MSU'S Howland looks forward to better days

Mississippi State's Ben Howland is a veteran of coaching basketball, but he's also experienced when it comes to battling big-city traffic in California.

He went to high school and junior college in the state and also spent a decade in Los Angeles as head coach at UCLA.

Now in Starkville, Howland's only view of L.A. traffic comes via news reports. With virtually the entire country at a standstill due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, those California streets are nowhere near as full as they used to be.

“You never saw that when I was living there,” Howland said in a teleconference with reporters on Monday.

Without saying it, Howland sure seemed like he wouldn't mind being able to be in a traffic jam on the West Coast right now. That would of course mean some sense of normalcy would have returned to the world. Instead, Howland is doing what most everyone is doing these days. He's social distancing and doing his part to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus, though he's trying to get as much done as possible given the circumstances.

“I am working out and trying to get a workout in every day,” Howland said. “That's really important to stay healthy. I'm doing a lot of work with myself and my staff via Zoom or conference calls. We're staying organized and trying to watch film and getting film of players and watching kids play and making phone calls. We're still scheduling games and trying to get our schedule fixed for next year. Just the basic stuff. We're just not able to travel and not able to have kids visit campus yet. We're staying in touch with our players making sure they're organized… We're just trying to help all our guys.

“All this is slowed down by our current situation.”

Like pretty much all of mankind, the coronavirus has certainly impacted Howland and his process of doing things. Relationships with recruits now have to be built virtually, through calls and text messaging and online. That's not to even mention Howland and his Bulldogs had their season cut short as basketball and other winter and spring sports ended abruptly due to the virus outbreak.

Given all that, there are times it seems the coronavirus is winning a battle with humanity. Fortunately though, like any good coach, Howland has a game plan for us all to win in the end.

Howland has a cousin who is high up the ladder at a major California hospital. Howland says he talks with his cousin frequently to stay as updated as possible on things. Based on those conversations, Howland is convinced what's best for everyone is – as hard as it may be – is to continue social distancing and limit the spread of disease.

“You know, we're sitting here talking sports, but the most important thing any of us can do is to shelter in place,” Howland said. “Go out only to get food. Now you can do that where you can order it online and they'll bring it out to your car. That's probably even a better way to do it. You can go to the pharmacy and drive through to pick up your medication if you need some. Really, that's it. We've got to get this thing (under control). It's just all math. The less that it spreads and is stopped from spreading, it's going to die out.

“We've got to do that as a country. I was devastated when we had to end the tournament and felt so bad for our team and all the teams, but in the big scheme