• Coach Kaine duties focus on opponent scouting, coaching the
FAU post players and tracking in-game trends. He also helps
coordinate the Owls' various summer camps.
• Previously, Kaine served director of basketball operations
at his alma mater in 2007-08, helping Winthrop win its then fourth
straight Big South Championship.
• No stranger to every level of coaching from the high school ranks on up, Kaine has also coached at Austin Peay State University, Newberry College, Guilford College, and Northwestern High School.
Diary Series: Tim Kaine, Asst Coach - Florida Atlantic ("Building with Character")
There is nothing like the beginning of a new season. Summer is
turning into fall, there is a chill in the air and that means
basketball is coming soon. Oh wait, down here in Boca summer is
turning into spring and it no longer rains once a day in the
afternoon. It is really a tough life down here in South
Florida?! All joking aside this is a great time of year. Every
coach I speak to is excited for a new season and we all have high
expectations of our teams.
Here at Florida Atlantic University it has been a building process since day one. Coach Jarvis was hired in May of 2008 and he has been building this program step by step. Our 1st year here at FAU was a difficult one on the court. We ended up going 6-26 and won two games in Sun Belt play. As bleak as our record was we knew there was growth with our underclassman and we felt we had a strong recruiting class. The underclassmen gained valuable experience and we were in most games until the final five minutes. Our second season we improved and some would say there was only one way to go and that was UP. We ended up going 14-16 and 10-8 in the Sun Belt and won our first road game of the season. That was a milestone because we did not win a road game in our first season. Once again, our team, one of the youngest in Division I, gained valuable experience.
Last year in our third season we kept building on our previous season’s record. We went 21-11 and won the regular season Sun Belt championship and played in the 1st round of the NIT. It was a great year for our program and the 1st regular season championship in school history. It was a year of firsts with wins over a Big East and a SEC team. We also had our first nationally televised game on ESPN2 in front of one of many sellout crowds.
As we embark on our fourth season here at FAU we are looking forward to building on last year’s success. We know it will not be easy with our league and non-league schedule. We return all but one starter this season and have the core of our team returning. We will need each player to step up and assume new roles on this team. This year, unlike the past we will have a veteran team that has expectations from fans to win a championship.
I feel very fortunate that Coach Jarvis hired me in 2008 and allowed me to help him build FAU into a winning program. The program was built on a saying coach loves to use when we are recruiting players. He got this saying from a very close friend, Red Auerbach. “Recruit character not characters” This has been the foundation of our program since day 1 here at Florida Atlantic University.
I want to wish everyone a healthy preseason and the best of luck this season!
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