College of Charleston and Hofstra celebrated the present success of claiming shares of the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season championship with significant investments in their respective futures. 

Just days after the Cougars and Pride completed their title runs on Feb. 25, CofC announced a five-year, $5 million contract extension for coach Pat Kelsey. 

The same day, Hofstra announced a "multi-year extension" for its coach, Speedy Claxton. 

In just two seasons each, Kelsey and Claxton have made undeniable impacts on the CAA landscape specifically, and college basketball in general. Claxton won CAA Coach of the Year for guiding the Pride to the regular-season title, and the program has eclipsed 20 wins in each of his first two seasons. 

🏀 Men's #CAAHoops Coach of the Year

Speedy Claxton steered @HofstraMBB to the No. 1 seed in the CAA Championship with a 16-2 mark in league play and 23-8 overall record https://t.co/NCZ6f8eGPD pic.twitter.com/8aI2aMq3oN

— CAA Basketball (@CAABasketball) March 2, 2023

Under Kelsey, Charleston reached the AP Top 25 for the first time in more than decades. The Cougars are within striking distance of 30 wins heading into the CAA Championship, which would set the 2022-23 team apart even from the peak of John Kresse's illustrious tenure at CofC. 

Parallels to Kresse, who Kelsey called "a living legend," cast a long shadow. But Charleston's success under the Hall of Famer Kresse's guidance sets the bar that Kelsey said he pursues. 

"I've heard so much about Coach Kresse's era back in the '90s, from the time I got the job here two years ago," Kelsey said. "People would just talk so affectionately and passionately about the atmosphere at those games. And then, the corresponding energy, vibe when the Cougars were really good...to just kind of get, hopefully to what the energy level and excitement level was in the '90s is very gratifying." 

A coach like Kresse is rare in the modern ecosystem; he spent 23 years at the helm, as long as Mike Brey has been at Notre Dame. His teams played at what's now called John Kresse Arena, a venue that might make the fire marshal nervous if all 3,000 seats are filled. 

While the "band box," as Kelsey called it is named for Kresse, Charleston's current home, TD Arena, is more accurately The House That Kresse Built. 

The venue reflects CofC's commitment to winning basketball — and so does Kelsey's extension. 

Likewise, Hofstra's retention of Claxton reflects a vision for the program's future. An alum of the university, Claxton succeeded Joe Mihalich two years ago after Mihalich closed the book on a successful tenure with the Pride. 

It's wonder, then, that Claxton described his current post as "more than a job" but his "legacy" in an interview with the Hofstra Chronicle. 

If Claxton were never to coach a game at his alma mater, he would already have an impressive legacy as a former two-time conference Player of the Year who advanced to the NBA and played a key role on a Finals-winning team. 

Claxton the player proved fearsome for opponents — few know that quite as well as Kelsey, who reminisced on having to fill the role of Claxton as a scout-team player at Xavier. 

Claxton the coach is fast matching the standard he set on the hardwood with his work on the sideline. And from prepping for Claxton on scout team to competing with him for conference championships, Kelsey is positioned to be a rival who shapes the course of CAA basketball in the years to come. 

"The future of the league is extremely bright," Kelsey said. "Jeez, I've been through the wars now for two years in the CAA and with the new schools coming in this year, I have the utmost respect for the caliber of coaching, the caliber of student-athletes — the players — in this league, and I think the CAA is, without question, on the rise."