College basketball showdown in 2020-21: COVID-19 vs. ‘control freaks’
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo does not wake up each morning these days ready to attack the world’s rim. “I get up every day with no sense of purpose,” he said of his life in what has become the new normal.
Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson knows the feeling and believes his colleagues do, too. “I think you wake up every day a little bit lost,” he said.
Coaches are used to being in control. They consider control an essential part of winning. They are perceived as all-wise authority figures. Game plans. Practice plans. Anticipate. Congregate. Celebrate.
“We’re all control freaks,” Izzo said. “If you’re successful, that’s almost part of the deal. … If you don’t control (the players) on a daily basis, I think it gets out of control quickly.”
The coronavirus pandemic has reduced these athletics wise men to mere mortals who — like everyone else — must accept uncertainty.
“You don’t ever use the words, ‘I have no clue,’” Izzo said with a laugh. “Because if you have no clue, you’re going to find out. You’re going to do research. You’re going to do something.”
With that, Izzo added, “I have no clue what’s going on, how long it’s going to last.”
Doug Barnes, an assistant coach on Eddie Sutton’s Kentucky staff in the late 1980s, recalled Sutton’s controlling nature.
“It was almost like during basketball season, he wanted to know where you were, what you were doing, yada yada,” Barnes said.
Rex Chapman has recalled Sutton wanting to control his dating life.
“The reason they have so many practices, so many meetings is because basically they’re kind of controlling what these young people do as much as they can,” Barnes said. “One of the reasons I think they’re control freaks is there are so many uncontrollables. Injuries. Illness. Personality conflicts. Fans’ expectations.”
Now, add COVID-19, which clouds a 2020-21 season with unknowables. When will it start? Will fans be able to attend games? Will there even be a season?
Football, too, has mystery.
“All the uncertainty is the hardest part of the whole thing” Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield said during a recent teleconference.
Players might wonder why they’re lifting weights or whether they’ll play football this year, he said.
Questions with no answers run through a coach’s mind, too. “Am I going to have a job?” Satterfield said. “Am I going to be able to do this? …
“You can get overwhelmed if you start to think of the what-ifs.”
Dan Wann, a psychology professor at Murray State, said uncertainty is “very stressful” for people.
“Because we do everything we can to minimize uncertainty,” he said. “It’s actually one of the basic psychological needs we talk about in psychology.”
People rely on superstition to lessen stress, Wann said. He also recommended the Serenity Prayer, which he paraphrased as asking God to “grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed; and wisdom to know the one from the other.”
To cope, Izzo said he cleaned his office, his garage and his attic. “It felt good to do something I haven’t done in 30 years,” he said.
ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla called the coronavirus “the ultimate competitor.” He suggested there are positives that can help coaches cope.
“They spend way more time with families then they ever get a chance to do,” he said. If possible, coaches can relax. And they have time to share ideas with colleagues.
Izzo rode a Peloton bike “until I was sick of it.” He has also taken walks. “So, I’m healthier,” he said.
Craig Robinson, who was recently hired as executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, cited another possible advantage. “I think coaches are starting to understand how much control they can give up,” he said, adding that coaches should concede authority to people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
“The virus is what’s in charge,” Robinson said. “Not us.”
For coaches, this might not be easy to accept.
“We always want to know why,” Izzo said. “That’s what a control freak is. Why, and I’ll fix it.
“I haven’t figured out why yet. And I definitely haven’t figured out how to fix it yet.”
COVID Q&A
A question-and-answer based on a recent conversation with Dr. Rand McClain, the chief medical officer for LCR Health, which is in Santa Monica, Calif.:
Q: Will there be a 2020-21 college basketball season?
A: “The short answer is, medically speaking, it is very realistic.” He recommended the familiar guidelines: wearing a mask, social distancing, hand washing.
Q: Because of the contact between sweaty players who are breathing hard, is basketball a higher-risk activity?
A: “Yes. Hence, the reason for the protocols and the testing. … You’re not going to eliminate (the spread of infection). … Somebody’s kid is going to come down with the virus. … In these contact sports, if anybody has it, the likelihood that they’ll transmit, it is relatively high. Very high, I would say.”
Q: How soon will there be a vaccine?
A: “A lot of people are being misled by what’s being put in the paper with recent trials and so-called success in these trials. What people have to understand is that it’s not that simple.” (He described a testing procedure that includes a group of people receiving an experimental vaccine and another group that doesn’t.) “There’s the obligatory passage of time that has to occur for those who didn’t get the vaccine to go through life and see whether or not they get infected. It’s encouraging to see in early trials we’ve gotten some success. But I think we’re at least a year away — unless we bend the rules of science — from actually using a vaccine.”
Q: Can you envision basketball players wearing masks in games?
A: “I think it would be ridiculous to play the sport wearing a mask. It’s not a performance enhancing device. In fact, it could hinder performance.”
Q: Will you attend basketball games in 2020-21?
A: “My business partner and I share some Lakers’ tickets. As far as I understand, there’s no plans to limit the seating, which means no social distancing. We’ll all be packed into our same seats. And I’m thinking at this point I’m not so certain I’d do that. We tell patients, just pretend everybody you run across is sick. … Practice the safest measures that we know at this point, and you should be fine.”
‘Zoom is Zoom’
Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson suggested there might be an advantage for some schools in the recruiting process relying on Zoom meetings.
“If you’re a rural university where it’s tough to get to, some of that helps those kinds of schools …,” he said. “Because everybody is on a more equal footing with Zoom calls and virtual recruiting.”
However, Houston found team meetings via Zoom unsatisfactory.
“I don’t get to touch my kids,” he said. “I don’t get to hug them or fist-bump them or high-five them. I feel I’m not as close (to the players) as I normally would be.
“Zoom is Zoom. But flesh is flesh. You don’t build great relationships by Zooming.”
Change of plans
Last week saw Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo finalizing revised plans for his daughter Raquel’s wedding this weekend. The coronavirus pandemic necessitated changes.
Originally, Saturday’s wedding was to be held in the Breslin Center, the Spartans’ home arena.
“First wedding at Breslin, 650 people there,” Izzo said. “Now, we’re going to have eight at the church, and 22 at a little thing at my beach house (on the coast of Lake Michigan).”
A belated wedding reception is now planned for next year.
Correction
A note last week about Adolph Rupp’s image as a racist misrepresented the 1966 Final Four. All-white Kentucky beat all-white Duke 83-79 in one semifinal game while Texas Western beat Utah 85-78 in the semifinal game featuring integrated teams.
In the historic finals, Texas Western beat Kentucky 72-65.
Happy birthday
To Jules Camara. He turned 41 on Thursday. … To former Georgia coach Jim Harrick. He turned 82 on Saturday. … To Devin Askew. He turns 18 on Sunday (today). … To Steve Clevenger. He turns 74 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 8:35 AM.
