Anthony Grant had only been on the job for about a month when his world turned upside down.
Grant, who started as MIT’s athletic director in February, came to Massachusetts from Metropolitan State University of Denver. But as the coronavirus shut down the Cambridge campus, he had to shift focus from starting up spring sports to telling his student-athletes that their seasons were over before they could really begin.
“It’s definitely not how I would have scripted my introductory moments at MIT,” he said. “That honeymoon period definitely got cut short really quick.”
Like MIT, colleges across the country are grappling with what will happen to athletics. With summer approaching and fall just around the corner, at this point there are more questions than answers.
“You know, obviously, the million-dollar question is are we gonna have athletics in the fall?” Grant said. “And the thing is, we don’t know. And anybody who tells you that they do know is lying to you because there’s no crystal ball about what this looks like.”
Starting June 1, student-athletes in all sports at Division I schools will be allowed to participate in voluntary athletic activities.
But even with that update, across every level of the NCAA, one theme remains constant among athletic administrators at local schools following a semester of upheaval: uncertainty.
Even some of the solutions to the problems the pandemic caused are raising more questions. After spring sports got wiped off the calendar, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility for athletes who never got a chance to have a full season.
For Peter Casey, the athletic director at UMass Lowell, a Division I school, the decision creates a catch-22.
“There was some sense of relief from the respect that, 'Hey, look, the spring sports are gonna get that year of eligibility back,'” he said. “But the fiscal side of me was like, ‘Well, how are we gonna pay for this?’”
Casey said UMass Lowell supports the decision. But he admits it does potentially create obstacles. For example, if a senior baseball player decides to come back, he could be taking scholarship money that otherwise would go to a new recruit.
“So the coaches are gonna start having to manage rosters a lot more than they have in the past,” he said. “Because usually you just base it on scholarships, right? But now with kids that have [an] extra year of eligibility, it makes things a little more complicated.”
The pandemic didn’t just create problems for spring athletes, though. Right now, for schools that play football, the big question is whether there can even be a season this fall.
Bob DeFelice, the athletic director and head baseball coach at Bentley University, a Division II school with a Division I hockey program, said you’ll go out of your mind if you think too much about various scenarios.
“So, everything happens, we start. And we play you. We get tested after the game and one of our players has the virus. Does that mean we don’t play the rest of the year and does that mean you guys have 14 days [off]?” he asked. “Does that mean the officials can’t …. it goes forever and ever. So I’ve tried to explain to everybody, ‘Stay out of that world.’”
At MIT, which plays in Division III, Grant said right now it’s all about preparing for what may come next.
“We all want to play. I think that’s a constant,” he said. “But we have to do it in a safe and organized way, and we’re not going to put our student-athletes in positions where they’re not safe. And that has to be the driving factor in all decisions. And it’s just a waiting game right now.”
Grant said it’s a “nonstarter” for sports to be considered if students can’t come back to campus. If sports can resume, testing for the coronavirus will be a cornerstone for a return to play.
“Student-athletes by nature, because of the level of contact that they have within their respective sport, are gonna be populations that are higher risk,” he said. “So we need to be able to provide adequate testing to even begin a conversation of what type of athletics are gonna be held in the fall and beyond.”
But with all of the bad the pandemic has brought, there are somer glimmers of good news: At Boston College, which is searching for a new athletic director, football strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz has been finding imaginative ways to keep players in shape.
At MIT, Grant said several athletes asked him how he was doing after he made the difficult announcement that sports were coming to a halt just as he was getting started.
“It just really took me back a little bit because I’m really focused on making sure our student-athletes are safe, making sure our coaches and staff are safe and having direction on what to do. And for them to come to me and express concern about my welfare really stuck with me in a positive way,” he said. “And it really inspires me as we continue to move through this uncharted territory, it reaffirms that we’re gonna be stronger once this is all said and done.”
Still, the changes the past seemster have brought to the college sports landscape also bring the threat of budget cutbacks.
Programs across the country in multiple sports have already been eliminated. And there’s likely to be more as time drags on.
Charlie Titus, the vice chancellor for athletics and recreation at UMass Boston, another Division III school, said things should be steady for the current fiscal year that ends next month. What happens after that, though, with potential hits to state funding and uncertainty around enrollment, has yet to be determined.
“Now I’m hoping that we don’t have to cut any sports, but I think that everything’s on the table right now,” he said. “There’s just no question about that. This is unprecedented. We haven’t experienced anything like this before ever.”
Athletics hold a unique place on American college campuses. But like everything else, the coronavirus is reshaping what was once certain.
For Titus, his thinking is simple.
“Listen, the athletic department has to participate,” he said. “We participate in good times, we have to participate in bad times. That’s just the reality.”
It’s a reality seemingly everyone in college sports is navigating without a clear final destination.
