Hey everyone! I know, you thought the blogging would stop once the season ended, but you also didn't know some key information: 1) I enjoy writing, and 2) Like many coaches, I do not have much of a life outside of basketball. So there you go. Throughout the offseason I will share some updates on how the squad is doing as well as what us coaches are up to.

To close the book on the 2010-2011 season, the Captains played a very hard-fought, resilient game against Ferrum last Friday, falling just short 87-81. There were several times during on the game where Ferrum had us on the ropes and the guys could have just packed it in, but that never happened. We battled to the end.

All in all, finishing the year with an 18-9 overall record is not bad at all. As a coach, you will always think that you could have gone further, and that last loss is always a difficult one to take. You go through a lot of emotions after it – disappointment, regret, anger, frustration, and then ultimately acceptance and determination to be better next time.

For coaches, “next season” literally starts the day after your previous season ends. The first area to tackle is recruiting. Over the next few weeks our staff will finalize the incoming freshmen class for next year. This involves traveling across Virginia as the state tournaments are being played. We will also host several more potential recruits on campus for official visits, and we will finalize the commitments from the student-athletes who are choosing to become a Captain starting this fall. It is a great deal of time and effort – months and months of work have already gone into it – but it is very exciting for coaches to see a recruiting class come together. I believe we are putting together a class that features some very high quality young men who will represent CNU proudly on, and off the court.

The other essential part of the near future involves improving as individual players. A lot of this deals with the weight room. As soon as the guys get back from spring break they will start our offseason strength and conditioning program. Our program will focus on getting our guys a lot stronger while getting their bodies into the best shape of their lives. This strength and conditioning program will continue through the summer and into the fall.

While this is going on, the guys will also be working to improve on the court. In NCAA Division III, coaches are prohibited from working out with their players during the offseason. This to me is very frustrating, not having the ability to have a hands-on approach to making your players better in the offseason. You can offer guidance in terms of how they work out and what they work on, but it is up to the individual players to have the fire to push themselves everyday to get better. Consequently, it is extremely important that teams have strong leaders who will motivate the rest of the team during workouts and make sure the necessary skills are being worked on.

I am confident that our guys are not satisfied with this season's results and are determined to accomplish our goal of winning the USA South championship next season. Everyday over the coming months all of us, coaches and players, will be working to make up that six-point difference that we fell short of this year. We approach the following weeks and months with excitement. One part of the ride has ended, but the journey still continues!