Coming off one of the best seasons in its Division I era (since 1977), Campbell University faces the challenge of replacing a number of key individuals from a unit that has been the most successful of any team in the Atlantic Sun Conference over the last four years (2005-08).

The Fighting Camels concluded the 2008 season with a 14-6-0 (.700) overall record as well as their first-ever year-end national ranking and highest South Region rating in the program's Division I era. Soccer America ranked the Camels number-25 in its final 2008 poll, while CU was rated third in the always-tough South Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Over the past four years, Campbell has won two A-Sun regular season championships (2005, 2008), one A-Sun tournament title (2007), and made the school's first appearance in the NCAA Division I College Cup (2007).

The Camels have been ranked in the South Region in each of the last four seasons and have compiled a 50-25-6 overall record (.654). The Camels also own the best A-Sun regular season record (25-4-4, .818) of all league members since the start of 2005.

Among those lost from last season's club are the 2008 A-Sun offensive (Richard Jata) and defensive (Aaron Johnson) players of the year. Jata was a second-team All-America and first-team All-South region pick before he was selected by the Chicago Fire in the MLS SuperDraft. Johnson earned second-team All-South notice. Also gone are All-South performers Stephen Oyuga and Josue Soto.

However, the roster still is stocked with talented performers, headed by attacking players like Vince Petrasso (the 2007 A-Sun tournament MVP and '08 first-team all-conference choice) and Jason Keever (a second-team all-league selection). Khalil Johnson returns after ranking among the top 10 A-Sun goal scorers a year ago.

Senior captain Justin Madrid will again assume his role in the middle of the field after leading the Camels to the conference title match in each of his three full seasons. The defense is also bolstered by the return of senior Academic All-District performer Austin Skakle and Kevin Orozco, a member of the 2008 A-Sun All-Freshman team.

In all, 14 letter winners from last season will be joined by eight newcomers - five of whom played club soccer with USSF Academy teams - to form a 2009 squad that has been selected to finish among the top two teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference for the fourth-straight year by league head coaches.

Question: Once again, your team ranks among the top two teams in the A-Sun pre-season poll. However, for the first time since 2005, the Camels have not been picked at the top (replaced by 2008 A-Sun tournament champion Jacksonville). Are pre-season expectations a motivational tool for your team?

Hess: We have been flattered to be picked in or at the top of the Atlantic Sun for several years now and it is always a great honor to be picked before the season starts by your fellow conference coaches to finish towards the top of the table, but this obviously doesn't have much weight as to what happens through the year. The reality is that the games still need to be played and we will still need to show up on a daily basis and perform.

I do believe the pre-season polls serve as a motivator for our team, but they are not the end-all-be-all by any means. While we do most of our goal setting on a short-term focus looking at games week by week, it goes without saying that we want to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Q: To what do you attribute your program's tremendous success in league play over the past four years?

Hess: I am a big believer that success breeds success. This does not mean that because you have had success in the past that success in the future is guaranteed, however I do believe it is more likely to happen in the future if your team is used to winning.

That being said, we have found ways to win in and out of the league and in particular, found ways to win even when we are not at our best. There have been a lot of tightly contested games through the last four seasons that we have been fortunate to come out on top of, but it is important to remember that it was not always like this. Our guys have learned how to grind out a result and work for what they want.

The only thing I can attribute it to is the desire within each of our players to prove themselves is and has been very high over this stretch. We always try to force them to have pace in training, to compete at high levels so there are no surprises when the game comes. They are competitive in everything we do on a training ground and no doubt this spirited attitude carries into how we perform in games.

Q: Your team is coming off one of the most successful years in the program's 32-year history at the Division I level. The list of accomplishments is a long one - earning a year-end national ranking, the team's highest-ever finish in the South Region (No. 3), breaking a 38-year-old school record for consecutive (12) wins, placing four players on the All-Region (plus one on the All-America) teams. How has this affected your team's profile on the recruiting trails?

Hess: The impact on recruiting will be an on-going thing we hope. Each year I believe the recruiting class we bring in gets deeper and deeper. It does not hurt to have success, but we will always try to recruit the best possible players we can that fit well at Campbell.

We have added solid student-athletes over the last several years and this year as well. There always seem to be guys that impact our team every season from the get-go. With eight new guys added to our roster, I am confident several of them will play an important role within our team this year.

