Garden City Community College head coach Lucas Aslin admits he was a little lost in the first couple of days of fall camp.

Click Photo to Purchase Photo Reprints!

Garden City Community College head football coach Lucas Aslin talks with his players at the conclusion of practice earlier this month at Tangeman Sports Complex.

Wandering from position group to position group, drill to drill, he felt like a man without a home.

He understands now, though.

When you're the guy at the top, it's just what you do.

"It makes you more of an administrator, which was a little weird at first," Aslin said. "You're constantly evaluating. Thank goodness I've got great assistant coaches under me."

Tonight, Aslin officially steps into the big-time as the Broncbusters host Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College in both teams' season opener.

Aslin was hired in January to replace J.J. Eckert, who took the head coaching position at Kilgore (Texas) Junior College after two seasons leading the Broncbusters.

Aslin spent the last two years as an assistant coach under Eckert, and was Garden City's defensive coordinator in 2006.

Aslin had to build his staff almost from scratch, as only co-offensive coordinator Brian Hill stayed on after Eckert's departure. "It feels like the last eight months have gone by real fast," Aslin said. "At first it was just me and Coach Hill and we slowly added a piece here and a piece there."

Aslin has already earned raves from the man who hired him, Garden City athletic director Vic Trilli.

"In my mind, being a head coach is a lot more than just wins and losses," Trilli said. "It's about how you handle the media, the faculty, the community ... some people were just born to be a head coach and I think that's Lucas Aslin. I think he's the guy to get the job done, no question."

On the other sideline will be another head coach in his first game, Brad Smiley.

Smiley coached at Trinity Valley in 1998 and 1999 and has been an assistant coach at Tulane University for the last seven seasons.

He takes over the Cardinals after Trinity Valley posted a record of 2-7 in 2006 and struggled to three losing seasons in the last four years. Trinity Valley won a conference title in 2005.

Still, Smiley doesn't feel the burden of bringing the Cardinals back to prominence. According to him, they never left.

"I think our program is still one of the top ones in the country," Smiley said. "We're like Garden City, we'll always be one of the ones that are in the mix. The important thing, though, is to be around at the end of the year when everyone's talking."

Trinity Valley returns three starters on offense and two on defense. All-conference punter Ryan Butler also returns. Fourteen Cardinals went on to Division I schools after last season.

"Our approach is that we worry about Trinity Valley," Smiley said. "We'll show up, execute, play hard and hopefully be in it at the end of the ball game and see what happens."

One big plus for the Busters going into tonight's game is the presence of sophomore wide receiver Eldred King, who had four catches for 70 yards and a pair of touchdowns in last year's 21-17 win over then-No. 2 Trinity Valley.

King, buoyed by a two-touchdown performance in the GCCC spring game and a stellar performance in fall camp, is eager to shake last year's tag of being a speedy wide receiver who didn't like to go across the middle on crossing routes.

"The win is all that matters to me, honestly," King said. "I put that before the individual stuff. I can't go across the middle? Whatever. I don't think I have to prove anything to anybody but Coach Hill and Coach Aslin."

King paused a second before finishing his answer.

"But it would be nice to score a touchdown," he said, smiling.

Aslin also confirmed that freshman Eugene Smith has won the starting quarterback spot after a tough-fought battle during fall camp.

"Eugene will be the starter," Aslin said. "He's got a great arm and he's very athletic, but the main thing was that he started to grasp our offensive package."

There will be a tailgate party sponsored by FM Q97 preceding the game.