Three years in and the challenge is still a daunting one for coach Fred Skrocki at Butler County Community College.

The former coach of a state championship team at Schenley High School took over at the junior college before the 2007-08 season.

Since then he has gone up against the same roadblocks his predecessors have, a limited roster and recruiting challenges caused by a lack of scholarships and the inability to offer housing to student-athletes.

The signs of progress, while small, are there. After a one-win season in his first year at the school, the Pioneers won three games last season while finishing the season with only seven players because of academic issues.

The point differential has improved as well. Keeping games within 20 and even 10 points is an improvement over the previous season when Butler would get run out of the gym regularly.

"Last season was a step in the right direction," Skrocki said.

So far this season, Butler has started 0-6.

"We are still trying to put a team together," Skrocki said. "It is a tough situation. We are playing some very, very good teams."

In a recent game against Lorain County (Ohio) Community College, the Pioneers were going up against a tall team led by a player who is 6 feet 9. Butler's tallest player is 6-2.

As challenging as things have been for Skrocki and his team, the Pioneers could be only a few players away from competing in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference.

"It's not like football -- in basketball you only need one or two kids [to make a big difference]," Skrocki said.

Those players could be sophomore guard Brian Zeleznik from Nordonia, Ohio, and Melvin Dolberry Jr., a freshman from Arundel, Md.

Zeleznik opened the season as a shooting guard but after the Pioneer's point guard decided to quit the team, not at all a rare occurrence at the junior college level, Skrocki was forced to move Zeleznik to point guard. He is averaging 10 points a game.

Dolberry, the tallest player on the team, is averaging almost 15 points per game.

Losing is a new concept for Skrocki. At Schenley he won the 2007 PIAA Class AAAA title. On that team Skrocki had DeAndre Kane, D.J. Kennedy and DeJuan Blair. In his 24 seasons at the school he won 449 games.

"As far as coaching goes, it is still like high school [in many ways]," Skrocki said. "You are teaching skills, you are making sure they go to class, you are doing grade checks. It is a little different with the 35-second clock."

"Each year you are learning and it is hard. Maybe it takes five years to get things turned around."

Success at the community college level locally is not unheard of. Last season CCAC-Allegheny advanced all the way to the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament. A big difference between the two local community colleges is the recruiting base. CCAC has recruited players from Central Catholic, Sto-Rox, Northgate plus all the City League schools. Butler's local high schools are Butler, Karns City and Knoch.

"The population up here is growing and that might help us in a positive direction," Skrocki said.

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