Q: Over the past four years, Campbell has won four of its nine games against nationally-ranked schools. With pre-season No. 2 North Carolina scheduled for an Oct. 13 battle, the odds are that the Camels will again face at least one of the country's best units. How has your team managed to rise to the level that it is consistently competing with, and defeating, the nation's elite?

Hess: I am amazed myself at that statistic. I do not believe it is anything in particular that we have done to improve our track record against the top teams. In the end, this is a testament to our players and their will to win. I can see within our program the belief that day in and day out, we can play with and beat anyone in the country. We realize that this will not always happen, but we will not shy away from playing anyone.

Q: To say that your team has enjoyed a home field advantage over its four-year run of success would be an understatement. The Camels now stand 14-1-2 in their last 17 games against A-Sun men's soccer opponents in regular season and tournament play and have won 27 of 33 home games (27-6-0) since the start of 2005. CU again led the A-Sun in home attendance in 2008, marking the third time in four seasons that the Camels have drawn the largest crowds among league membership. What makes your team so tough to beat at the Eakes Complex?

Hess: When you have a field and locker room facility that look like the ones we have out at Eakes it is easy to get up for a game. We have played at a lot of different venues, but time and time again we come home to Buies Creek and know that we have one of the best facilities around. Mike Collins, our Director of Operations, does an amazing job with our field and I know it gives our program and players a huge sense of pride to walk out the back door of the McLeod Athletic Training Center and compete.

I also know that we have gained from the excitement on the hill at Eakes. Our family and fans give great support to our players and make Eakes a tough place to play. During this same stretch, I believe we have been a league leader in attendance and I know it is a source of encouragement when we walk out to find a sea of Camel Crazies.

With eight regular season home dates, I would love to see us break attendance records this year for both single game and total attendance.

Q: In his senior year, Aaron Johnson played every minute for your team in goal en route to All-South and A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year honors. Over the last four seasons, he started all but seven games in the nets. How difficult will it be to replace your final line of defense?

Hess: That is a tough one to answer. A student-athlete of Aaron's talents and abilities is rare, and therefore, not always easily replaced. He re-wrote most of the goalkeeping record books here at Campbell, which says a ton when you are talking about nearly 50 years of college soccer. He was the ultimate competitor and a picture of consistency in performance.

That being said, life goes on. AJ was not alone in his departure from our team, as we lost several other players that have been important to our success. Quite simply, this is why we do not build our program around one player. Graduation, injury, transferring are real issues that we face every year as college coaches so we are challenged to always think about the collective whole rather than just one player.

Speaking specifically to the goalkeeper position, I am looking for Teddy, Patrick and Ryan to make that area the most competitive spot on our team. It can't be easy for any of them; they must know that on any given day one of the other guys can take their spot. That is the nature of the position; you must be at your best every single moment.

Q: With only a couple weeks to prepare for your season opener (Sept. 1) at UNC Wilmington, where have you and your staff focused pre-season training efforts?

Hess: Good question. With so many new guys coming into the program this year, everything becomes our focus. Not much time to prepare, along with a playing season in which you blink and it is over, makes it seem like you are trying to eat an elephant in one bite. Nonetheless, it is what we love as a coaching staff and what we embrace each go-around.

We always start with defending. Kind of ironic with all the goals we have scored over the last several years, but defending is forever our building block. If we can have the team focused on a collective defensive effort, I do believe the attacking soccer that we love to play will flow from there. We spend a lot of time in small numbers situations as well, starting with 1 v. 1 then 2 v. 2, 4 v. 4 up to 6 v. 5 and 8 v. 6. While we are mindful of the big picture in 11 v. 11, it is often the small number situations that decide games so we believe it is important to spend time training them.

Additionally, we spend time getting to know one another. I say it all the time, nothing replicates the college athletics environment - you live together, eat together, go to class together, train together, travel together, play together. With all this time spent with one another, the focus has to be on the relationship and not on the ball. Credit to our team, the chemistry in the locker room and camaraderie amongst the group is fantastic.

Q: After playing Jacksonville in the last two A-Sun finals - and each team lifting the tournament trophy once - have you already circled the Halloween home date with the Dolphins on your calendar?

