Ohio State’s sports teams have been physically separated from each other for over a month, and there's no timetable yet for when they’ll be able to return to campus and reconvene in person. So they’ve had to rely on technology to stay connected.
Under normal circumstances, the Ohio State football team would have spent the last month-and-a-half practicing and meeting before wrapping up their spring with the spring game last Saturday. Instead, they never restarted practice after spring break due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s unlikely they’ll be able to start summer workouts as scheduled, either.
As such, Ryan Day and his Buckeyes – and every other Ohio State sports team – have had to adjust to do whatever they can to prepare for the 2020 season, which they hope will start on time, even though most players are back at their families’ homes and spread out all over the country.
Coaches are not allowed to require student-athletes to work out on their own, though student-athletes are certainly expected to do what they can while strength and conditioning coaches are suggesting workout options for them. The NCAA is allowing all Division I sports teams “to require up to eight hours per week of virtual nonphysical countable activities like film review, chalk talks and team meetings,” and Ohio State’s coaches are taking advantage of those opportunities.
Zoom teleconferences have become the technology of choice for many Buckeye teams, including football, to replace in-person meetings. The football Buckeyes are holding weekly full-team meetings via Zoom, and Chris Holtmann’s men’s basketball team is doing the same.
They’ve brought other speakers into those meetings to talk to their student-athletes, as well. This week, Ohio State’s sports psychologists joined the football team’s meeting to talk to them about mental health, while Holtmann brought in former NFL coach Tony Dungy to talk to the men’s basketball team. Last week, team physician James Borchers talked to the football team about COVID-19 and answered questions from them about the pandemic.
Many thanks to Super Bowl XLI champion, Tony Dungy, for sharing with our group today. Excellent stuff! pic.twitter.com/zNrGfOTLKF
— Chris Holtmann (@ChrisHoltmann) April 13, 2020
For football, each assistant coach also holds meetings with their respective position groups, while the entire staff has two meetings each week to touch base on how each player is doing and everything else that’s happening around the program. Holtmann said he and his assistants touch base with each player individually “usually every couple days” and typically have a conference call as a staff each morning to discuss their agenda for the day.
All of that communication is crucial to making sure that their teams stay on track, from student-athletes meeting their academic requirements to coaches continuing their recruiting efforts, and both Day and Holtmann are pleased with how their teams have adapted to the unusual circumstances so far.
“We have unbelievable communication right now with our players through Zoom and phone calls with the parents and parents’ meetings on Zoom,” Day said during a teleconference with reporters this week. “I couldn’t give any higher praise to our staff, to what our support staff’s doing in recruiting and Ryan Stamper in development, Mick Marotti in strength and conditioning and our assistant coaches.”
Day acknowledges that phone calls and video conferences aren't quite as efficient as being able to work together at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, but he believes he and his staff are doing the best they can to overcome those challenges.
“We just keep working through it, put one week in front of the other and then hopefully as we come out of this thing, we pass the test, because that’s what’s being challenged to our team is that this is a test,” Day said. “I think we’re handling it well. I talk to the staff all the time that I think the group and the organizations that can adapt the best during the time are gonna come out of this thing the strongest. So we’re working on that.”
As they navigate through an unprecedented situation together, Ohio State’s coaches from separate sports have also been communicating with each other to share strategies. Holtmann said he and Day have had multiple conversations to bounce ideas off of each other, and former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer has also been in touch with each of them to share his thoughts on how he would handle this situation.
“I’ve tried to ask (Day) kind of what are you doing with your guys right now? What are you doing with your time, what are you guys doing, what is your staff doing? So yeah, I have had those conversations,” Holtmann said on a conference call with reporters this week. “And then you talk to a lot of coaches around the country. There’s a number of different ideas around, but yeah, I have tried to pick the brain of some other guys.”
Ohio State’s coaches have done what they can to work with their athletes from afar, but they’re also hoping this will be an opportunity – especially for teams like basketball and wrestling that have only recently turned the page to next season – for team leaders to emerge and for the athletes themselves to encourage each other. Wrestling coach Tom Ryan told reporters on a teleconference last month that while he is also having Zoom meetings with his team, his wrestlers have been broken up into small groups within the team in which they are expected to hold each other accountable.
Because they aren’t able to oversee any workouts for their teams, and their student-athletes don’t all have equal resources available for working out on their own, there’s only so much the coaches can do for their athletes right now. Ultimately, it’s up to each Ohio State athlete to do what he or she needs to do on their own until team activities are allowed to resume, which is when it will become clear who did what they needed to do to keep themselves in shape and who didn’t.
“This is a time where we’re really gonna learn a lot about individuals,” Ryan said. “They know that as soon as this is over, they’ll be tested. The ones that rise to the top are the ones that quite frankly, don’t need to be told much.”
Tom Ryan is among the Ohio State coaches holding Zoom meetings with his team, but he also expects them to hold themselves and each other accountable since the coaches cannot mandate workouts.
As of now, it remains entirely uncertain when Ohio State sports teams will be able to return to campus and their normal routines. While the Big Ten has suspended organized team activities through May 4, it’s likely it will be at least a couple more months before team activities actually resume, considering Ohio State has canceled all university events through July 6.
While winter sports like basketball and wrestling don’t begin their competitive seasons until November, fall sports like football are those that currently face the most immediate threat among college sports of having their upcoming seasons impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. Whenever they are able to get back on the field together, though, Day believes his team will be closer than ever because of what they’re going through now – and the regular communication between coaches and players is one way to ensure that happens.
“I think for our team, it’s gonna make us stronger,” Day said. “Because I think when you just talk to our team right now and our coaches, we just miss each other. And that’s probably the hardest part of all this is we don’t get to hang around and be around our team. And that’s the thing I keep telling the guys is I miss you guys and just can’t wait to get back together.”
