'Cats payoff: Playoffs

The Wildcats Head Coach Brian Jenkins barks out some directions to players during a scrimmage at Bethune Cookman University recently. (N-J | David Massey)

It was a banner year in sports at Bethune-Cookman.

The football team, the baseball team and the softball team advanced to NCAA Tournament play.

The men's basketball team won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title for the first time. And women's golfer Kim Wong won every tournament on the Wildcats' spring schedule, while the men's team won the season-ending PGA Minority Collegiate Championship.

The school year started with first-year football coach Brian Jenkins turning heads in the fall followed by the men's basketball team reaching new heights in the winter and a dominant spring that saw the baseball team extend its MEAC winning streak to 46 games, the softball team winning the conference title for the second year in a row and Wong winning everything.

The minority title was the senior's sixth straight tournament victory, and she needed a playoff to defend her 2010 title in that event. Matt McKnight led B-CU to the men's team title and also won men's medalist honors to give B-CU a sweep of the individual titles.

No. 1: Great Start

Every new coach gets a honeymoon period. But Brian Jenkins didn't need one. He led the Wildcats to 10 straight victories in his first season.

Jenkins doesn't believe in starting slow, taking it easy or even taking time. He doesn't even like to sleep the night before a game.

His focus on his team's needs at the expense of his own caught up with him at the end of the Norfolk State game on Sept. 25, when he started to experience cramps and was rushed to Halifax Health Medical Center where he was held overnight and treated for dehydration. The following evening he was back at practice with a bottle of water in his hand.

With a dynamic spread offense led by quarterback Matt Johnson, the Wildcats surpassed 60 points three times and ended South Carolina State's 21-game conference winning streak. But Johnson, the MEAC Offensive Player of the Year, broke his scapula in the second half of the Florida A&M game and B-CU lost its first game of the season, 38-27 to the Rattlers.

The 'Cats hosted New Hampshire in the playoffs -- their first postseason appearance since 2003 -- but with Johnson sidelined, they lost 45-20.

No. 2: Hoop Dreams Realized

B-CU's men's basketball team won 13 of 16 conference games to win the MEAC regular-season championship for the first time. Point guard C.J. Reed and coach Clifford Reed became the first father-son duo to sweep the MEAC's Player and Coach of the Year honors.

C.J. Reed, a junior who starred at Atlantic High, averaged 18.8 points and 4.8 assists per game. The Wildcats lost in the second round of the MEAC tournament but advanced to the NIT by virtue of their regular-season title.

Virginia Tech ended B-CU's breakthrough season with a 79-54 victory in the NIT.

"The experience we've gained is invaluable," Coach Reed said after the loss. "Now we're seasoned when it comes to big games."

No. 3: Close Again

B-CU has become almost as much of a fixture in the NCAA baseball regionals as Florida State and Miami. But while the Wildcats have been unbeatable in their conference during the past two seasons, success against the major programs has been harder to come by.

In 12 trips to the regionals since 1999, they have won just once in the double-elimination tournaments -- 7-4 in 2002 over Florida International in Gainesville.

But in five of the past six regional openers, B-CU either had a lead or was tied with the top seed in the mid-to-late innings. The 'Cats handed Florida State another scare in last week's Tallahassee Regional, going into the bottom of the eighth tied 5-5. But Mike McGee's RBI single off reliever Jordan Dailey gave the Seminoles a 6-5 victory.

B-CU coach Mervyl Melendez, who has built a program that has garnered national recognition, views the close calls with a glass-half-full outlook.

"Our time is going to come very, very soon," he said.