MONMOUTH, Ore. — When Arne Ferguson started as an assistant coach at Western Oregon in 1989, road games meant bus trips. Sometimes a few hours to schools in Washington. Sometimes just a few minutes up the road to Oregon towns like Salem, Forest Grove and McMinnville.
All on the bus and neatly contained inside the Pacific Northwest.
Now entering his 18th year as the head coach, those bus days are long gone. Ferguson and his team are frequent flyers as one of only two NCAA Division II programs remaining on the West Coast.
During this upcoming season, the Wolves will fly six times. They will play non-conference games in South Dakota and Minnesota, and play league games in Texas and New Mexico.
It’s a massive undertaking, financially and logistically. It requires 3 a.m. wakeup calls on Fridays, followed by buses to the airport, four-hour commercial flights, Saturday games and doing it all in reverse on Sundays.