BUILDING EXCITEMENT — Joe Wallace, left, head coach of the Franciscan University of Steubenville men’s basketball team and the school’s director of community relations, was welcomed to Wednesday’s meeting of the Steubenville Rotary Club by President Jim Baber, center, and Mike Zinno. -- Ross Gallabrese

STEUBENVILLE — Fans of the men’s basketball program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville certainly have a lot to be excited about this season.

The Barons have turned in their best season since 1972-73, rolling to a 21-6 record and advancing to the semifinals of the Presidents Athletic Conference Tournament, where they were eliminated with a 75-65 loss at Washington and Jefferson last Thursday night. It’s an overall success that continues to build an optimistic future.

“We have a team that’s very good. We didn’t finish the job this year,” coach Joe Wallace said Wednesday afternoon while speaking during the Steubenville Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon meeting at the JeffCo Event Center.

Wallace is finishing his 10th season as the team’s coach. A native of Wheeling and graduate of West Liberty University, he coached at the University of Tulsa, the University of Charleston, S.C. and San Jose State University before making the choice to return home to the Ohio Valley.

“That 10 years has gone by in a blink,” Wallace said. “We were happy to be back in the Valley and at Franciscan, with all the great things happening there. I felt that we could build a basketball program that was similar to the old days. That’s what this undertaking has been.

“Everywhere I go in town, there will be a story someone brings up that will connect them to the past, to the St. John Arena or even when they played in the Big Red gym, of having a team like the great ones,” he added.

Those great teams included the 1958-59 Barons, who won the small-college national championship under the late coaching legend Hank Kuzma.

With the resurgence in the program has come an increase in interest and support. That was seen during that loss to W&J, when a large contingent made the hour-long drive to Washington, Pa.

“The biggest thing about that game, when I look back, was the amount of community support that showed up for that game,” Wallace said. “Not only students, but university employees. We basically took their gym over on one side. It was an electric environment.”

Wallace said there is a lot of hard work behind the team’s success, crediting his assistants Adam Martello, Mike Granato and John Pizutti.

“They are a group of guys who don’t make any money but who are invested in instilling values in the young men who come to Steubenville,” Wallace said. “We have guys from all over the country now. The majority of our roster now is regional guys. We have a lot of Western Pennsylvania kids, we have kids from the Valley. To us, defining success is finding the right kind of players. A lot of them are right around here.”

That coaching staff has been able to get the most from those players.

“We coach old school,” Wallace said. “We’re hard on our guys. We’re in their faces, but we show a lot of love to them. It becomes a family environment while they are here. We make sure they take pride in Steubenville for the four years they’re here.

“We want guys who are going to be four-year guys,” he added. “They’re committed to the university and committed to getting their degrees here instead of bouncing around.”

Building that type of roster means recruiting players who generally come from a three-hour radius.

“The university has a national name, and there are kids there who reach out to us,” Wallace said. “But the way we have done it differently now is that we really want to get to know the kid and his family as much as we possibly can, so we have to spend time with them — them coming to campus and us going out to see them. That’s how we can get a full dynamic and a feel for what we’re going to be a part of and how much not just the kid is going to be in our lives, but the whole family. We’ve seen success and taken a bigger step because there has been a family feel to it.

“If we’re going to say we want to develop a family program, we have to make sure we understand the dynamics and that the families are involved with what’s happening here –and that’s allowing us to retain talent, too.”

This is the fourth season Franciscan has played at the Division III level. That means the school can’t offer athletic scholarships — which makes academics a very important component of what’s expected from the players. Wallace said that in the fall semester, the team had a grade-point average of 3.67.

“Academics is a massive part of it, and it’s all about the four-year development and experience of our guys,” Wallace said. “When you’re playing at the small-college level, that’s their future, right?

“We’re as hard-school as it gets. We are hard on them in all facets. We love them to death and they love us, but it’s not sugar-coated. So, if you’re not doing well in the classroom, you are going to get punished. That’s the way it should be — every coach in every program in the country is scared to hold kids accountable because they will leave.

“So, we just said that we’re going to do it the way it should be done, that we’re going to invest in them and we’re going to hold them accountable for every little thing. And then they will stay because of that, because the parents are going to see the discipline,” Wallace said.

Wallace has a lot on his plate. In addition to coaching duties, he serves as the director of community relations at the university, and he promoted the April 30 Baron Club Dinner, which will feature Clint Hurdle, the former Pirates manager, as the guest speaker.

But first, the team is preparing for this weekend’s Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. The Barons will meet New Jersey City University Saturday in Jersey City, N.J. Wallace said the team will travel from Steubenville Friday. They’ll spend a couple of hours in New York City Friday night, he said, adding post-season he expected more post-season play in the future.

“We’re very talented. We have guys who play together and who play very hard and who can shoot the basketball,’ Wallace said. “The Finnegan Fieldhouse has become an electric environment, and that’s something we want to continue doing. There’s no reason we can’t take the program to another level, which would be consistently going to the NCAA tournament and then being a national name. And there’s really nothing holding us back at this point.”