Mitchell Magazine Spring 2020

ATHLETICS
TYLER FOWLER
Innovations
Terry Fowler
Head Women’s Basketball Coach
The most unusual thing about the
transition to online classes is not seeing
our student-athletes on a daily basis. At
the same time, the NCAA has suspended
all traditional recruiting activities until
May 31st; teams are not allowed to have
on-or of-campus visits with prospective
student-athletes or any athletic-related
activities with our current studentathletes.
In the absence of the above
activities, our schedule is very diferent.
On Monday, we hold a virtual staf
meeting. Tuesday is reserved for our
virtual team meeting. On Thursday,
the athletic administrative staf holds
a virtual meeting for Head Coaches.
Assistant coaches monitor the studentathlete
academic progress holding
virtual meetings with the players
throughout the week.
Nick Brochu
Head Men’s Tennis Coach
The NCAA granted another year of
eligibility to all of our players. This news
was extremely special for our three
seniors who will get another chance
to compete for South Alabama. One of
them will have the opportunity to start
his graduate degree while completing
his eligibility. We were all very
appreciative of the NCAA's decision
for our freshmen who didn't get to
experience the ferce conference regular
season and the Sun Belt Championship
in April. Recruiting has been a little
challenging since the NCAA doesn't
allow in-person recruiting until May
31st, but we are still heavily recruiting
by phone, email, and video chats. It is
unfortunate that recruits cannot visit
our beautiful campus, but we have to
be understanding during this pandemic.
With our seniors coming back and our
incoming freshmen starting in August,
we will have a larger roster size than
normal. I believe this will create a better
team atmosphere and a stronger team
chemistry. Over the years, players have
created a strong brotherhood. They
defnitely miss each other during this
crisis, but I'm glad to see how close they
remain on each other's social media and
group chats. It is very sad that many
sports got their seasons cut short, but
this pandemic is bigger than sports. I am
glad that our student-athletes were able
to fy back to their families in time and
be safe with their loved ones. The Jags
will be back.
Becky Clark
Head Softball Coach
This entire experience is unique. I never
imagined when I told the team we were
being shut down that it was for the
entire year; we all thought it would be a
week or two and then we would return
to campus. Technology has played a
38 | MITCHELL | SPRING 2020