On Monday, January 5, the Lancaster Bible men's basketball team will take on Cairn for the first time since February 22, 2012 when the Chargers defeated the then-Philadelphia Biblical Crimson Eagles, 78-76 in the NCCAA East Region Semifinals. It's been 1,048 days since the two teams met and since then, not only has one school changed its name (Philadelphia Biblical to Cairn), but both teams have made at least one coaching change.

After a tough first season, Marshall Tague led the Chargers to a program-best 22-9 last season and has Lancaster Bible out to a 6-1 start this season. Cairn struggled through the past two seasons and made its second coaching change in three years this past summer when it hired 25-year old and 2012 Lancaster Bible graduate Jason O'Connell.

When the Chargers and Highlanders met on February 22, 2012, O'Connell was in the stands, cheering for Lancaster Bible as he and his friends did every time the Chargers hit the Horst Athletic Center floor. Since graduating from Lancaster Bible, O'Connell has been on a whirlwind tour that has seen him gain coaching experience at Penn St. Harrisburg, Eastern Kentucky and now Cairn.

During his four years at Lancaster Bible, O'Connell played on the men's basketball team as a freshman before an injury made him sit out his sophomore season. The injury lingered and O'Connell decided it was best to simply enjoy the game with friends by playing pick-up and to continue learning about the game from the stands. That decision turned out to be a good one as O'Connell picked up more and more knowledge that finally took him to Penn St. Harrisburg and then finally to Eastern Kentucky where he served as a graduate assistant. O'Connell said his time with the Colonels last season was valuable because of all of the little things he learned.

"I learned a lot of things from a great coach in Jeff Neubauer," O'Connell said. "I learned some important things to do and not to do of running a basketball program and what a good, solid program looks like. Most importantly, I learned what hard work looks like. It can be 80-90 hours some weeks, but good programs put in those hours to make themselves better."

Having only been hired this past summer, O'Connell is still learning the ins and outs of his new digs at Cairn, but is already impressed with the university.

"We are trying to build a good culture and we have lots of godly people working here," O'Connell said. "It's a great athletic department and I'm grateful to be here."

Being such a young coach, O'Connell continues to learn new things every day and has advice for those future coaches who may be sitting in the stands on Monday watching the Chargers and Highlanders.

"I think it takes a mindset of not getting outworked," O'Connell said. "I learned to do what needs to be done and it does take some sacrifices. Being a head coach means being the first in the office and the last out, but it is a great profession and I am blessed to be a head coach at my age."

Tague agreed hard work is necessary and added that students or athletes who are thinking of getting into coaching need to begin taking steps in that direction as soon as possible.

"The earlier someone can get their foot in the door the better," Tague said. "From networking with other coaches to just gaining experience however you can, it's important to do the dirty work and make as many connections as possible."

O'Connell's assistant coach this season is Jon Bishop who also graduated from Lancaster Bible and served as a student assistant coach during some of his time in Lancaster. O'Connell and Bishop have gotten support from their former teammates and friends at Lancaster Bible, including making recruiting trips with O'Connell and discussing X's and O's at all hours of the day.

"All of them have been very helpful," O'Connell said. "Lots of them are coaches themselves at various levels and it's just fun to talk about basketball with them."


O'Connell (cardinal jacket) and Bishop (#55) were both a part of the 2008-09 Lancaster Bible basketball team.

When asked who his friends and fellow Lancaster Bible graduates will be rooting for on Monday, O'Connell said he was getting some good natured ribbing from them as they let their allegiances be known one way or the other.

O'Connell has always made a connection with basketball and his friends as he said his fondest memories of Lancaster Bible are with his friends as they played basketball or watched games at Horst Athletic Center.

"Just making those connections and friendships on the court was so important," O'Connell said. "From playing pick-up to just being in the gym with guys like Madison Warfel or Jason Swartzentruber, it was just a really fun time. One of the best things I learned not only at Lancaster Bible, but at Eastern Kentucky was it is a privilege to play basketball, but the real meaning are those friendships that last forever."

Both O'Connell and Tague are happy the two schools are playing one another again. Prior to this 1,000-day hiatus, the two teams met once, twice or even three times a year from 1972 to 2012. Cairn holds a 59-27 series lead, but Lancaster Bible has won the past eight meetings. The Highlanders last victory came late in the 2006-07 season.

"I don't personally know the history because we haven't played them since I have been here, but I know it's there and I'm glad we are re-establishing ties," Tague said. "With two schools who are so likeminded, it's important we play one another. Whether it is spiritual, academically or even on the NCAA Division III or NCCAA level, we have lots in common with Cairn."

O'Connell agreed and is obviously excited to come back to his alma mater.

"We are excited to come to Lancaster Bible and it's great to continue the series," O'Connell said. "We are both trying to do the same things on and off the court and train student-athletes to become godly men. It's going to be a lot of fun."

One has to believe that O'Connell had no idea 1,048 days ago as he watched Lancaster Bible defeat Philadelphia Biblical from the bleachers in Horst Athletic Center that he would be patrolling those same sidelines for Cairn less than three years later. As the rivalry between the two schools is renewed it seems fitting that two Lancaster Bible graduates are at the helm of one of the program's biggest rivals. The two schools, though rivals, are sister schools and share many of the same beliefs and as O'Connell and Tague both pointed out, this is not a rivalry of hatred or dislike, but one that helps bring out the best in young men and women who will go serve the Lord.