Despite not playing for this year's North American Soccer League championship, it's hard to argue anyone has had more success at the second-division level than the Carolina RailHawks over the past three seasons.

Losing to NSC Minnesota, which is up 3-1 in their two-leg championship match and poised to be the third straight lowest-seeded playoff team to win the second-division postseason crown, felt like the end of an era.

Coach Martin Rennie - the engineer of the franchise's turnaround - is leaving for the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.

Many players' contracts were set to expire at the end of this season.

In many ways, it felt like the band was breaking up.

That makes this an all-too-important offseason for Carolina.

When it comes to personnel, there are two questions to ask, but the right answer may be hard to find.

Who is the next coach?: As Martin Rennie proved, coaching in the second division of U.S. professional soccer is much more than just an in-game manager or even how you train during the week. It has just as much to do with using your connections around the U.S. and abroad to bring in players who have been overlooked by the world's larger clubs.

Playing at WakeMed Soccer Park and living in one of the best-rated places to live the United States are obvious selling points to players who want a crack at either coming to the U.S. or eventually making it to Major League Soccer.

But can the next guy land those players the way Rennie seemed to - which would be from all over?

Rennie traveled to Malta to land Etienne Barbara, he signed future MLS starter Daniel Woolard basically off the street and then brought in Brad Rusin - who was later transferred to a first-division team in Denmark - after Rusin completed his college career.

Good coaches get the best out of their teams, no matter the talent level. But it doesn't hurt if that coach can supply himself with great players.

Rennie had been a head coach for three seasons before coming on board with Carolina. Only 33, Rennie entered the job with the ideal combination of youth, experience and - in part because he wasn't far removed from his playing career either - the right connections to find diamonds in the rough.

What players will return?: In second-division soccer, there are two types of players who almost never return to their team the next year: the older players who have bad seasons and the younger players who have great seasons.

Everyone else, it seems, is fair game.

Carolina saw four players from the 2010 team move on to MLS teams. This year's team was better than the 2010 version for most of the season. It's reasonable to expect a few more RailHawks to appear on MLS teams next year.

Age is always a factor in whether a team from a higher division will take a chance on either signing a player or giving him a chance to try out.

So while fans can expect that a player like Barbara, who led the league in goals and assists, would get a shot at playing a higher level next season, who knows if the same will be said of all-league players Brad Knighton, Matt Watson and Kupono Low?

While Low will be 33 before next season, Watson and Knighton will be 27.

Barbara will turn 30 next June, but 20 goals might outweigh any age concerns a MLS team may have.

Nick Zimmerman, 24, is young enough and played well enough last year where he too might have an MLS opportunity arise.

Unlike his first two RailHawks teams, Rennie did not alternate starters with this year's group. That leaves some players like Nick Thompson, Kyle Schmid, Kithson Bain (injured all of this year) and goalkeepers Akria Fitzgerald and Sean O'Connor as complete unknowns for the next head coach.

Carolina had almost an entire turnover from 2007 to 2008, Rennie's first year. Over the next two seasons, the core of the previous year's team was kept mostly intact.

That won't likely be the case this offseason, but if management can retain key contributors like Low, Chris Nurse, Brian Farber or Floyd Franks, the base on which to build next year's team will be strong.