For the East Texas A&M Lion Men, it is rare for them to have back to back losing seasons.

For Jaret von Rosenberg, it was even more rare to have ANY losing season.

The first five seasons, including a COVID shortened ’21 season, Coach Rose was 88-46 with 3 NCAA Tournament Apperances, Two Second Round apperances, and a LSC North Division Title.

But that was Division II.

The last 3 seasons, which have been the first in Division I, The Lion Men have had 3 straight losing seasons and an overall record of 31-66, each season getting progressively tougher.

Rose knew he needed to make changes, and changes he made, and so far, the dividends have paid off heading into the 2026 part of the season.

Like his counterpart on the Women’s side, Rose hit the transfer portal hard, and he found a group of good shooters, guys with an inside presence, and an overhaul to compete in NCAA Division I.

The result?

Last season the Lions started out the year through 12 games with a 2-10 record.

This season? 6-6 with wins over 4 mid major schools and if you take away the games versus Big East and SEC opponents, 6-4. This team went toe to toe with the fifth ranked team in the country and gave them all they had for a half, only down by 11 before fatigue and attrition rolled in. That isn’t to say that the Lions have had a couple of ugly losses, such as to Texas A&M last Saturday and to McNeese. However, the common denominator was the same as the ET Women, slow starts where playing catch up is impossible most times.

However, if you talk about culture, two things happened. The Lions dropped 3 straight games to start the season. New Mexico, Hawaii, and Rice. Two were wipeouts and one was a game that should have been a win. How did the Lions respond? They hit the road and defeated Fairleigh Dickinson and West Point to win the FDU Invitational, their first in the DI era to get back to .500. After taking it on the chin against McNeese, the Lions went tooth and nail against Southeastern and sunk a late shot to win it and defended Southeastern’s final possession to grab a huge win.

That would not have happened last year, but it did this year. You have to give Rose so much credit for rebounding from last year’s catastrophe and putting his nose to the grindstone and saying; “Its time to change it up and make this program competetive again.”

Coach Rose right now is showing that the same mojo he had his first 5 seasons has come back. He has done everything to get his team back to competing again, and now heading into the conference grind, he has given Lion fans a lot to expect and look forward to.

So far, so good.

And so much better.