Rounding Third Softball

Following up on an earlier story; Conference Commissioners from the America Athletic Conference, Mountain West Conference, Mid-America Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and Conference USA petitioning the NCAA to allow institutions to fall below the minimum 16 sports for FBS Football Sponsoring Division I Institutions, won’t be considered as an option per the NCAA. Conferences were seeking relief in the wake of financial fallout from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Pandemic that would allow them to fall below the minimum number by possibly cutting non-revenue producing sports. 

Ole Miss has named Jamie Trachsel from Minnesota as their new head coach. Trachsel spent three seasons with the Golden Gophers after spending one season at Iowa State. Trachsel amassed a 102-40-1 record in the Twin Cities while notching an appearance in the Women’s College World Series in 2019.

George Mason has announced that longtime Head Coach Joe Verbanic has stepped down from his position. In 16 seasons coaching the Patriots Verbanic compiled a 294-469 record.

The first institutional causality has come as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Pandemic as Urbana University in Ohio has announced it will cease enrollments and operations at the end of the Spring 2020 Semester. This will include the shutdown of its Division II Athletic Department and 19 sports including softball. 

Wisconsin has been the first Power 5 School that won’t be allowing their seniors to recoop their lost year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Pandemic citing, “A time of unprecedented uncertainty in college athletics.” No Spring Sports Athlete will be welcomed back in 2021 including five from the softball squad. “What we tried to do was encourage our seniors to go ahead and, if you’re going to graduate, graduate and move on with your life,” commented Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez. “We appreciate everything that you’ve done. But move forward. The future is in question, and we can’t promise you anything.

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 William Peace University Head Coach Charlie Dobbins.

Coach Dobbins is in his 21^st season at WPU and has averaged at least 20 wins in each season. The Pacers had a 5-8 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 country’s 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?

Dobbins: I actually found out about it one hour before practice on March 12. We were preparing for one of our biggest home weekends of the year, with doubleheaders scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This weekend is always special, because we host two “Cancer” games.  A Cancer for pediatric brain cancer game on Saturday and a Strikeout Cancer game on Sunday to benefit the 1ofUS.org group. We kick off a big motorcycle ride, the Raleigh Pink Ribbon Ride every year. Myself and several of my kids had actually painted the logos on the field Wednesday evening. I met with my assistant coaches, let them know the news and informed the team. I think everyone struggled processing the finality of the announcement. The team immediately surrounded the two seniors, and with lots of tears and hugs supported them. We spent about 45 minutes just talking, then they gave me a Gatorade “bath”.  So we left the field with at least some smiles.

RTS: As a coach what are your opinions on how NCAA has handled the outbreak and the cancellation of the 2020 season?

Dobbins: I don’t think they really had any options. They were processing the information as it came to them, sometimes several times a day. Looking back it was the right call.

RTS: How does the cancellation affect what you will do in the future from an operational and progressive program standpoint since you are losing the season?

Dobbins: Honestly, we just have to move on. I am treating it like a season ending injury. Take a few moments to reflect on what it could have been but don’t let it define you going forward. We will work hard and be ready for the next season. 

RTS: NCAA has now granted a year of eligibility back to the student-athletes that lost the 2020 season; How is this affecting your recruiting and roster management moving forward? 

Dobbins: This is going to be a bit of an unknown challenge especially for a Division III program. Our student athletes are not traditionally on 5 year plans. They are graduate on time and move into careers or further education. Obviously they would want to “finish” their senior seasons, but financially that would be expensive for them. This is more of a challenge for the Division I and II programs regarding rosters and scholarship dollars. My biggest concern is the impact this will have on the 2020 incoming class. The impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected employment nationwide; Impacted families will have to make hard decisions.    

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 Long Island University Head Coach Roy Kortmann.

Coach Kortmann is in his 26th season at LIU that includes 10 Northeast Conference Championships and NCAA Postseason Appearances. The Sharks had a 14-12 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?

Kortmann: We were in Longmont, Florida playing a DH when I was informed the NCAA was canceling the spring championships. Our conference did not decide till the next morning to cancel, but we knew it was inevitable. We were coming off our 7th win in a row and the team was in a great frame of mind, unfortunately I had to share the sobering reality with them all. Obviously they were all in shock, particularly our seniors. Tears flowed and hugs were abundant. When I got back to the dugout I turned around to the field and noticed our underclassmen were helping our seniors go through part of our senior day ceremony. Each senior had gone to their respective positions and taken off their cleats to leave on the field, symbolic of their footprints left on our program. The underclass athletes were then carrying each of them off the field, just as the seniors have carried them for the past years. It was spontaneous and heartwarming. A moment I will never forget.

RTS: As a coach what are your opinions on how NCAA has handled the outbreak and the cancellation of the 2020 season?

Kortmann: There is no blueprint for any of this. There were so many variables and pieces of information that needed to be incorporated into a decision that needed to be made asap. The bottom line is for the health and safety of our players, staff, umpires, fans, etc. As much as we love our sport, this is much bigger than the game. Teams across the nation were experiencing the same emotions at basically the same time which really made it all surreal. I trust that the NCAA did what they thought was in the best interest of all of us. 

RTS: How does the cancellation affect what you will do in the future from an operational and progressive program standpoint since you are losing the season?

Kortmann: We are working through all of that currently. As a staff, we are formulating a variety of plans dependent on the timing of when we all get back close to “normal”. Obviously it is very fluid. We are working remotely like our student-athletes. We will remain busy even without practices and games monitoring players academically, communicating with high school and travel coaches, preparing developmental plans for our current S/A’s, analyzing video from our games, updating scouting reports, preparing for 2021, etc. 

RTS: With the NCAA granting a year of eligibility back to the student-athletes that lost the 2020 season; How is this affecting your roster, recruiting, and scholarship management over the next year?  

Kortmann: I think it is great that the seniors at least have the opportunity, if they want, to play another year. It will have ripple effects on recruiting, possibly for 3-4 years if all current athletes are given another year. Roster sizes could get larger and some schools may need to bring in fewer new S/A’s if senior athletes decide to stay. For those that want to play an additional year, if the current school cannot help financially or academically, the transfer portal may light up. It remains to be seen what remedies, if any, the NCAA gives schools to help us and what the financial commitments may be from institutions for an additional year. I have spoken with our seniors and they are aware of my desire to help them in any way that I can. My hope is that we get a chance to again coach all of the seniors in our program.

The Ivy League has decided not to allow student-athletes in spring sports to recoup an additional year of eligibility as graduates after NCAA’s vote this past week. The conference hasn’t allowed athletes to participate in any sports as graduates as policy before the ruling. The move has resulted in an upswing of athletes joining the transfer portal.

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.

NCAA has extended the recruiting dead period through May 31 for Division I and II to include all sports in response to the Pandemic. The Coordination and Administrative Committees will continue to consult on possible extension of the dead period after that date if needed.