Senior Reflections: Dexter Hood

*A note about the series: The COVID-19 crisis has impacted everyone, including collegiate student-athletes. The 2020 senior class, unfortunately, had partial or entire spring seasons or winter national tournament appearances taken from them. Now that some time has elapsed, several William Penn University seniors were asked to put into words what their time as Statesmen has meant to them. These are THEIR stories.

As I sit here and reflect on my time at William Penn, I have nothing but great things to say about my time in the smaller, but loving, town of Oskaloosa, Iowa. My senior year was nothing short of amazing; my most memorable times were on the court, as anyone could guess, but I also enjoyed just walking around the campus and being greeted by other students and staff members with so much love.

William Penn isn’t exactly one of the biggest schools you can go to, but that’s also what makes it great in my eyes. William Penn has a family environment as all your teachers know you by name and the relationships you build with other students is special. From the beginning of the season, all the way until the end, the whole campus was behind our team and that made each and every one of our wins that much better, because you felt that sense of school pride.

One of the lowest points of my entire time here was losing to Clarke at home during the regular season, because we never lose at home, and all of us felt like we let everyone down by doing that in front of our home fans. But, nevertheless, we picked things up and started rolling, finishing the season on a 12-game winning streak. Everyone was extremely excited about us going to the National Tournament and having the chance to bring the school its first National Championship in men’s basketball. But due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we were denied that chance, and even though everyone was devastated, we came together in one of the most emotional team meetings I have ever been a part of. No matter how things ended, my time here has been greater than I could have ever imagined.

I have built friendships that will last a lifetime! The position my coaches and teammates put me in this year will help me fulfill my life-long dream of becoming a professional basketball player, along with earning a great degree I can use down the line. If I have any regrets about anything when it comes to William Penn University, it’s that I didn’t come here right after junior college and play my junior and senior year here! My bad, Coach Sandquist, but I think I made up for it this year.

THANK YOU WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY!

Sincerely,

Dexter Hood
Men’s Basketball
Class of 2020