MADISON TOWNSHIP — Chris Armstrong talked passionately about culture-building when he was hired as Madison’s boys basketball coach last May.

If the early returns are any indication, Armstrong is making good on his promise to restore a winning culture on Esley Lane.

Madison may be a pedestrian 2-3 on the season after Tuesday’s 61-42 Ohio Cardinal Conference loss to Ashland, but by all accounts the Rams are pointed in the right direction.

“Chris is a wealth of knowledge,” Madison athletic director Doug Rickert said. “He’s a very good coach and he’s doing a great job.”

An assistant under former coach Tim Mergel for four seasons, Armstrong inherited the job when Mergel left for Ontario. His primary responsibility while working under Mergel was player development, but he also focused his attention on team-building.

“I’ve loved player development so I’ve done a lot with that,” Armstrong said after Tuesday’s loss. “The last several years I’ve looked at culture development, too. How do we build teams?

“I’ve been excited about getting back into that as a head coach.”

Armstrong owns an extensive coaching résumé. He spent time as a head coach at the small-college level in Iceland and at the high school level in his hometown of Shelbyville, Kentucky. He was an assistant at Dunbar High School in Lexington, helping the program win a Kentucky state championship in 2016.

Taking the reins at Madison has been everything he hoped for.

“We’ve really enjoyed the process so far,” Armstrong said. “We’ve won a couple games already. This group has been working hard.

“They’ve got to realize that, in this league, winning is hard. We’ve got to do the difficult things.”

Madison returned several key pieces from last season, including high-scoring junior forward Jayden Jeffries and seniors Levi Zehner and Isaac Brooks. That trio accounted for 31 of Madison’s 42 points Tuesday with Jeffries scoring 16.

The Rams return to action Friday at Mount Vernon before hosting Crestview next Tuesday. Madison concludes the pre-holiday portion of its schedule at Norwalk on Dec. 23.

“It’s a great group of kids and they’ve been working hard, but we’ve got to realize just how deep we’ve got to dig to get a win,” Armstrong said. “Are we willing to do the dirty work?

“We’ve got to get a little more organized, but we’re making progress.”