BUTLER TWP— Time will tell how many wins the Butler County Community College men's basketball team will produce this season.

The Pioneers have plenty of wins on their bench, however.

First-year BC3 head coach Fred Skrocki, who amassed a 440-183 record and a 2007 state championship in 25 years at Schenley High School, will be joined on the bench by retired Perry High School coach Chuck Franklin, who won more than 400 games and a state title with that City League school.

"This is the third time I applied for this job,"Skrocki said. "Three really is a charm, I guess."

AButler resident, Skrocki applied for the BC3 basketball position in the 1980s when Dick Hartung got the job. He applied again a few years ago, when Tony Grenek got the position.

Hartung returned on an interim basis last year to coach the Pioneers to a 13-13 record.

"I was too young when I applied the first time and Grenek is a former player here,"Skrocki said.

The Pioneers open the 2007-08 season at 8 p.m. Friday, hosting Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, which is located in Lancaster, at the BC3 Field House.

The Pioneers women's team begins the campaign at noon Saturday, hosting Luzerne.

Of the 11 players on the men's team, only two, Freeport graduate and 6-foot-3 center Nick Rutkowski, Butler graduate and 6-2 guard-forward Josh Marchinoski, played for the Pioneers last season.

Rutkowski will be in the starting lineup Friday and Marchinoski will serve as the sixth man. Butler graduate Jace Lumley will be the point guard, while West Mifflin graduate Travis Williams will be the two guard.

Playing the three guard is Titusville graduate Max Krepps while 6-2 Moniteau graduate Matt Buczkowski will start at forward.

"Lumley is more suited for two guard, but we have no true point guard, so he'll have to fill that role,"Skrocki said. "We don't have a true center, either, but we have a lot of athleticism and opponents will have to match up with that down low."

The Pioneers have no player taller than 6-3. Rounding out the roster are 6-2 forward Jamal Pendleton from Farrell, 6-1 guard-forward Chris Priester from Clearfield, 6-foot guard Jerry Miller from Butler, 6-2 center Anthony Blumling from Butler and 5-10 guard Tyler Drzemiecki from Moniteau.

"It's hard for me to predict anything because this is the first college coaching experience for Chuck and I,"Skrocki said. "We can assess our talent, but we have no idea what the competition is like out there waiting for us.

"Krepps was a big scorer at Titusville, Blumling is a 270-pound guy who can be a physical force, Lumley and Williams can be scorers — we've got some ability here."

BC3 women's basketball

Sean Carroll returns for his fifth year as the only head coach the Pioneers women have ever had.

BC3 finished 18-6 last season — its best record ever — and won the Region XXchampionship for the first time. But that team has lost guards Shannon Onderko, Brittany Beatty and Liz Burgard, all key contributors.

Carroll has only six players to begin the season. Returnees are Butler graduates Ashley Nocera and Samantha Karns, and Slippery Rock graduate Jessica Fry.

All three averaged seven to nine points per game, with Fry adding six rebounds per contest. Nocera will play point guard and Karns will be a wing.

Karns is nursing a pulled hamstring, but hopes to be ready for Saturday.

"I haven't played guard since eighth grade, but we don't have many guards this year, so I'll do what I can to help us win,"she said.

"Sam can hit the 3-pointer and there will be times we'll be counting on that,"Carroll said. "I need to get about 50 points total out of those three each game if we're to be successful, and I think we can get that."

Newcomers are Slippery Rock graduate Lea Roth, Moniteau graduate Nikki Stiner and Butler graduate Heather Slagle.

The Pioneers finished second in the WPCClast season and Carroll believes they can repeat that effort.

"Potomac is at a different level,"he said. "They offer scholarships and recruit a different type of player. Our goal is to be the best among the community colleges, and we've done that the past couple of years."