There is a new, yet familiar, face at the helm for the Centre boys? basketball team this season.
Richard Idleman, who for two years has served as assistant coach under Greg Wyatt, has taken the reins of the program this year.
This year, the Cougars will play without graduated senior starters Dakota Stimp?son, Justin Bina and Jared Barney.
However, two starters return from last year?s 3-17 season: senior forward Nathaniel Engler and junior guard Dylan Deines.
Additional returning letter-winners include juniors Brendon Bina and Cole Methvin at forward, and sophomores CJ Thompson (guard), Cody Svoboda (center) and Cole Srajer (point guard).
The team is young this year, but not without experience.
?Our biggest positive is that we had a lot of underclassmen get to play varsity ball last year, so the varsity court?s not going to be new to them,? Idleman said.
?I think that will help us early on. With just three seniors last year, we were playing a lot of underclassmen, and we?re going to have to continue that this year.?
With just one senior on the roster, the Cougars are still establishing leadership roles. It will be important for the team to remain positive, Idleman said.
?We?re going to have to stay positive and make sure we?re working together as a team,? he said. ?Chemistry?s the most important thing.
?We?re trying to push that with the guys right now,? he added. ?We?re trying to definitely keep it positive. We?re going to run into some ups and downs, but if we stay strong we?ll be fine.?
Centre will travel to Central Christian Friday to open the season. The Cougars? home-opener will be Dec. 15 against Can?ton-Galva.