There’s an old saying about how what is most interesting isn’t the destination, but rather, the journey. That’s an idea Tim O’Shea appears to be taking to heart.
The first-year head coach at Bryant knew what he was getting into when he took this job back in June. He’s too experienced not to; he had spent seven years as a head coach and many more as an assistant prior to leaving Ohio to come back to an area he considers home. So it’s not a surprise that he’s both taking the long view and changing the measuring stick for his team as they make the jump into Division I this season.
“My biggest job right now is to keep guys mentally up, keep confidence where it needs to be, and keep looking for that gradual improvement,” said O’Shea. “As we get into this month and January and February, we can look back and say, hey, we’re a much better team today than we were when we started this process.”
O’Shea knows it’s not easy on the kids in a few ways. For one, this is a team whose seniors were in the Division II NCAA Tournament in each of the first three years; they’ve gone from that to being 1-7 as they head into a break for final exams. Losing is tough enough, but suddenly losing after winning often is sometimes harder. But like their coach, they know what kind of a jump they’re making, and they wouldn’t go back to Division II now if they had the chance.
Likewise, for O’Shea it’s certainly a change in evaluating his team. Usually, wins and losses are what matters; the cold, hard reality is that this is a bottom line business, and maybe too much so at times. But with a seven-year contract in hand and having a feel for the college basketball landscape, he’s looking at this team in terms of their effort, attitude and improvement as time goes along. He liked that his team scored 41 points in a half against an ACC opponent.
He’s also looking at things from a program standpoint.
“I know the scoreboard is another loss, but this year is about establishing a Division I identity,” O’Shea said after the Bulldogs lost at Boston College. “We get credibility when we play these schools, we’re going to play them again next year. I think as we go through this process of growing as a Division I program, we can measure ourselves and our progress from year-to-year when we play BC and Providence and Connecticut. Those are important games for Bryant right now.”
While this season’s schedule has a number of tough games against high-major opponents, O’Shea sees that as a positive. He is already finished with next year’s schedule, one he calls “far more reasonable”, and his idea was to continue the theme of this being a Division I program and having a long view.
“Some schools put one foot in the water when they make this move – in other words, they still play 12 Division II games,” said O’Shea. “They don’t go out and play a real Division I schedule. We’re not going to do that. During this process, we’re going to play 29-30 Division I games every year, so we’re firmly established in everybody’s mind as a Division I program.
“It helps us in recruiting,” he continued. “When we recruit kids, we say, look, we’re never going to play Division II, you’re always playing against Division I, and in fact you’re going to play some of the best teams in the country.”
Indeed, a number of schools that are transitioning to Division I still play a schedule loaded with teams outside of Division I. Sometimes that’s the only way they get home games, especially programs that are independent. But Bryant doesn’t have a single opponent on its schedule outside of Division I, and that includes 13 against Northeast Conference opponents. (Those games will not count in the standings as it is not a full slate.)
Bryant will play 11 home games by the end of the season, and in the first two they have had sizeable student section crowds. They have played against big crowds in road games, which is one more step toward being a full-fledged Division I program as they typically would not see crowds as big while in Division II.
Despite the big losses in a few of the road games thus far, O’Shea is keeping things positive and his team is getting better. He’s remaining upbeat as well, clearly enjoying the group he has and feeling like he’s in a good situation. That’s not entirely surprising since it’s been clear all along that he wants to be here, but losing isn’t fun in this bottom-line business. Still, this is part of the growing process.
“I said to them before the game, I told them there’s not a kid at Bentley, or name some of the schools in the NE-10, that wouldn’t rather be in their shoes, having a chance to play some of these schools and games that mean something,” O’Shea said.
It’s another reflection that right now, what means the most of anything to O’Shea and his players isn’t the destination, but the journey.
