Standing on the turf of the Bearcat Sports Complex in earshot of her husband’s post-game commentary after an exhibition win Friday night, Paul Marco’s wife Sheryl laughed at one of the questions posed to her husband — likely because of how absurd it sounded, but maybe because she too had wondered the same thing: Just what is it that has her husband convinced he can win an NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer National Championship at Binghamton University?

There are the obvious answers: over the last five years, the Bearcats have made the America East finals every season, won two conference championships and advanced as far as the second round of the NCAA Tournament. And that despite falling short to Vermont in last year’s title match, and a second-place selection behind that same UVM program in this year’s preseason coaches’ poll, the Bearcats are still a dynasty in progress.

Then there are the more obvious answers: that no worthwhile coach would ever limit his or her team by saying the ultimate goal is an impossibility, that you shouldn’t be coaching if you didn’t have faith in your team.

And then there are the in-depth, calculated answers Marco gives to every question, formulated with the same care he takes in preparing his team.

“First and foremost, you must have talent, and we have talent,” he said. “Right after talent, probably equal to talent, is belief. Belief in yourself, belief in your teammates, belief in your layer of players. Belief in your coaching staff, belief in your administration.”

“I think the other thing is, I’m going to be relentless in the pursuit of [a national championship],” Marco finished. “I won’t let our team settle, I won’t let our team get complacent. I will work day and night, tooth and nail, inch for inch until we’re there. And then once we get there, I’m going to want to do it again.”

All the answers skirt realistic thinking, however. The Bearcats’ success is beyond impressive, but only relatively. Binghamton University is still Binghamton University: a school that’s been in Division I sports only since 2001, a school that belongs to an America East Conference that, with apologies to the conference’s first national champ, BU’s own Rory Quiller, is irrelevant in the big picture.

And there’s just not much more Marco can do at BU.

True, as he said, the Bearcats have talent (You don’t say?) and they have belief (Can you see them whistling “We’ve Got High Hopes” as they score?). But it takes a lot more of the former than what the current roster holds. And becoming a school that can attract that sort of talent takes a long time.

There’s no blame to go around here: the community has made incredible strides to support the team Marco has built into BU’s best. The $4.2 million Bearcat Sports Complex opened last season and the Bearcat Hooligans, a student fan group also just one year old, helped BU draw more fans than all but 20 D1 schools in the nation. All are fantastic developments, but none will provide a championship in the near future.

Perhaps that’s why Sheryl was laughing. If she or anyone else really looks, there’s nothing left for Paul Marco in Vestal. For the Bearcats, a national championship isn’t around the corner, or even a bus ride away. But for Marco, if the right vacancy comes along, if he and his family — such an important part of his life — want it, it might take only a plane ticket to a school that actually has a chance.