Sports | 9/27/06

From left to right: Maddie Haseltine, Erin Dunn, Ally Perko, Erika Swan, Claudia Schneider, Lindsey Neighbors, Missy Rohrbaugh, Alysha Fanning, Kristina Shannon, Alison Essink, Vanessa Happel, Paul Koncir, Valerie Chromy, Jaclyn Rosenberg, Christina Grempler, Kimberly Snider. [Click to enlarge]

The fluorescent lights spread throughout the room on what was, by all accounts, a typical Wednesday night in early August. Under the soft glow sat a unit of 16. Fifteen were teammates. The 16th was the newcomer.
Most of the 15 had just gotten into town. For all intents and purposes their vacations were over. Some people might find that to be an unwelcome change. But not this group.
The new guy had also come just two weeks prior. July 24 marked his arrival, and after a month without anyone to call 'coach' the group met the figure with whom they would embark on their upcoming campaign.
Paul Koncir had finally arrived.
"[I] just gave them a packet that we made up for preseason and our expectations and our goals and had a pretty straightforward discussion about what we expect," the first year head coach said. "That was really it. There was not much fanfare or any of that. I almost treated it as if I had been here before."
While his only contact with the team prior to that night was a lengthy e-mail (some players received news of Koncir's hire from the Towson athletics Web site), there was a degree of familiarity that stemmed from his friendship with former head coach Chris Riley and his roots in the CAA as a George Mason alum and former assistant coach.
With preseason practice starting the very next day there was no time to waste with long introductions.
"Since we were all here last year we all knew kind of how to handle a new coach and take on that challenge with the new guy," sophomore outside hitter Maddie Haseltine said.
Having just come off of its second straight appearance in the CAA Championship match, Koncir knew the team was certainly not in need of a fresh start.

Continued...

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