CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- The stories we choose to tell can say something about who we are.

Take, for instance, the story Jim Christian likes to tell about Boston College center Dennis Clifford. It’s one he’s told multiple times in the past month or so, since the team began practicing in earnest, and once told twice in the span of three hours to two different groups of observers.

It goes something like this:

A visitor comes to watch the Eagles practice during the run-up to the 2014-15 season, Christian’s first as head coach at BC after two seasons at Ohio University. After the session is over, the visitor approaches Christian and asks a question: Which player hasn’t been able to play the past two seasons?

The gist of the story is that unless you knew going in that Clifford has been dealing with debilitating knee issues the past two seasons, you wouldn’t be able to tell from just watching the 7-footer run up and down the floor -- often beating smaller, quicker players in drills and sprints.

What does that story say about Christian? That he’s someone who finds something that works and then does it again and again.

And it suggests he’s someone who really isn’t concerned with what happened before, only with what is going to happen in the future.

***

The details of the story don’t really matter.

In one telling, Christian’s visitor was his wife (Patty). In another, it was a friend.

Either way, the person in the story didn’t know many of the details of BC’s recent past. And in some ways, Christian doesn’t, either. He has said many times he hasn’t watched any film of his team from last season’s 8-24 debacle, and has no plans to start now.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on, all the time,” Christian said. “So I don’t know what the mood of the team was, I don’t know what was going on in that kid’s academic life, I don’t know what was going on off the court with a girlfriend. I have no idea of any of that. I have no history with that. So for me to watch [film] and evaluate anybody on that, that wouldn’t be fair.”

It’s hard to blame Christian for not wanting to watch the Eagles in 2013-14, as much of the season was hard to sit through.

Under former coach Steve Donahue, BC played an ambitious schedule (Ken Pomeroy ranked it No. 5 nationally) and struggled. The Eagles allowed opponents to shoot better than 50 percent 11 times, losing all 11. They got outrebounded 19 times, losing 18 of the 19.

And they managed to rally from a halftime deficit just three times, going 3-17 when down at the break.

A Bethpage, New York, native, Christian was recruited to play at Boston University by fellow St. Dominic High alum Rick Pitino (who then left for the Knicks), then transferred to Rhode Island to play his last two seasons for Tom Penders. He played professionally for a year in Australia -- for the Sydney City Comets -- before returning to the states to start his coaching career under the guidance of his former high school coach, Ralph Willard.

The new coach believes his players have put last season’s failures behind them.

“I would hope that these guys don’t care about what happened last year anymore,” he said. “Because it’s over. Unless they figure out a way where you can replay the games, it’s over. You gotta refocus on what’s happening in front of you. And I think they do a much better job of that than anybody else.”

A two-time Mid-American Conference coach of the year, Christian is in his fourth stop as a head coach, having compiled a 242-154 record at Kent State, TCU and Ohio. Christian’s only real struggles came during his time in Fort Worth. After starting his head-coaching career with six straight seasons with at least 20 wins, he moved to the Big 12 and had three consecutive losing seasons.

Consumed by the desire to compete in the Big 12 right away, he underestimated the importance of setting the foundation for success first.

“I went away from what I believed in terms of building a culture first, with the right kind of kids who put the right work ethic in and who are gonna grow in my system,” he said of his stint in Fort Worth. “I took some chances on some talented kids, who were talented players but at the core we didn’t have the culture exactly where we wanted it until probably the last year and a half.”

His last season at TCU, in 2011-12, the Horned Frogs improved from 11-22 to 18-15.

“I didn’t understand how important every decision in the beginning was, in terms of personnel, in terms of staff, in terms of everything,” he said. “I didn’t understand the magnitude of it. Because when I took over at Kent State, we had culture.

“You have to make that mistake in order to learn that lesson. I think sometimes if you have nothing but success, you take it for granted.”

***

Tom McConnell has a story he likes to tell about Jim Christian.

McConnell had just been named head coach at St. Francis (Pa.), and he was looking for assistants. One day he got a call from Ralph Willard, head coach at Western Kentucky, who said he had someone McConnell should meet.

Now here’s the story. St. Francis is in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and the only way to get there is down a long, twisty road. Christian started driving down that road, got maybe halfway there and decided there was no way there was a school at the end of it.