Hess: We always look forward to playing Jacksonville. Mike Johnson does a fantastic job with their program and our games seem to get more and more epic with every year. I look at our last four games over the last two seasons and it is amazing. The 2007 regular season contest was 2-1 to us at our place, then the 2007 A-Sun Tournament Final with us going through on penalties 5-4.

This past year was almost identical to the '07 regular season game, they go up 1-0 early and we battle back to win 2-1. Then of course there was the A-Sun Final from last year.... Let's just say if I was coaching in Italy, I'd be fired...up 3-1 at the half, we shut down and Jacksonville plays us off the park in the second half. That is soccer though and you must take the good with the bad.

It has been a phenomenal series with the Dolphins, but in all honesty they are the last conference game on the schedule and we have forced ourselves over the last few seasons to not look beyond the week in front of us. You can easily get wrapped up in what lies ahead and completely forget about what is right in front of you.

Q: Who are your favorites to finish at the top of the Atlantic Sun standings this year?

Hess: Jacksonville, similar to us, lost a bit to graduation and such, but I am sure they will continue to compete for trophies in the Atlantic Sun. I look for Lipscomb to be real strong this year. They return all of their top scoring guys and are an extremely talented attacking team. Charles Morrow has done a fantastic job in building their program. I am sure Stetson will be eager to get after things again this year too.

One thing is certain; there will be no easy games in the Atlantic Sun. All of the teams have shown continual improvement and I am sure this year will be no different. I run the statistic at the end of every year and find that somewhere in the range of 70-75% of our conference games are decided by a goal or less. It is a grind and the quicker you can embrace that, the better off you will be.

Q: Finally, Campbell University and the North Carolina soccer community lost one of its all-time greats last December when former CU player and coach Barry Howard died after battling cancer. What has been the impact of Barry - and so many involved alumni and supporters of the team - through the years meant to you and the program?

Hess: It was indeed a sad day, I still remember Barry ('69) addressing our guys one last time this past season. An extremely touching moment to watch him fight to stand on his own strength and share some of the passion from his heart. Barry was a great man with an amazing legacy; he will not be soon forgotten.

Thoughts of Barry bring thoughts of all the Alumni that have come back into the fold; as I said earlier, nearly fifty years of soccer at Campbell. I have run into so many from our Fighting Camel family in my doings both as coach here and with my outside involvements of teaching coaches and coaching club soccer. So much so that we are now seeing sons of former players finding their way to Campbell like Jackson Ferrell did this year.

There is a rich tradition of soccer at Campbell and our alumni support is so important to what we do. As we tell the guys at the start of every year, this is about so much more than just you. It is about all those that were here prior to you and all those that will come after you.

I get calls on a weekly basis from Andrew McCarthy ('98) to see if I have room for him in the team sheet to play slightly withdrawn under the strikers....sorry Maca, still no room! Monthly coffee "counseling" sessions with Scott Carpenter ('85) and Larry Henson ('87) on how we can create a vision for the future of Campbell soccer and realize the dream of making a stadium out at Eakes. Remarkable emails from Bob Phillips ('74) that inspire and encourage me. Insanely strange time of the day phone calls from Down Under with David "I love to talk" Comito ('06) on the other end telling me about how delicious his left foot still is and if I want to help co-author his book, 90 Minutes in the Creek. An occasional game of golf with one of the Flying Fins, Rami Kauppi ('93) and Juha Miettinen ('92). Gary Woodward ('72) calls to check-in and encourage our efforts. The brothers Scarborough ('82, '84, '85), David Doyle ('87), Tom Robey ('02), Kris Lamb ('01), David Iwung ('02), Steve Payne ('92), Brian Hunter ('95), Toni Siikala ('96), Chad Aboud ('06), Darren Dawson ('89), Willy "Speed" Guadarrama ('07), Matt Lightner ('08), Victor Litvinenko ('99), Greg Schwartzenberger ('04) and the list goes on and on and on.

It is countless the number of alumni both old and new; emailing, calling, visiting, getting out to games. I love it-it is the sign of a quality program and one that has obviously impacted people in the best possible way, it pulls on the heart strings. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope the alumni will continue to get behind our efforts and support us; their influence in this program does not go unnoticed.