The Then & Now Series is part of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference's 25th anniversary, where the conference will be recognizing current AMCC coaches and/or athletic administrators who are former AMCC student-athletes. The Then & Now Series will run every Tuesday throughout the academic year.

Twenty miles separate Mount Aloysius College and Penn State Altoona. The two Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schools are natural rivals, thanks to geographic location and their penchant for competing against each other in many tightly-contested, thrilling games in a number of sports over the years.

Arin Wade has experienced this rivalry from both sides. As a men's basketball player at Mount Aloysius, he faced Penn State Altoona a number of times through the end of his playing career in 2016. Now, Wade is the assistant men's basketball coach at Penn State Altoona, and he gets to view the rivalry – and the game of basketball within the AMCC – from a different perspective.

"It's a blessing being able to coach in the same conference I played in," said Wade. "There are coaches and players who I run into who tell me how good of a player I was in the AMCC or how great of a job I'm doing as a coach."

Wade appreciates that familiarity within the conference, and he credits his experience in the AMCC with helping to shape his journey as a player, a coach, and person.

"I didn't take my first two years being a Division III student-athlete seriously. My dream growing up was to play at the highest level, but it wasn't until after my sophomore year when I left to play at the Division II level in Florida that I took every level seriously," Wade explained. "I left the Division II level after a year to go back to the AMCC, where I finished my career. It means the world playing in the AMCC, and I've met some close friends and my beautiful wife from being part of the conference."

Among Wade's favorite memories from playing in the AMCC was a November 16, 2014 matchup against Penn State Altoona in the then-annual Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. Mount Aloysius prevailed 65-62 in the game, and Wade scored a game-high 20 points for his team.

"Beating Penn State Altoona in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament that season was one of my favorite memories, on top of winning an all-tournament award in the tournament, as well," said Wade.

Now, Wade is proud of how the AMCC has grown as a Division III college athletics conference, both within the realm of sports and by promoting awareness of various causes to student-athletes.

"To me, the conference has grown in a lot of ways since I played. I've noticed that there have been a lot of guest speakers and reaching out to AMCC student-athletes, whether it's on mental health, racism, sexual harassment, and much more," Wade stated. "When I played, not many people knew about the AMCC, especially outside of Pennsylvania. Over my years of coaching and traveling with our team, I now hear a lot more people knowing and talking about the AMCC. As a coach at Penn State Altoona, I love recruiting players from far away – not only to help build a great basketball program, but to make the AMCC known all over."