Recovering from COVID-19, Ballard is looking forward to next season
FIU men’s basketball coach Jeremy Ballard told the Miami Herald on Monday that he is recovering from COVID-19.
Ballard, 39, has asthma, which makes him more vulnerable than many others to the ravages of the disease, which can attack a person’s lungs and immune system.
“With asthma, my lungs and oxygen capacity were already not at full strength,” he said.
Ballard’s illness put the cap on what was the most difficult FIU men’s basketball season since he was hired in April 2018.
Last week, FIU was set to open its Conference USA postseason tournament schedule against Middle Tennessee. But the weekend prior to that game, a number of people connected to the FIU program tested positive for COVID-19, including Ballard.
That forced a cancellation of the game, ending FIU’s season with a 9-17 record overall, 2-15 in conference play. The Panthers ended the season on a seven-game losing streak. They also lost 14 conference games in a row.
After winning 20 games his first season and then 19 in a pandemic-shortened 2019-2020 campaign, this year’s record was not at all what Ballard had expected for his third season with the Panthers.
FIU started the year 8-2 before injuries, positive COVID tests and contact tracing doomed the season.
“It’s been devastating,” Ballard said. “A lot people have put blood, sweat and tears to rebuild this program. Our first two seasons were the most wins in program history [in a two-year span].
“To start this season, we were sharing the ball. We were prolific in our three-point shooting. But then we went almost one month with at least two and sometimes three starters out every game.”
Because of FIU policy, Ballard said he cannot disclose which players tested positive for COVID-19. Radshad Davis, who was FIU’s top rebounder (6.4) and second-leading scorer (13.1), missed 10 games because of an injury.
“He was our most consistent player and efficient scorer,” Ballard said. “His absence coincided with our losing streak.”
In addition, Isaiah Banks, who tied for the team lead in three-point shooting percentage (40.0), missed 17 games with a knee injury.
Starter Tevin Brewer and reserve Petar Krivokapic were the only FIU players who competed in all 26 Panthers games.
FIU could make a quick turnaround next season. Because of COVID, the NCAA is giving all seniors the option to return for another year.
Ballard said he has yet to have those conversations with his core seniors, a group that includes Davis, Banks, Eric Lovett and Dimon Carrigan. Lovett started 20 games and was third on the team in scoring (10.5). Carrigan started 21 games and was first in field-goal percentage (62.3) and blocks (60).
“I would think most of our seniors want to come back,” Ballard said. “We feel good about those guys and would welcome them back.”
Antonio Daye, a junior who missed four games, led FIU in scoring (17.1). But more talent is needed, and Ballard said he has “a couple” of scholarships available.
“We have a lot of work to do in recruiting to be the winner we were the previous two seasons,” Ballard said. “But [NCAA teams] haven’t been able to go on the road in recruiting [because of COVID-19]. We can’t bring kids to campus.
“That changes things dramatically. We have to be diligent in our research on kids.”
THIS AND THAT
Congratulations are in order for FIU’s women’s basketball program as Jesyka Burks-Wiley on Tuesday was named Conference USA’s Coach of the Year her first year on the job.
Jiselle Thomas was named second-team AllC-USA. Thomas, who was seventh in the league in scoring (16.7), is the program’s first all-conference player since Jerica Coley in 2014.
FIU, which lost in the C-USA tournament quarterfinals, finished with a 13-12 record. It was the program’s first winning season since going 19-13 in 2012-2013.
FIU pitcher Christian Santana, who was hospitalized 20 minutes before he was supposed to start Feb. 27, was diagnosed with a blood clot under his clavicle. Santana, 21, has been released from the hospital, and he will be put on blood thinners. He is confident he can return to the mound, but he has yet to return to the team.
FIU’s football team is set to begin spring practice next Monday.
Florida’s unemployment rate is now the lowest among any large state.
But the figure, now below 5% for the first time since last March, only tells part of the state’s recovery story.
