Athletic directors adjust to the new normal.
After a chaotic few weeks, the local college athletic community is settling into what's unfortunately become a new normal routine.
People are adjusting to the daily challenges associated with the coronavirus crisis.
Athletic department staff meetings in the office are out, online Zoom meetings are in.
Coaches are connecting with student-athletes via FaceTime instead of during practice time.
"Interesting times," Coast Guard Academy athletic director Dan Rose said.
Rose and his counterparts at the other two Division III schools in New London — Todd Peretz at Mitchell and Maureen "Mo" White at Connecticut College — are in charge of helping their respective athletic departments navigate these turbulent waters. Peretz shares the AD duties with Casie Runksmeier.
In her first year at Conn, White is trying to maintain a positive attitude while overseeing 28 intercollegiate sports and 45 coaches and staff. She also once served as director of athletics at Mitchell.
With the cancellation of the spring sports season, White is taking advantage of the break to focus on developing relationships with her coaches and planning for the department's future.
"Trying to keep everybody focused on what we can control has helped kind of normalize things in a crazy world," White said. "Just to have everybody on the same path has been really exciting for me as a new athletic director at Conn, just to see the teamwork, the creativeness and the passion . ... It's just afforded us a tremendous opportunity that we normally wouldn't have. I'm going to take these eight weeks and run with it.
"We're trying to make lemonade
out of lemon."
Rose also is in his first year of his new job, although no stranger at the academy after serving as the head coach for both the men's and women's track teams for 15 years. He still goes to his office but usually has the whole floor to himself as just about everyone else is working remotely.
Coast Guard has leaned on its extended athletic community at times.
For example, when the athletic department, which is responsible for running a four-year physical education curriculum that's required for graduation, needed to find a way to continue to run the program online, it contacted other service academies and fellow NEWMAC member MIT for help. Many coaches also are teachers.
"What's really been impressive is how people have rallied around this crisis," Rose said.
Seniors at all three area colleges are impacted the most. Spring student-athletes never got to experience one last season with their teammates and coaches. They never had Senior Day.
Rose has come up with a way to properly honor the seniors, directing the "sports information team" to write tributes for the website.
"We're going to be recognizing every single senior on every single team since they didn't get that senior day experience of their last home game," Rose said.
CGA, Conn and Mitchell coaches are regularly reaching out to their athletes to check on their well-being as well as academic progress with online courses. It's crucial to let athletes know that they care about them and support them.
At Mitchell, which has a student population of just under 600, there is a tight-knit community.
"Mitchell really, really prides itself on being that small school with that individualized approach and connection that we have as faculty members and as coaches," said Peretz, who's also the men's basketball coach. "Our kids lean on us a lot more for things other than coaching, other than Xs and Os. We're their mentors, we're their tutors, we're their little bit of everything.
"So, I think that was where the initial concern was . ... Just making sure everything is going smooth for them. You worry about everyone. You don't know everyone's situation. ... People are still here to provide support in any way, shape or form that they need to ensure their academic success."
The college athletic community is dealing with other challenges. Spring is a crucial recruiting season. Without campus visits and an inability to evaluate athletes by watching games, coaches are trying to figure out creative ways to connect with recruits while remaining within NCAA guidelines.
The fall season might eventually be affected, too. But those are minor issues compared to what's going on.
"We can't predict the future and how long this can go on until we can see that we're seeing some positive numbers out of COVID," White said. "For us, right now, we're using graduation, end of April, mid May as our target. Trying to keep everybody focused on business as usual and proceeding. We'll adjust accordingly.
"But we're going to have a plan B in our back pocket and maybe even a plan C with just so many unknowns." g.keefe@theday.com