How Coronavirus is impacting Kent State’s coaches and sports
Spring sports were in full swing at Kent State University at the beginning of March. Golf was underway, basketball was in its tournament play, spirit was high.
When the coronavirus gained momentum, just like that, it was all over.
Kent State athletic director Joel Nielsen knew he had to make this difficult decision when one story made headlines.
“I think when the NBA player (Rudy Gobert) tested positive, I knew that would bring about immediate decisions,” he said. “Within 24-48 hours, basically all sports were shut down.”
Nielsen acknowledged while necessary, making this decision wasn’t easy.
“It was very difficult,” he said. “It’s something we’ve never experienced before to this magnitude. I feel for the student-athletes and coaches that invested so much time, training and energy into their season. Both basketball teams were in the MAC championships, gymnastics was preparing for senior day in the MACC and so on, tough on many people.”
One of these coaches was Kent State men’s golf coach Jon Mills. He said this came as a shock.
“We were actually out on the golf course playing a qualifier,” he explained. “I started getting information, and it was like, “Is this really happening?”
“It was a whirlwind as a coach.”
Mills explained how he fulfills his duties during this time and what recruiting next season could look like.
“I’m doing all of my recruiting stuff, doing schedules for next year,” he said. “It’s a different type of work. You got to think outside the box. The summer is usually the time where we go out and watch players. If we don’t get the opportunity to watch them, we have to do more stuff online, watching swing videos and talking to them a lot.”
Kent State women’s lacrosse coach Brianne Tierney was also shocked when she found out the news.
“We actually found out when we were in a film session and preparing for our game against Central Michigan,” she said. “Got a phone call from Joel Nielsen about how the game was going to get postponed for the near future.”
With the lacrosse team being in its second year, Tierney isn’t optimistic it will remain come next season.
“I’m not optimistic as we’re a new team,” she said. “We put these plans in place to build a strong program.”
Tierney said she has become more a teacher than a coach during this time.
“Instead of teaching on the field, I’m teaching Zoom meetings and a counselor,” she explains. “It’s almost like an online class with lacrosse.”
Kent State women’s basketball coach Todd Starkey had a feeling something was going to happen as tournament play went on.
“We started figuring something might happen as we were approaching that week of the tournament with things starting to happen around the country with NBA games and players,” he said. “We were cautiously optimistic we were going to get the tournament in. As we got into that Thursday, we started hearing rumors that other tournaments were being canceled.”
Starkey stated he was trying to put things into perspective but mentioned it wasn’t any easier for the seniors.
“It’s been very difficult for the seniors,” he said. “I think our job as coaches is to try to keep things in perspective, so we try to paint the picture we were one of the few teams that finished their season on a win. It’s bittersweet. We were playing our best basketball. ESPN, in their bracketology, predicted us to win the tournament and go to the NCAA tournament.”
Starkey explained how he is managing to do his duties as coach and how this virus could impact recruiting for next season.
“I’m still coaching, just not doing on-court things and practice with players,” he said. “We’re on calls every day. We’re doing budget stuff for next season, been on the phone non-stop with recruiting. There’s a lot of coaching responsibilities still going on.”
All three coaches gave their thoughts when things could return to normal.
“I’d love to know that answer,” Tierney said with a chuckle. “I’ve seen people say as early as July and places like Boston College not coming back in the fall semester. You try to be optimistic and hopeful, but we’ve got to be realistic about everybody’s health.”
“It’s just so tough to know at this point whether things will get back to normal in the fall,” Mills said. “Maybe we have accommodations of playing closer to home where we can drive more, but it’s too early to tell so who knows?”
“I wouldn’t even speculate,” Starkey said. “Optimistically, at some point during the summer, but the most important thing is what the fall is going to look like with students coming back to campus if that’s the case. There’s a lot of question marks and unpredictability out there.”
