With plenty of returning players back from last year's team and young talent waiting in the wings, the Hillbillies have nowhere to go but up.
If there's a team in West Virginia that looks to be much improved you'd be hard-pressed to find one any more so than Man.
Harvey Arms and his Man coaching staff have plenty to look forward to as the prep football season is only a little more than two months away.
Just like every year, Man plays another difficult schedule this season with five games against Double-A teams and even a Triple-A squad in rival Logan, which moves up to the 3A ranks for the first time since 2002.
Then out of Man's four Class A opponents - Buffalo, Fayetteville, Gilbert and St. Marys - all made it to the playoffs last season.
But in Man's difficult schedule comes the silver lining.
There's plenty of opportunities to get playoff points.
If Man starts to win again the Billies could be a shoo-in to reach the post-season.
If the wins keep piling on Man could be pushing hard for a home playoff game.
But that's a long way off and Arms knows there's a lot of work to do.
As the three-week summer practice period begins next week, Man is looking forward to getting back into the elite of the Class A ranks.
Last year, Man struggled to a 2-8 mark with its only two wins coming at home over South Gallia, Ohio (27-20) and at Iaeger (40-8) in the season finale.
Two years ago, the Billies also missed the playoffs with a 5-5 mark.
Man went 8-4 in 2005 and reached the second round of the Class A playoffs with a win at Hamlin in the first round and a loss at Williamstown in the quarterfinals. A year before that, Man was also a playoff team with a 6-5 mark after falling at Madonna.
This year will be another challenge for the Billies but Man hopes it will be a successful one.
Man will play nine of the same teams it played last season with the only exception being Buffalo. The Bison, which beat Gilbert in the first round of the Class A playoffs last season on the road, travel to Man on Oct. 31 to play the Billies. Buffalo replaces South Gallia, Ohio.
"South Gallia, Ohio, is off and Buffalo is on," Arms said. "It's a pretty demanding schedule. I'm sure that Buffalo will be tough. The good thing is that the first game with them will be at our place. We've still got all of the Double-A teams that we've been playing on the schedule, plus another playoff team from last year in Buffalo along with Fayetteville and Gilbert, which was a Single-A playoff team. It's going to be a pretty tough schedule."
Man opens the season on Aug. 29 at Logan.
Playing the Class AAA Wildcats presents a unique opportunity for the Billies.
A win over Logan would be like getting two wins against a Single-A team in the WVSSAC's computer rankings which award six points for a victory over a Class A team, nine for a Double-A squad and 12 points for a win over a Triple-A team.
Arms and the Man football faithful, of course, are well aware of the two-for-the-price-of-one opportunity against Logan.
"That's the possibility of it if you win," Arms said. "As far as I know, it's the first Single-A vs. Triple-A matchup here. It doesn't happen that often in this state but I know over in Kentucky it does a little bit more often. We'll just get ready to play and hope for the best."
Logan beat Man 33-14 in last year's county clash at Man.
The Billies, though, have beaten Logan the last two meetings at Logan Stadium in 2004 and 2006.
After playing the Wildcats, Man hosts 2A Mount View on Sept. 5 and then hosts 2A Westside on Sept. 12. On Sept. 19, Man plays at Class A St. Marys before observing an open date on Sept. 26.
Man then hosts Class A Fayetteville on Oct. 13, then has three straight away games - Oct. 10 at 2A county rival Chapmanville, Oct. 17 at Class A Gilbert and Oct. 24 at Double-A Wyoming East. After hosting Buffalo on Oct. 31, Man closes out on Nov. 7 at 2A Iaeger.
Gilbert was the No. 3 seed in last year's final computer rankings but saw its season come to a close at 9-2 after falling to No. 14 Buffalo in the opening round of the playoffs.
Fayetteville was ranked No. 5 in last year's Class A ratings with an 8-2 record.
St. Marys was also playoff bound last year with an 11th ranking and 8-2 mark.
Man went 0-3 last year against Gilbert, Fayetteville and St. Marys with 28-27, 31-14 and 30-16 losses but look to turn that around this fall.
Logan made it to the Double-A playoffs last year with a 6-5 record but lost a 55-40 shootout to Berkeley Springs in the first round of the playoffs.
Chapmanville was also a 2A playoff team from a year ago with an 8-4 record. The Tigers, which beat Man 40-12 during the regular season, topped Keyser (18-14) in the first round of the playoffs before falling at Bluefield (41-18) in the quarterfinals.
Wyoming East made it to the Double-A playoffs last year as well with a 7-3 record and No. 11 ranking. Westside was 5-5 and Iaeger 3-7 last season.
Arms said enthusiasm for the upcoming season has been good.
"We've got 30 kids who are returning, plus we've got a good number of kids that have signed up who said they want to play," Arms said. "We're into the 70s as far as kids who say they want to play. But we know you don't always get all of them. We're looking for a good turnout and we're hoping for some good things."
Man lost nine seniors from last year's team, including running backs Chris Toler, Roger Browning and Timmy Browning.
Man returns senior quarterback Cory Spence and senior running back Khris Tolliver. Tolliver was an emerging star with the 2005 Man team but transferred to South Charleston. After spending part of the 2007 season with the Black Eagles, Tolliver came home and rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a partial season with the Billies. With a full season under his belt and the entire Man starting offensive line coming back it's no telling how many yards the speedy Tolliver could run for this fall.
"We've got them, plus Cody Harvey, David Johnson and Cody Eplin, plus we've got our whole offensive line coming back with Manuel Gibson and those guys. We've got a good crew of guys coming back," Arms said. "It's good to have your whole line coming back, absolutely. It's just the opposite of last year. The year before we lost them all. Now we've got them all back. That's a big advantage to start with."
Then there's the feeder system impact.
Tootie Carter's Man Middle School football team has posted back-to-back Black Diamond Conference championships the last two seasons and have posted a 15-2-1 mark.
Many of those players from those two squads will be sophomores or incoming freshmen on Arms' varsity team. Last year's Man Pioneer team rallied to win a memorable 27-22 victory over previously unbeaten Chapmanville Middle School in the conference title game at Chapmanville's Tiger Stadium.
"We're going to have a second group in a row of kids that are coming in from the middle school," Arms said. "We have a lot of interest in this group coming in, plus the group that we had last year who were freshmen. We're expecting another big class of freshmen."
For the Man football team it all begins on June 11 with the start of the three-week summer practice period.
Then in early August, the Billies re-assemble for preseason preparations for the Aug. 29 season opener.
Football is almost here.
Can you feel it?
Arms said his team is excited.
"We're going to start on June 11, the day after school is out for the teachers," Arms said. "The three-week period goes from the 8th to June 29. We just use it as an opportunity to work on basic skills and the fundamentals and we're going to try to get involved in the 7-on-7s. You are kind of limited on what you can do because the kids are doing different things in the summer."
As of now, Arms is looking for a new assistant coach.
Former Man assistant football coach and head baseball mentor Chris Harvey recently took an assistant strength and conditioning coaching job at Florida State to leave a vacancy.
Arms said he hopes to fill that vacancy soon.
"We're looking," Arms said. "So far, we don't know how it's going to turn out but we are still looking."
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