It’s easy to bemoan the mediocrity of the football team, but faithful Ute fans have been getting behind the school’s other winning programs instead.

Last Friday night provided an example of local loyalty at its finest. At the same time 900 screaming supporters packed the stands at Ute Field for the No. 11 women’s soccer team’s regular-season finale against Wyoming, fans were turned away at the door in the No. 9 volleyball team’s showdown with archrival BYU in nearby Crimson Court.

Both the soccer and volleyball teams are hitting the home stretch of outstanding seasons in which neither squad suffered a loss in the Mountain West Conference (soccer fans will get to douse seniors with a second heaping helping of appreciation at Ute Field this Wednesday, when the conference tournament begins).

Successful athletic programs are a luxury we have come to rely on as students at the U.

The legendary gymnastics team is a perennial contender for the national championship, and the NCAAs are even being held in the Huntsman Center this upcoming spring. The school’s other athletic programs are competitive within the Mountain West Conference on a consistent basis.

Even outside the realm of Chris Hill and the fantastic Ute athletics department, there are nationally competitive club sports at the U that are being run by students themselves. As many students can attest, you’re missing out if you haven’t checked out the U’s well-organized rugby or lacrosse programs lately.

Few other college students across the nation are privileged enough to attend a school with so many excellent sporting events on the slate. Other “mid-major” schools that do well in football or basketball often accomplish their heroic feats by sacrificing efforts toward other sports.

At the U, however, all of our athletic programs enjoy the resulting leadership that upholds the principles of professionalism to the highest degree.

It follows that it’s pretty easy to be a Ute fan-in some regard, at least-just about every year.

A bowl game may be out of reach for the football team, and both basketball teams appear to be in rebuilding stages, but opportunities remain plentiful for Ute students to root on their home school at meaningful national sporting events.