WEST POINT, N.Y. — The term “rent-a-player” is common in pro sports in this era of free agency and player movement.

Justin Jennings is not involved in pro sports.

But his entire team is made up of “rent-a-players.”

Jennings, a 2002 Seneca Valley graduate, recently concluded his first year as head coach of the West Point Prep men's basketball team, compiling a 23-7 record.

“We especially got better toward the end of the season, winning 14 of our last 15 games,” Jennings said. “I loved seeing that kind of improvement.”

The West Point Prep team consists of Army freshmen basketball players spending their first year getting adjusted to the academic and disciplinary rigors of military life.

Jennings, 28, will have none of his players back next year and will never have a repeat player in his program.

“Some of the teams we play have similar systems, but we play a lot of teams that are three and four-year programs,” he said. “It's a challenge facing that situation.”

It was an additional challenge this year as the Army Prep squad played 11 of its first 13 games on the road while waiting for a new multi-million dollar complex to be completed at West Point.

“Until this year, the Prep team played its home games on a base in New Jersey,” Jennings said. “Now our home games are played right on campus here and that's a real plus.”

The first two home games this season were played in Army's varsity basketball building.

The West Point Prep team rarely won many games in past seasons. The year before Jennings arrived, it won only nine games.

“Our confidence continued to grow as the season went on,” Jennings said. “It takes a special breed of kid to win under the system we want them to play.

“You need guys willing to listen, willing to sell out on the floor. But all of these guys are here in the first place to do something bigger than themselves. That goes hand in hand with how hard we play team basketball.”

This season marked Jennings' first as a head coach. After playing football, basketball and baseball at Seneca Valley, he went on to a basketball career at Penn State-Behrend and started four years at point guard.

Jennings wound up third on Behrend's all-time list with 322 assists. He played under Behrend coach Dave Niland, who has won 343 games in 18 seasons there while winning conference coach of the year honors seven times.

After his playing career, Jennings served as an assistant coach under Niland for two years, helping the Lions reach the NCAA Division III Tournament for the fourth time in the program's history.

“Coach Niland is an icon. I learned so much from him as a player and coaching with him,” Jennings said. “It's incredible that he's been there that long.

“I was never a big-time scorer or a star player. Playing the point, having to understand what everybody had to do on the court, has definitely helped me as a coach.”

Jennings came to West Point after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Carnegie Mellon University. While there, the Tartans earned their first-ever NCAA Division III tourney victory.

“I've always wanted to run my own program,” Jennings said. “I feel like I have the best coaching job in the country, working with guys of this quality.

“I could stay here forever. It would take quite an opportunity to get me to leave.”