Reflecting on impact of COVID-19
Gladchuk says 2020 was ‘beyond comprehension’
In mid-March of last year, Navy athletics shut down because of coronavirus concerns.
Spring sports had just gotten underway, and Navy baseball, lacrosse and tennis were about to begin the Patriot League portion of the schedule.
At the time, no one understood the finality of it all. Athletic director Chet Gladchuk along with the various varsity sports coaches figured it was a strategic break to assess the situation and figure out a path forward.
Never in his wildest dreams did Gladchuk think the nation, and therefore the world of college athletics, would still be in the grips of the pandemic a full year later.
“It’s beyond the comprehension of any typical citizen to contemplate what was going to unfold,” Gladchuk said. “It’s inconceivable that with modern technology, advanced medicine and scientific research
to think we haven’t taken out this virus. No one could envision this.”
When Gladchuk thinks back to last March, he remembers initially having a monthto-month mindset. Reality set in when the NCAA started canceling championships — dropping a bombshell by eliminating March Madness and then soon following suit with the end-of-season national tournaments for spring sports.
Gladchuk called it “heartbreaking” to see senior midshipmen have their careers cut short in such abrupt fashion. Navy athletes missed the opportunity to earn N stars, postseason honors and team championships.
As spring turned toward summer, Navy’s athletic leadership began to realize the virus wasn’t going away. Planning for fall sports was done in a different light, although Gladchuk remained confident the department could conduct business as usual.
First, the Navy-Notre Dame game was moved from Dublin to Annapolis. Then that game was canceled altogether with Gladchuk scrambling to schedule BYU as a replacement opponent for the season opener.
“We never, ever anticipated we wouldn’t have it figured out by kickoff of the football season,” he said. “It went from an assumption we would resume to calculated risk.
To what degree was an institution willing to take a chance on competing because so much was unknown?
“As the country dug itself deeper and deeper into a hole, the frustration and anxiety built up.”
From an administration standpoint, the Naval Academy Athletic Association has found a way to operate smoothly. Department meetings are held virtually instead of in-person while more phone calls are often required to sort of details.
“We haven’t missed a beat in terms of administrative preparation,” Gladchuk said. “However, it has been a lot more labor intensive to run an athletic department because of all the unexpected challenges. We constantly had to create three, four or five different scenarios with the proviso of: What if?”
Underpinning all athletic department operations is the pursuit of winning. It’s a results-based business that is conducted in an extremely calculated manner. What Gladchuk finds most frustrating is the inability to organize with the same meticulous detail as before COVID-19.
“Athletics calls for a specific game plan in which everyone invests all their energy in what they expect will be the end result. All too often that’s not happening,” he said. “We’re expending our energy in a very diffused way while trying to anticipate a number of different scenarios that may or may not happen.”
Navy varsity coaches are accustomed to running their respective programs in an established manner. There is a weekly preparation process focused on the next game, the next competition. Professional coaches do not appreciate being thrown “curveballs” that become a handicap toward developing teams.
“That is what we’ve faced through this entire dilemma: the handicap of uncertainty. We can’t be as exacting in the way we normally operate,” Gladchuk said. “It is such a dramatic departure from the way we normally operate.”
One year since coronavirus first made a massive impact on college athletics, the challenge of consistently completing competitions still exists. Navy athletics is currently in the midst of a pause that began Feb. 28 and will continue through at least the weekend.
While weary of trying to direct an athletic department in such an ever-changing environment, Gladchuk is hopeful for the future. He has long been preaching a day-to-day mantra, but is hopeful the nationwide push for vaccinations to prevent people from contracting COVID-19 along with improved medicinal methods to treat those infected will have a trickle-down effect.
“There’s a lot moving in the right direction at this point. There are many optimistic indicators that will make the business of college athletics more conducive,” Gladchuk said. “In the meantime, we’re keeping everyone focused and we’re accentuating the positives in order to maintain morale.”