“He turned around and went back to town,” McConnell said. “He said, ‘I’m looking for St. Francis.’ They said, ‘You were on the right road, keep going.’”

Now the head women’s basketball coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, McConnell described Christian -- the first assistant he ever hired, after he finally made it to campus and interviewed -- as one of the best assistants, if not the best, he’s ever had.

Praise like that from McConnell in part convinced Herb Sendek to hire Christian at Miami (Ohio).

“He is a phenomenal human being,” the Arizona State coach said. “He has a great heart. He’s the kind of person you want your son to play for in college. ... He’s somebody that played Division I, he was a tough, hard-nosed competitor as a player. He’s passionate about the game, always want to improve and get better.

“That passion really serves him well.”

“I think he’s a natural,” McConnell said. “He just has a really, really good feel for the game and I think he’s an excellent teacher. He communicates well with guys.

“Watching his teams through the years, because they like him, because they respect him, because they sense he really cares about them, they play hard for him. His teams play hard. They will compete. That’s the one thing you can always count on with a Jim Christian team.”

And though he’s failed once before when taking a leap from the MAC to a Power 5 conference, McConnell and Sendek are convinced Christian has what it takes to succeed in the ACC.

“He now has a wealth of experience,” Sendek said. “He’s coached at every possible level and he’s done every conceivable job. I think he brings a total package to Boston College. He’s done every aspect of the coaching profession and he’s also done it at different levels. Each of those levels can provide you the opportunity to learn and to grow.”

“If you look at his teams over the years, they’ve been very competitive when they’ve gone outside of the conference,” McConnell said. “Boston College got a good one and he’s gonna be there for a long time. This is a great fit for him. He loves the area, he loves the school. I think it’s a great fit recruiting-wise. He’s a New York guy, he played at Rhode Island, he’s got a lot of ties and contacts in the East and the Northeast. He’s going to do well.

“Boston College has themselves a gem.”

***

Dennis Clifford has a Jim Christian story, too.

The pair was headed to the TD Garden one morning last month, for a news conference to promote the second annual Coaches vs. Cancer tripleheader that would be held at the arena on Nov. 16.

On the way in, Christian turned to Clifford and said something along the lines of, “Man, we’ve gotta do this media thing. I just want to get to practice!”

That enthusiasm, potentially a little off-putting at first, is infectious.

“Him and the coaching staff are fired up, every moment of the day,” Clifford said. “As a player, you have some days out of the week where you’re kinda iffy, you don’t want to go into the gym. But when you walk into the gym and you see him fired up for practice, it’s like, ‘All right, let’s go. This is gonna be fun.’”

If this season is to be more fun than the last for the Eagles, leading scorer Olivier Hanlan will have to evolve into a true pro prospect. Players like Patrick Heckmann, Will Magarity and Garland Owens will have to take the next step. And fifth-year transfers Aaron Brown and Dimitri Batten will have to provide the leadership and work ethic Christian hopes they will.

And to rebuild a once-thriving program, especially one in the powerhouse ACC, Christian and his staff of Scott Spinelli, Bill Wuczynski and Preston Murphy have to remake BC’s image as a place top recruits want to be. That renovation has already started -- complete with a few cosmetic changes, like a new, two-toned court in Conte Forum and theater-style seating for watching video in the locker room -- and according to Spinelli the early response has been positive.

The on-court journey begins Friday night, when the Eagles host UNH (7 ET).

Christian is vocal in the gym, his gravelly voice carrying well without much effort. When he sees something he doesn’t like in practice, he doesn’t hesitate to stop whatever is happening to explain why. He doesn’t mince words.

And that goes for off the court, too.

There’s another story Clifford has told about his new head coach, one that says something about who he is as a person.

The coach told his players he wants to hear from them when they come into the basketball offices, even if they’re just there to grab some candy from the jar that’s always by the front desk. He believes it’s important to build relationships with his players, to know who they are and what their lives are like off the court.

“I was kinda like, ‘Oh, he might just be saying that,’” Clifford said. “But the first time I walked through the office to get some candy and I didn’t say hi he yelled at me. I was like, ‘Oh, crap, this guy’s for real.’”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.