In our continuing series of interviews with Collegiate Head Coaches on the current state of the game and the effect of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic currently gripping our nation and world; We speak with Fairleigh Dickinson University Head Coach Chris Foye.
Coach Foye is in his second season at FDU after serving as head coach at Felician University. The Knights had a 4-12 record in 2020 before the cancellation of the season came.
RTS: The COVID-19 Pandemic has obviously been one of the most unique and disturbing times in our countries history. From the standpoint of Collegiate Athletics, it has been unprecedented in the fact of its impact on all sports including softball. Talk a little about how it has affected your program particularly. Where were you and your team when they found out the season had been canceled? How did you break the news that the 2020 season was over to your athletes and the immediate and aftereffect of announcement since?
Foye: We were just finishing practice when I received an alert that our Conference had posted that they would be cancelling our Women’s Basketball Tournament and Bowling Championships effective immediately and that our Spring sports conference play would be suspended through at least March 29th. I advised the team that as I was able to gather more info I would let them know through our team groupme, that is how we usually communicate with our team when we are not together and we have to send out team messages. About an hour later the coaches received an email from our AD basically stating what the conference had decided and that we were to tell our players to make arrangements to leave campus ASAP under the circumstances. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to get back together as a team on such short notice so I advised my team through our groupme the info I was given from our AD and told them to follow up with me as they made arrangements so I could make up a list to give to my supervisor of when they would be off campus. Later on I read the statement from the NCAA that all Spring sport championships would be cancelled for the remainder of the semester. That was the hardest news to deliver through text. There was a whirlwind of obvious questions, concerns but most of all heartache and sadness from our players. There wasn’t much information to give them other than what I was told and what I had read. The emotions from the players was real and as a coach you never want to see your players upset and suffering but that unfortunately was the reality of the situation.
RTS: As a coach what are your opinions on how the NAIA has handled the outbreak and the remaining 2020 season?
Foye: I believe the NCAA handled the situation the best that they could at a moment’s notice. I am sure when they saw the pro leagues cancelling games they felt the need to act immediately. Their obvious concerns were primarily with the health and well-being of all of the student-athletes and I feel they acted appropriately. Some coaches I spoke with thought maybe they could have just postponed things like our conference along with a few others originally did, maybe take more of a wait and see approach. But I think the NCAA did what they had to do in the heat of the moment to protect the student-athletes with the thinking they could figure out the ramifications later on.
RTS: How does the 2020 season affect what you will do in the future from an operational and progressive program standpoint since you are losing the season?
Foye: Honestly at the present time I am not sure how it will affect either my program operationally or progressively moving forward. It’s tough to figure that out how to manage the extra year of eligibility they are granting the spring student-athletes. We are just trying to keep our players in a positive mindset and explain to them that sometimes things happen in life unexpectedly and you just have to find the best way to roll with the punches. We always preach to them to give their best every day that you never know when your season can end because of an injury etc. and this situation is a perfect example of that. Now that they are all home we are keeping in constant contact with them and giving them info as we receive it. I told them everything will be ok, keep their head up and stay strong in the face of adversity and that hopefully we have our 3 awesome seniors back next year to finish what we started this year.
RTS: NCAA has moved forward in granting a year of eligibility back to the student-athletes that lost the 2020 season. How does this affect your roster, recruiting, and scholarship management over the next year?
Foye: I am thrilled to hear that the NCAA plans on granting an extra year of eligibility to all the Spring student-athletes. I was somewhat shocked that they made a decision so quickly but I think it was the right thing to do. Every athlete in all the Spring sports have worked so hard all year it would have been a shame to lose this year in the blink of an eye. The biggest questions and unknowns seem to be how to manage the extra scholarship load? Will it only be for 1 year or the next 4 years? Will there be any help from NCAA in funding these possible scholarships or will it be up to each institution to figure that out? A lot of questions remain and I think it’s hard for us as a program to move forward or answer questions from our current players and recruits until we have some sort of guideline, but we are doing our best as a coaching staff to keep things as normal as possible. We have 3 seniors that were crushed when the decision to cancel the season came down but I believe this decision by the NCAA at least gives them a choice and opportunity to come back if they want to which is a positive for everyone. Until I get more info from the NCAA on if scholarship amounts will be increased and where might that funding come from, I am not sure exactly how that will affect the underclassmen in our program or the decisions I have to make as a coach going forward, each situation will be different. Every institution will have different scenarios I am sure. I do know that my 3 juniors plan to graduate next year because they are in majors that will allow them to get jobs immediately so I will still have scholarships available for my 2021 recruits. But at the end of the day coaches are going to have tough decisions to make as far as how they want to build their roster going forward. This is definitely unchartered territory and I believe that this decision by the NCAA will definitely have ramifications when it comes to recruits and I definitely think more activity when it comes to the transfer portal. Coaches, current players and recruits are just going to have to find a way to navigate through it based on what they feel is best for them.