Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Coaches mourn season that barely got off ground
Part 2 of a 3-part series on the Lost Season of sports at local universities in the midst of coronavirus.
Local college coaches, especially the ones whose teams were in action when the COVID-19 shut everything down, are facing a dilemma that now befalls many: what now?
With no games to coach or prepare for, and restrictions in place for recruiting, it puts coaches like West Chester’s Diane Lokey is a very strange predicament.
“I haven’t had weekend off at this time of year since 1998,” said Lokey, who has been the head softball coach at WCU since 2002, and coached at the high school level before that.
“I had a haircut today, and as of now, my next appointment is not until my next haircut appointment.”
The coronavirus has thrown collegiate athletics into an unprecedented state of limbo. At a time when the season would be in full swing, coaches now unexpectedly have the time to take on those projects that were usually reserved for the offseason.
“I keep saying my house will be ready for sale by the time this is all over because I’ll have every room painted,” Lokey quipped. “And it’s not for sale.”
The same cannot be said for administrators, like WCU Athletic Director Terry Beattie. He is usually quite busy overseeing the PSAC’s largest athletic department, with 24 intercollegiate programs. And even though the spring season has been cancelled, he is as busy as ever.
“It’s been a different couple weeks than I ever anticipated,” Beattie said. “This isn’t something we foresaw coming.
“It’s been a much different busy. This has triggered a lot of meetings and conversations about how we handle things. Every day there are new developments around the world. And decisions being made at the university level and governmental level can lead to adjustments of the things that we had planned and worked out the day before.”
According to an NCAA mandate, coaches are prohibited from face-toface contact with recruits right now. But emails and phone calls are still allowed, and that is an area where Lincoln baseball coach, Anthony Pla, is turning his focus.
“As a staff we are working diligently to try and locate some potential student-athletes,” he said. “Once we do, we are contacting them while everyone is on hiatus. We are working hard to finalize this recruiting class and getting a jump start on next year’s class.
“We are keeping busy even though we aren’t on the field. But it’s been tough to get adjusted to.”
West Chester baseball coach Jad Prachniak is trying to deal with the new normal in the same level-headed way he usually manages a game or deals with his players.
“I come to grips with it by remembering there is a lot of stuff going on right now,” he said. “There is certainly a level of disappointment with not having a season, but there is no anger attached to it.”
“This is the situation we are in right now and there truly is nothing we can do about it.”
There’s been a series of mild spring-like days this month, and Prachniak acknowledges that those have been the toughest.
“It just feels like a game day and that I should be going to the field,” he said. “It’s a strange feeling, no question.”
Prachniak is spending time these days communicating with his players and with recruits.
“They are hurting too because they’re missing out on their senior high school season,” he pointed out.
Most of the coaches are now working from home. Some are thinking about the 2021 schedule. Others are preparing for summer camps that may, or may not, take place.
For most coaches, the impact goes far beyond the 2020 season. More than a decade ago, West Chester lacrosse coach Ginny Martino started the Lax-4-Life organization to support adolescence suicide prevention. The charity had more than 40 college teams signed up to host a Lax-4Life game this spring as a fundraiser, but those games will not be played.
“We were able to deliver half of the team’s t-shirts to be worn pre-game, but the rest will not be sent out due to the fact that most coaches will not be seeing their teams for a while,” Martino said. “We are planning alternative solutions to continue to spread the word.”