Brown: Work Continues for Mountaineer Football While Flattening the Curve
April 07, 2020 01:49 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The new normal for West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown right now is lots of social distancing and family time.
He's taken on the role of physical education teacher for his children Adalyn, Anslee and Dax with wife, Brooke, handling their more cerebral activities.
"There has been a lot of time spent with family," he said Tuesday morning during a 25-minute sit-down interview with Tony Caridi. "I've got a brand new appreciation for my wife. I've got the 12 to 1:30 window, so that's lunch and PE during our home schooling. We're on spring break so it's a little more relaxed around the house.
"So far so good."
Brown's day job as the leader of Mountaineer football marches on as well, with lots of video conferencing to keep up with his 100-plus-member team.
He's established a routine for his players and coaches that revolves around full team video meetings twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with position-group meetings taking place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Following position-group meetings, the players will then meet separately with their accountability groups. Brown said no check-ins take place during the weekends and the meetings begin at 10 a.m. each day.
"We're trying to make sure those meetings are short because we are doing them via Zoom and we're telling our players to treat them just like they would if they were in our facility," he said.
"Each player has designed their own individual daily routine and that revolves around getting three meals a day, it's around getting their workout in – which we can't monitor, it's around getting their position work – which we can't monitor, and then it's about keeping up with their academic work," Brown added.
Brown believes establishing a daily routine is the best way for the players to navigate the uncertainty of each day.
"You hear us talking about every day and what that it is having an everyday mindset. I think we are a product of what we repeatedly do, so my hope is our staff and our players can create habits and those habits form a routine and those habits are nutrition, working out, position work, academics and all of the things they would normally being during this time," he said.
When Brown is not meeting with his players and assistant coaches, he's focusing on the players he's seeking for his 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes.
That means driving through the fog with the low beams on until it finally lifts.
"I think recruiting is going to be completely different for this cycle, which is unfortunate for those kids and it's probably unfortunate for us," Brown said. "What I mean by that is the players are not going through the normal (recruiting) process because they are not going to be able to come and watch our practice during spring – which they normally would do. Official visits … we don't know yet when those will resume."
He continued.
"There is going to be no spring evaluation and there is a lot of improvement that happens between the end of your junior year, and those student-athletes are not going to be able to showcase their skills. I think summer camps are a huge question mark," he admitted. "I would say doubtful at best, which is another evaluation point – not only for the class of '21 but also the class of '22."
Brown said summer camps are extremely important for coaches because that is their best in-person evaluation period.
"I really enjoy the live evaluations, especially in a camp setting, because you can see how do they compete? Are they first in line? How do they take instruction? How do they take correction? As a head coach that's the only live evaluations we get," he said.
Therefore, that means video evaluations are going to be vitally important for coaches in determining which players they offer during this recruiting cycle.
"You are going to have to be creative, and we've tried to be creative in getting our message to those student-athletes, especially the ones that haven't been on our campus yet and that's virtual tours, that's Zoom meetings with professors, that's Zoom meetings with our academic people, strength and conditioning, nutrition – we're trying to take our product to them," Brown explained.
Personal contact has been limited to phone calls and text messaging, but daily interactions have actually increased because everyone is self-quarantining.
This has allowed coaches and recruits to interact much more frequently than in the past.
"The actual flow of recruiting – the daily interactions – has probably increased because the actual recruits are home, they more available on the phone for direct messaging and texts than they'd normally be because they have fewer activities," he explained. "The coaches are more available because they don't have practices and meetings."
Interactions have even increased for parents and guardians as well, which is also important during the recruiting process.
"We're getting to know them better, and I think guys are making decisions," Brown said.
A downside to what's happening right now is players are making commitments to schools without ever visiting the campus, according to Brown.
He said there could be a wave of de-commitments once the pandemic is over.
"It will be interesting to see how many of these commitments stick once this pandemic is over," he said.
When will that be?
Brown said that will likely be in the hands of state and federal officials, not university decision makers nor even conference commissioners.
"I think it will be difficult to have contests with no students," he said. "My hope is that we are flattening the curve and can have some strength and conditioning time over the summer where we can get our guys in shape and, hopefully, start our season on schedule. That's our plan and that's how we're approaching it.
