“But I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep” -- Robert Frost
 
Hope.
 
Anticipation.
 
Enthusiasm.
 
Optimism.
 
College basketball coaches throughout the nation are feeling these emotions, and many others, right now. The day that all of us have been waiting for since our respective seasons ended months ago is finally at hand: the official start of practice and the 2011-2012 season.
 
February 25, 2011 – that is the last time Christopher Newport men's basketball has taken the floor together as a team. Over 230 days have passed since then. That's a long time, and a lot has taken place in between.
 
Some players have left us – a few through the success of graduation, while one left us far too soon. The returning players have developed both on and off the court, and are ready for the new challenges that lie ahead. A host of new players have joined our family, and they will soon experience the highs and lows, the adversities and triumphs, of being a high-level college basketball player. 
 
The coaching staff is no different. We've all been keeping at it – improving our basketball knowledge, leadership skills, and the other intangible qualities that will help us maximize the potential of this year's squad. Changes have occurred here as well. Coach Erick Mays has taken his abilities to Woodside High School, while former CNU Captain Matt Preston joins Coach Krikorian, Coach Ross, and myself on the sidelines for this season. We've also added former Hampton University manager Evan Kee as a volunteer assistant. The additions of Coach Preston and Coach Kee, along with their respective 6'7”and 6'1” frames, mean that CNU men's basketball no longer has the shortest coaching staff in America. So we got that going for us, which is nice.
 
Every team carries a lot into a new season: the memories of last season and how it ended (for most teams, that's with a loss), the work put in during the offseason, and of course, the expectations for this season.  Here at CNU basketball, we have some very solid veterans returning, but also a whole bunch of newcomers. The challenge early on will be to gel this group together while also installing our offensive and defensive systems (some aspects of which will be new to everyone). Almost all of what we do in these early practices will be aimed at achieving the goal of building a tough team that plays together in order to execute our offensive and defensive principles.
 
As a Division III college coach, this time of the year is especially meaningful. Due to the rules of NCAA Division III, for the past six months access to our players on the basketball court has been nonexistent. This can be very frustrating, especially for those of us who have previously coached at Division I, where the rules allow for much more on-court coaching during the offseason.
 
Now the shackles come off and we can get to work on the most fundamental aspect of this profession – getting on the court, making our players better, and building a team! For me, this is the greatest part of being a college basketball coach. It's why you become a coach in the first place; there is no close second. With the start of practice upon us, I feel like Andy Dufresne basking in the rain after having escaped in The Shawshank Redemption.
 
(If you didn't get that last reference, you really need to watch that movie. One of the all-time classics.)
 
A common question that I get asked a lot from people who know me is, “Why do you want to be a coach?” There are a lot of ways I can answer that. To sum it up though, here is why: this weekend I will lace up my sneakers and walk into the Freeman Center field house. There will be the sweet, echoing sounds of basketballs bouncing and sneakers squeaking on the hardwood. The guys will be out there focused as they warm up. All those emotions I mentioned before will be stirring inside me. There will be an energy in the air. It'll finally be time to go to work. At that moment, there will literally be no place else in the world where I'd rather be…