This pandemic is not only going to change lives, and unfortunately end thousands, but it is going to fundamentally change society. We’re only a month into this and already, we’re starting to see signs of massive upheaval in world of sports.
Everyone in the world of sports pundits are immediately focused on the halt the NBA and the NHL, and delay of the start of Major League Baseball, which are all viable topics. But I would argue that he speculation about when and if the seasons will continue or when baseball will return are extremely shortsighted. I think we’re so desperate for things to get better that we’re just fooling ourselves.
I don’t write this to be a Negative Nancy or a Debbie Downer. I actually being a pragmatist. We just don’t have the evidence that things are going to get better, and I think we’re short selling the effect that COVID-19 will have on the world of sports long-term.
One of those signs came from an unexpected source. Unless you’re a MAC alumnus like myself, or just really really into college basketball, and most likely a degenerate gambler, you might have missed this news. Western Michigan, home of the Broncos, just made a head coaching hire that I think is a sign of things to come.
Granted, that is WMU or the guy they hired, Clayton Bates, as head coach, are not marquee billed names. But what is interesting (and why I say precedent setting) is that the school openly admits that COVID-19 played a role in his ascension from clipboard carrying associate coach to the face of the hoops program.
“I decided to change leadership of our program days before the COVID-19 crisis emerged. A comprehensive national search in this time of anxiety, despite exceedingly strong national interest in the position, just didn’t sit well with me,” athletic director Kathy Beauregard said in a statement. ESPN
Steve Hawkins, who retired after 17 seasons, was let go rather abruptly after two losing seasons, with just eight conference wins in those two years and MAC West division finishes of fifth, sixth, and fourth in the last three. But that move just came roughly three weeks ago. That WMU moved this quickly without a true national search is remarkable… and telling.
The school has also suspended external hires and cut funding for the head coach position; Bates is making a lot less money. But here’s the take-away: this is for basketball. Not football. Not the golden sport that college athletic departments depend on or prop up as their reason for existence. This is basketball; which doesn’t start until late October.
And there are still people who think we are going to have football this fall.