The Kee to Coaching: Year 2 in the Books
It's been about a year since my last post, and I figured it was time to give everybody an update on how our second year went at The Apprentice School. Sadly, our season is officially over. It didn't go exactly the way we would have wanted, but the 18-19 season, was surely a memorable and successful one!
We've had many changes from my first to second season. We welcomed in 8 new players (5 freshmen and 3 transfers) to go along with four returnees. We had the opportunity to form some new rivalries, as we joined a new conference, the Eastern Metro Athletic Conference (EMAC). We also welcomed a new assistant coach to the staff, Geo LeSeur.
Overall, we finished with a record of 13-14, against an extremely competitive slate of opponents. The 13 wins gave us a total of 5 more wins than the previous season. In the newly-formed EMAC, we made it to the semi-finals, before losing a heart-breaker to the top-seeded Johnson & Wales University (NC) Wildcats. We were ranked in the top 10 for the majority of the season, and were 1 win away from the National Tournament.
Heading into this season, our program was full of optimism! Even though we lost 4 of our 5 starters from the 17-18 season (including a First-Team All-American), we returned 4 guys with a lot of game experience and had a very talented incoming class. When the 2018-19 USCAA Division 1 All-Americans are announced next week, I predict that we'll have several of our players named.
We raced out to a 7-3 start, taking down some very good D3 & USCAA opponents in the process. We faced some adversity and kind of had a roller-coaster finish, but a lot of that comes with having a young group. I definitely improved as a coach from year 1 to year 2, and it was fun to see the positive strides that our players took. Our assistant coach, MJ Gainey, did a terrific job leading our player development efforts, and it really showed with the skill improvement in our guys. Our defense was much better this season, and I really have to credit the addition of Geo LeSeur for that. All this is made possible by having talented players, and much of the thanks has to go to our recruiting coordinator, Tim Sparks, for chasing down leads and getting us the best possible players, that fit our program.
I'm so thankful for the support that we received this season from our school, fans, and the local community. Being an apprentice, working 40 hours a week, and playing collegiate level basketball at the same time isn't easy. I appreciate our guys for working hard each day, and eliminating all excuses.
As a staff, we set out this season to increase our brand in the area, and Apprentice School Basketball is now a top destination for many of the top kids in the area. Our staff has been relentless in building relationships, and I'm excited to announce our 2019 recruiting class in a few weeks. We took a huge step forward in terms of relevancy at the National Level, and it will be a huge challenge for us to take another step next season. Our goal is to get to the USCAA National Tournament, and to compete for an EMAC Championship. We were in arms reach of both goals this year, but we'll need to have a productive off-season to make it happen. We will keep you posted on our journey going forward. It should be a fun one!
