Facing their new reality
Owls grapple with changed lives as season comes to sudden stop, safety measures implemented
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, sports leagues and tournaments have ceased, some professional players have been quarantined and many college players have had their careers come to an abrupt conclusion.
As players, fans and organizers acclimate to heightened safety measures, college coaches, including Rice baseball’s Matt Bragga, must also grapple with the new reality that was imposed on them this week.
“Our lives, professionally, have changed,” Bragga said. “We’re not coaching, recruiting is shut down until April the 15th, so we’re at a bit of a standstill about, ‘What are we going to do next?’ ”
Rice was slated to open Conference USA play Friday in a three-game series against visiting Marshall. Just before noon Thursday, Thundering Herd coach Jeff Waggoner called Bragga from the airport to check whether C-USA officials told him their series had been canceled.
They hadn’t. But around takeoff, the conference announced it would suspend all spring sports competition indefinitely.
“I don’t think we were prepared for how quick it went down,” Bragga said. “We thought for sure we would get this weekend’s games in and maybe another week’s worth of games. We were sitting in our coaches’ meeting that morning and discussing practice and the scouting report versus Marshall when (Waggoner) called.
“One minute we were thinking, ‘OK, looks like we’re going to keep playing at least a little while’ to ‘Nope, this is it.’ I understand it, but at the same time it was still sad.”
Bragga canceled the team’s 12:30 p.m. practice. By then his players had already learned of the news through Twitter.
“I told them, ‘I don’t know,’ ” he said. “I don’t have any answers. All I can do is tell you what I know right now. We didn’t even know if they should go home.”
Since then, Rice suspended all athletic activities, including practices. The NCAA suspended on- and off-campus recruiting and announced it was developing a plan to provide additional eligibility to student-athletes in spring sports.
As the situation progresses, Bragga said he and his staff will connect with high school coaches and reflect on how they can improve after a 2-14 start to the season.
He also plans to watch movies and play games with his two children, a luxury he couldn’t regularly afford under normal circumstances in mid-March.
“It’s weird,” he said. “I’ve been playing and coaching for so long, you know. There’s a time frame from January to August where you don’t have a weekend off, sometimes you don’t have a day off. The bright side is I’m taking (the next few days) off and my family will have movie day at the house. If there’s one thing I’m excited about, I’m excited about that.”