Monday, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said the state jobless rate fell from 5.1% in December to 4.8% in January. That is the 18thlowest rate among all U.S. states — and lower than Texas’ 6.8%, Illinois’ 7.7%, New York’s 8.8% and California’s 9%.
It is also below the national rate for January of 6.3% and 6.2% for February.
The rapid decline in the unemployment rate shows Florida is approaching the 3.2% decade-low unemployment figure reached just before the pandemic — a level that economists call full employment. If the state’s jobless rate continchanging ues to fall by 0.3 points each month, it would be back at the pre-pandemic rate by the end of the year.
“Florida’s economy remains resilient under Governor DeSantis’ leadership as we continue to see sustained month-over-month job growth,” said Dane Eagle, executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, in a statement. “Governor DeSantis has kept our state open for business, and I am proud of the work we have done to ensure Floridians continue to return to the workforce.”
But the state’s jobs picture might look different going forward.
That’s because the state’s overall labor force — the number of both employed and unemployed workers — is at 10.7 million, down 390,000, or 3.7%, from where it was prior to the pandemic.
In other words, more people are giving up looking up for a job and leaving the workforce.
“The labor force is — there are a lot of folks who left it for various reasons,” said
PNC economist Abbey Omodunbi.
He cited health concerns, the need to homeschool children — something that has disproportionately affected female workers, whose employment remains devastated nationwide — and early retirement as factors in reducing the overall pool of available workers.
The jobs that are being added are coming slowly. The state’s all-important leisure and hospitality sector remains nearly 300,000 jobs short of its pre-pandemic levels. Overall, the state’s employment level remains 590,000 below pre-pandemic totals.
The state’s labor force has now grown for three straight months — the best stretch since the start of the pandemic. Yet even if growth rates remained steady at January’s addition of 25,000 new workers — employed and unemployed — each month, it would take at least another 15 months for the state’s labor force to regain its pre-pandemic level of about 59%.
America’s labor-force participation rate has been in decline for decades, although it held relatively steady in recent years, at about 62%. Economists say the pandemic could reduce participation again.
“Labor force participation is expected to recover from its historical plunge over the next two years, but not to its pre-pandemic peak,” research group Oxford Economics said in a recent note to clients.
While younger workers have largely returned to the workforce, Oxford found, older workers are less likely to be back — an acute condition in the Sunshine State, where the median worker is 42.9 years old compared with 41.6 nationally.
Nevertheless, Omodunbi sees outsized progress for Florida’s economy, thanks largely to looser COVID restrictions and the willingness of Florida to welcome COVID-weary travelers from other parts of the country.
More recent data bolster the latter trend: After being down about one-third at the beginning of January, hotel occupancy in Florida was off just 20% for the first week of
March, according to data from tracking firm STR — and even better in Miami, where it was down just 11%. The average daily rate was even stronger: off 14% on the year to kick off March in Florida and down less than 7% in Miami.
It’s a sign that, even though Miami-Dade registered the state’s highest county unemployment rate in January, at 8.1%, the state’s next data release March 26 is likely to show a cheerier picture.
“Florida again had the highest occupancy of any state in the week even though it fell slightly compared to the previous week,” STR said last week. “Nearly all Florida markets saw week-on-week occupancy fall except for a handful, which were mostly beach markets. Despite the weaker performance, nine of the 10 highest weekly occupancy markets continued to be in Florida.”
After a year of pandemic-related losses, Goodwill South Florida got a bit of good news Monday. The nonprofit will receive a $1 million donation from philanthropist and president of Badía Spices, Joseph “Pepe” Badía.
The donation will help plug an $8 million hole that Goodwill South Florida endured due to store closings and expenses related to COVID-19.
“We are incredibly grateful to count Pepe Badía and Badía Spices one of our most trusted, loyal and generous supporters,” David Landsberg,
Goodwill South Florida CEO, said in a press release. “They are right beside us today, helping us get through the COVID crisis, and have been here over the years, literally creating hundreds of jobs for Developmentally Disabled individuals in our programs.”