The Black Knights of the Hudson have a dynamic new leader.

Missy Traversi, inspiring others to give more effort through her example.

The text message came during the middle of the afternoon Sunday, as I was returning home from a quick drive to Cape Cod. It was alerting me to a phone call to come a little later.

Immediately, I knew what it was. Missy Traversi had a new job. I just didn't know where yet.

About an hour later, I received that call. It was Missy, driving somewhere, as she always seems to be in the midst of accomplishing one of the many tasks she puts on her agenda on any given day. So I didn't waste her time by feigning surprise at the news she was about to tell me. "So where's the new job," I asked.

"Army!" she exclaimed.

"So are they going to give you a commission? Are you now a lieutenant colonel?"

She laughed. No, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point does not bestow an officer's commission upon its coaches. And that's too bad, in a way, because the cadets that will come under her tutelage in the years to come will come to regard the new head women's basketball coach as one of the finest leaders they will ever know.

Traversi as a player at Bishop Feehan.

I have known Melissa Traversi for close to a quarter-century -- first as yet another athlete to come through the doors of Bishop Feehan High School, then as friend and confidant as she advanced into adulthood and started to climb the rungs of the ladder to success -- collegiate basketball star, high school coach at three different stops, founder and director of a dynamic camp and AAU organization, and on into the college ranks, making things happen positively at both of her head-coaching stops.

Now, it's on to the NCAA Division I ranks for Missy. She's ready. She's been ready for a while, in fact.

It's not that she was unhappy at Adelphi University and itching to leave Long Island. In fact, she loved coaching Adelphi's Panthers and they loved her. I visited her at Adelphi early in 2020 and did a podcast from her office, and I could tell from the attitude of those I met within the Athletic Department offices that they considered Missy to be an inspirational leader in their midst. 

She had three winning seasons out of four at Adelphi, the only exception being her second year, when her own recruits were brand new and they almost made it over .500. In 2019-20, a team completely of her making finished 27-3 in the tough Northeast-10 Conference and had earned the top seed in the NCAA regionals, which Adelphi was going to host.

Then came COVID-19, which forced the cancellation of all NCAA tournaments. And the virus hung around long to prompt the NE-10 to cancel its entire 2020-21 season, which was a crushing blow to the hard-working veterans of the previous year's team. They had been in the gym for months, observing all the protocols they could while still trying to prepare themselves to defend their league title, and hoping to get another crack at the tournament opportunity that had been denied them the previous March.

Traversi in action at the University of Maine.

It was devastating news to Traversi and her players. They were just days short of opening a new season when the NE-10 decision came down. It was even more emotional for the athletes from our area on her team -- Emily Miccile and Julia Strachan of Bishop Feehan and Attleboro respectively, who had been with Missy from the start, and Sarah Deyo of Attleboro, whose basketball career started under Missy at AHS and who used her last year of eligibility to depart from Southern New Hampshire University and join the Panthers.

No doubt, Missy had already proved herself at Adelphi. But I still wonder what further heights might have been reached if not for the intervention of COVID-19.

Now, it's time for a new challenge. Army plays in the Patriot League, which includes Holy Cross and Boston University. It's had success there during the 15-year tenure of Dave Magarity, including two berths apiece in the NCAA Tournament and the WNIT. There are miles of difference between Army's level of competition and that of Connecticut, Baylor or the other top-tier D1 schools, but that's not even on the bucket list right now.

The toughest challenge will be recruiting. West Point accepts only the cream of the crop of potential academic achievers and future leaders, and it comes with an automatic five-year military commitment. But while the next Paige Bueckers may be out of Missy's reach, she believes that the athletes she will get will be supremely motivated, of impeccable character, and ready to offer the hard work she will expect of them.

Besides, it's not as if playing at Army means an instant tour of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq upon graduation. A West Point graduate is by definition a leader of men and women, able to choose from among many different post-college disciplines that not only serve the country, but also serve as further preparation for leadership positions in the private sector once the tour is over.

Personally, I can't think of an individual more suited to dovetail with the mission of West Point than Missy Traversi. She is supremely organized. She has unquenchable energy. Even when she's exhausted, she still has reserves that kick in and keep her going. And she is unfailingly loyal -- to her friends, to her co-workers, and most of all, to her athletes. 

Traversi will bring joy to basketball at West Point.

She won't be R. Lee Ermey's iconic drill instructor in "Full Metal Jacket," but she will be an authority figure to her athletes. They will be spending their days and nights under the yoke of strong authority figures at West Point, and Missy will be another, but there will be a difference with her. There will be an inspiring quality to it, because Missy has always been able to coach with joy and enthusiasm at the root of everything she does.

Years ago, when she was coaching at Attleboro High, we would meet at Capron Park and just walk, following a circular path around the large grassy field you can see from County Street while driving by. Here's a kid that ran the Boston Marathon to prove to herself that she could, but she was satisfied to walk at a slow pace around the park with the hope that it might be beneficial for the health of her chubby and aging buddy.

Yeah, it was a struggle for me at times. But I kept going because she inspired me to do it. When Missy first started what became her MT Elite camps and AAU teams, she billed it as "an inspiring brand of basketball." And it was true. She got the most out of the athletes that played for her because her inner joy of competition became an outward expression. And it's infectious.

I've seen that twinkle in her eye ever since I first saw her running up and down the Bishop Feehan hardcourt. Pardon the pop culture analogy, but you could tell that the Force was strong with this one. It remains just as strong now, which will benefit those that will don the Army basketball uniform on her watch.

The Black Knights of the Hudson have a dynamic new leader -- and I'll be eager to follow their progress. So eager, in fact, I've already ordered my official Army polo shirt.