Thirty years ago, Dr. Randy Hollister was coaching collegiate basketball players at St. Bonaventure and Plymouth State University. As he looks at his team now, he sees glimmers of the past in his players.

The only difference is his current players are middle schoolers.

Hollister, the current headmaster of Loudoun Country Day School, is the head coach of the middle school boys “green” basketball team, the most competitive of the school’s three boys teams. The squad is currently 7-0.

“This is one of the strongest group of kids I’ve ever had,” Hollister said. The team’s skills have allowed Hollister to implement a motion offense and a trapping, man-to-man defense.

Hollister’s basketball experience is interwoven in his career. He played on the junior varsity team at St. Bonaventure before becoming an assistant coach during his senior year.

“From league to league, I always seemed to be a captain or something,” Hollister said. “The requirements of being a captain are just a step away from being a coach.”

Following his tenure at St. Bonaventure, Hollister began assistant coaching at Plymouth State, from 1980-1982. But rather than pursue coaching, Hollister pursued his doctorate.

He joined the Loudoun Country Day School as an English teacher in 1988, becoming headmaster in 1993.

Still, Hollister couldn’t stay away from coaching. He has run summer skill clinics for 20 years and has coached travel ball, in addition to the middle school squad.

His dedication to the basketball community has not gone unnoticed.

“I’ve watched a lot of coaches,” said Larry Goldman, a parent of one of Hollister’s current players. “No one is as good as Hollister.”

The Loudoun Country Day School’s green team practices three days a week, with games usually once a week. Opponents are other private school teams, like Wakefield, Powhatan, Hill and Highland schools. Despite a dominant team that has won games by as many as 45 points, the team likes to keep things in perspective.

“My philosophy is participation, fitness and knowledge of the sport,”  Hollister said.

Though the school is not in a league and does not have a championship when its season concludes in February, Hollister hopes to see the kids come out better players than when they came in.

And maybe, he’ll see this crop on the college courts he coached at years ago.