"Now you always have to prepare for the worst-case scenarios, and we're doing that as well," he concluded.
He's taken on the role of physical education teacher for his children Adalyn, Anslee and Dax with wife, Brooke, handling their more cerebral activities.
"There has been a lot of time spent with family," he said Tuesday morning during a 25-minute sit-down interview with Tony Caridi. "I've got a brand new appreciation for my wife. I've got the 12 to 1:30 window, so that's lunch and PE during our home schooling. We're on spring break so it's a little more relaxed around the house.
"So far so good."
Brown's day job as the leader of Mountaineer football marches on as well, with lots of video conferencing to keep up with his 100-plus-member team.
He's established a routine for his players and coaches that revolves around full team video meetings twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with position-group meetings taking place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Following position-group meetings, the players will then meet separately with their accountability groups. Brown said no check-ins take place during the weekends and the meetings begin at 10 a.m. each day.
"We're trying to make sure those meetings are short because we are doing them via Zoom and we're telling our players to treat them just like they would if they were in our facility," he said.
"Each player has designed their own individual daily routine and that revolves around getting three meals a day, it's around getting their workout in – which we can't monitor, it's around getting their position work – which we can't monitor, and then it's about keeping up with their academic work," Brown added.
Brown believes establishing a daily routine is the best way for the players to navigate the uncertainty of each day.
"You hear us talking about every day and what that it is having an everyday mindset. I think we are a product of what we repeatedly do, so my hope is our staff and our players can create habits and those habits form a routine and those habits are nutrition, working out, position work, academics and all of the things they would normally being during this time," he said.
When Brown is not meeting with his players and assistant coaches, he's focusing on the players he's seeking for his 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes.
That means driving through the fog with the low beams on until it finally lifts.
"I think recruiting is going to be completely different for this cycle, which is unfortunate for those kids and it's probably unfortunate for us," Brown said. "What I mean by that is the players are not going through the normal (recruiting) process because they are not going to be able to come and watch our practice during spring – which they normally would do. Official visits … we don't know yet when those will resume."
He continued.
"There is going to be no spring evaluation and there is a lot of improvement that happens between the end of your junior year, and those student-athletes are not going to be able to showcase their skills. I think summer camps are a huge question mark," he admitted. "I would say doubtful at best, which is another evaluation point – not only for the class of '21 but also the class of '22."
Brown said summer camps are extremely important for coaches because that is their best in-person evaluation period.
"I really enjoy the live evaluations, especially in a camp setting, because you can see how do they compete? Are they first in line? How do they take instruction? How do they take correction? As a head coach that's the only live evaluations we get," he said.
Therefore, that means video evaluations are going to be vitally important for coaches in determining which players they offer during this recruiting cycle.
"You are going to have to be creative, and we've tried to be creative in getting our message to those student-athletes, especially the ones that haven't been on our campus yet and that's virtual tours, that's Zoom meetings with professors, that's Zoom meetings with our academic people, strength and conditioning, nutrition – we're trying to take our product to them," Brown explained.
Personal contact has been limited to phone calls and text messaging, but daily interactions have actually increased because everyone is self-quarantining.
This has allowed coaches and recruits to interact much more frequently than in the past.
"The actual flow of recruiting – the daily interactions – has probably increased because the actual recruits are home, they more available on the phone for direct messaging and texts than they'd normally be because they have fewer activities," he explained. "The coaches are more available because they don't have practices and meetings."
Interactions have even increased for parents and guardians as well, which is also important during the recruiting process.
"We're getting to know them better, and I think guys are making decisions," Brown said.
A downside to what's happening right now is players are making commitments to schools without ever visiting the campus, according to Brown.
He said there could be a wave of de-commitments once the pandemic is over.
"It will be interesting to see how many of these commitments stick once this pandemic is over," he said.
When will that be?
Brown said that will likely be in the hands of state and federal officials, not university decision makers nor even conference commissioners.
"I think it will be difficult to have contests with no students," he said. "My hope is that we are flattening the curve and can have some strength and conditioning time over the summer where we can get our guys in shape and, hopefully, start our season on schedule. That's our plan and that's how we're approaching it.
"Now you always have to prepare for the worst-case scenarios, and we're doing that as well," he concluded.
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