Last summer, James “Chip” Durham became the newest member of the Colonel family, taking over as head coach of the Colonel baseball team.Durham replaced former coach B.D. Parker, who retired in May after six seasons with the Colonels.

With the season set to start in February, Durham said both he and his team are ready for opening day.

“Everybody’s getting a little excited,” Durham said. “Looking at what we have talent-wise, this club has a good chance to do good things.”

As far as goals for this year’s team, Durham has chosen to follow the same philosophy as head baseball coach of the national champion Texas Longhorns, Augie Garrido.

“I think our goal is going to be for everybody to perform at their best ability,” Durham said. “I’m talking about myself, my assistant coaches and the players. I believe that if we can all perform to our best ability, Nicholls baseball is going to have a chance to be successful.”

Prior to being hired by the Colonels, Durham coached at Crowder College (Mo.) where he compiled a 94-84 record and had eight players sign with Division I-A teams. Other stops included being an assistant coach at Northeast Texas Community College and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

Although Durham is new to the Colonels faithful, he is familiar with the competition in the Southland Conference. Durham was the assistant coach at the University of Texas-San Antonio in 1998, where he helped guide the Roadrunners to a third-place finish in the Southland Conference Tournament.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned about this conference is that it’s not about parity,” Durham said. “Every year you look at the No. 10 or 11 team in the conference, and they are only one or two wins away from the conference tournament, so there’s not a lot of separation in this conference.”

Being in a new place requires adjustment from both the coaches and their families. Durham said that he is “blessed” that is wife understands his job requires moving-something they’ve done several times now.

“If I had to count how many times I’ve had to move, it would probably take a third hand,” Durham said. “This move was tougher than previous moves because I have two kids, and this was their first move…. My wife stayed supportive through everything, and I’m lucky to have her.”

The Colonels have 20 out of 56 games against teams that were in the NCAA regionals last season. The Colonels 2006 schedule is highlighted by games against non-conference foes Tulane, Louisiana-Lafayette, Wichita State, Southern Miss, Memphis, Southern, Ole Miss, UNO and South Alabama.

“Conference play is all that matters,” Durham said. “Our focus is just to get into the conference tournament. I would put our schedule up against anyone in our conference. We play quality opponents, which can only help us by the time conference play comes around.”

Once his first season is done, Durham said he hopes players will look back and realize they gave it their all.

“It’s always good not to let the game pass you by because before you know it, it’s gone in the blink of an eye,” Durham said. “If you can look back and say you gave it your all then that is the biggest thing you can give yourself.