective in the classroom, where the Raiders put together a team grade-point average of 3.49 -- the best of any men's hoops squad in the NAIA. Eric Thompson was named an NAIA All-American for the second straight season and he started the 2014-15 campaign by breaking Shea Washington's school scoring record (he's now up to 2,082 points). Most recently of note, 19th-year head coach Brian McDermott earned his 400th career win in SOU's upset of second-ranked College of Idaho.



7. The always interesting Raider volleyball team took back the Cascade Conference

















After three years away from the top spot the SOU volleyball team won another regular-season conference title, thanks in part to a 5-0 record in five-set CCC matches. The most notable of those was a thrilling comeback win over Eastern Oregon (match point pictured above), which shared the title with the Raiders. SOU also returned to the NAIA tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, for the first time since 2011 and was 13th in the final NAIA rankings.



6. Stephanie Techler won SOU's first women's NAIA title in 19 years

















Perhaps the most improbable of SOU's big victories in 2014 was Stephanie Techler's NAIA pole-vaulting championship. Techler came into the NAIA Championships with the eighth-best mark in the field, but won it with a mark of 12 feet, 1 1/2 inches. SOU's last female national champion had been Jill Carrier, who won the heptathlon in 1995.



5. We remained a cross country powerhouse

















The Southern Oregon men's cross country team continued its trend of dominance with a seventh consecutive Cascade Conference title and a second-place team finish at the NAIA championships. SOU's women joined the men as a team on the national stage for the first time since 2010, taking 18th, and the Raiders came home with four All-Americans in total: Summer Cano, Eric Ghelfi, Jared Hixon and Max Runia.



4. Brock Gutches became the first 174-pounder to win three straight NAIA championships

















Brock Gutches' 2014 wasn't much different from his 2013, or his 2012, in the sense that he claimed another NAIA individual title. He became the first wrestler in NAIA history to win three at 174 pounds, the 26th to win three at any weight, and in the new year he could become the seventh to win four titles. Five other Raiders were All-Americans -- Jacob Abrams, Clayton Burtis, Tyler Cowger, Taylor Johnson and Jake Stigall -- and SOU was fourth as a team after winning the Western Region title.


3. Eric Avila won pretty much everything

















Eric Avila capped 2013 with SOU's first individual cross country title since 1978, then did it even bigger in 2014. He joined Zach Boyd-Helm, Kevin Jorgensen and Jonz Olander to help SOU's distance-medley relay team set an NAIA record and win a title for the second straight year; he won the prestigious Stanford Invitational with what was then the top 5K time in the nation at any level; he was the Athlete of the Meet when SOU's men upset Concordia for the Cascade Conference team championship; he won the 1,500-meter NAIA title to lead SOU's nine All-American efforts; he was named the CCC Athlete of the Year for all sports; and, immediately after his SOU career ended, he ran a sub-four-minute mile and advanced to the USA Track & Field Championships. He was, all things considered, pretty good.



2. We were the best, according to the Directors' Cup standings, at least for a fall

















A year after finishing 32nd in the NAIA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings (which awards points based on an institution's finish in up to 12 sports), SOU finished the fall of 2014 ranked No. 1 in the nation. Led by Director of Athletics Matt Sayre (pictured above), seven of eight Raider teams in action this school year have been (and remain) in their respective NAIA top-25 rankings. SOU has never finished better than 18th in the Directors' Cup.



1. The NAIA football championship trophy found a new home in Ashland




















The Granddaddy of Them All in 2014 was, of course, SOU's first NAIA football championship, won with a 55-31 decision over Marian (Ind.) in Daytona Beach, Fla. The run to the title featured a 44-26 win over MidAmerica Nazarene in SOU's first home playoff game since 2002, a classic 45-42 quarterfinal win over Carroll in sub-zero temperatures, and a 62-37 thumping of Saint Xavier (Ill.) in the Raiders' first-ever semifinal appearance. Austin Dodge was named the NAIA Player of the Year and wrapped his career with NAIA records of 154 passing touchdowns, 17,250 passing yards, 1,253 completions and 373.7 yards of offense per game (among several other records). Head coach Craig Howard is now 34-14 in his four years at SOU. The program had one winning season in the seven years prior to his arrival.