Four years ago, Dip Metress stormed into town with all the fire and fury of a revival preacher.

He worked the sidelines. He worked the fans. He worked the officials.

The first-year Augusta State men's basketball coach also worked his way into trouble. That initial season, he led the Peach Belt Conference -- maybe even the country -- in an unofficial statistic. Metress notched 10 technical fouls in 30 games, including one in each of his first two contests.

"The first year I think he wanted to set the tone for the program," senior forward Luke Tambon said. "He was new and we had nine new players."

As the years have passed, Metress has contained that Tazmanian Devil within him. He's gone from seven technical fouls his second season to four the following season. Through 31 games this season, Metress has yet to receive a referee's whistle.

"He has mellowed a lot from my freshman year," senior guard Demetrius Howard said. "I'm not going to say we're better, but we're more talented. He has less to worry about."

A former point guard, Metress still is demanding. But his sideline eruptions are few and far between. There's reason for that. Augusta State is 25-6 after winning the South Atlantic Regional.

He and his Jaguars are making their first trip to the Division II Elite Eight on Wednesday, when they face Central Oklahoma at noon.

Things have changed at Augusta State since 2004, when Metress left Belmont Abbey for his second head coaching position. Expectations, as well as on-court performance, have risen. And now, the community is throwing its support behind the Jaguars.

This season, Augusta State averaged more than 1,300 fans per contest. In the Jaguars' regional championship win Tuesday over Clayton State, more than 2,100 were in attendance at Christenberry Fieldhouse.

When Metress arrived, Augusta State was coming off a losing season. Only the hard-core fans attended games -- an average crowd if 583 per game.

"That's something I fought when I first got here, the apathy," Metress said. "I didn't want that to be correlated with getting technicals by any means. But it's showing people you care. People like it when they see people care about what they're doing. Obviously, I have a passion for what I do."

That passion has helped lead Augusta State to consecutive Division II Tournament appearances and 49 wins the past two seasons. And now there's national championship within sight.

In 10 seasons, Metress is making his initial trip to the Elite Eight. In the past week, he's sought advice from Peach Belt Conference coaches who've been there before like Clayton State's Gordon Gibbons and Georgia College & State's Terry Sellers as well as former Augusta State women's basketball coach Greg Wilson.

The 41-year-old Metress is trying to keep this week's journey in perspective.

"It's a special experience to play in the Elite Eight," he said. "But when you get up there you've got to make it a business trip."

One thing Metress is doing to prepare for the tournament is changing up practice times. Augusta State, which plays the opening game Wednesday, practiced at noon Saturday. The Jaguars also planned to practice the same time today and Monday.

Behind-the-scenes thing like that are why Metress is successful. Of course, many wins are generated from his intense practices, when he's not afraid to let the team know how he feels.

"I think a lot of people that don't know Dip don't understand him, because if they came in and watched practice and they stayed for a week and hid in the garbage can they would say they'd never play for this guy or they'd never send their kid to play for this guy," assistant coach Lenny Carlson said. "But ask the players who play for him and they'll tell you they love him, and he loves them."

Metress still has that revival preacher mentality within him. Assistant coaches Carlson and Robbie McKinlay sometimes have to restrain him on the court, but their work has become much easier.

"He's no different than anybody else in that each year passes you become one more year mature and one more year forgiving," Carlson said. "That's all part of being a better coach.

"In temperament, we're polar opposites, and we're polar opposites because I'm almost 68. When I was his age, we were polar alikes. But like with a bottle of wine, some things come with age."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.