Pelphrey guiding team through COVID, its effects on college athletics
The first four games of the season, Tennessee Tech head men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey was in a strange situation as a head coach. As the Golden Eagles played, all he could do was watch. Not courtside, roaming the sidelines, but at home, watching or listening to the broadcasts. Pelphrey was at home, under quarantine after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, the coronavirus. But the games had to go on. Marcus King took the reins for that inaugural stretch and it was business as usual for the Golden Eagles. At the same time, however, Pelphrey was fighting his own battle.
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
The first four games of the season, Tennessee Tech head men's basketball coach John Pelphrey was in a strange situation as a head coach.
As the Golden Eagles played, all he could do was watch. Not courtside, roaming the sidelines, but at home, watching or listening to the broadcasts. Pelphrey was at home, under quarantine after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, the coronavirus.
But the games had to go on. Assistant coach Marcus King took the reins for that inaugural stretch and it was business as usual for the Golden Eagles.
At the same time, however, Pelphrey was fighting his own battle.
"Initially, before I started feeling super bad, you wondered how this was going to go," Pelphrey said. "I knew it was going to be different, but I was hoping I wasn't going to experience this. I got really sick. I'll be honest with you, I was more than glad to leave it to (the assistant coaches). I was trying to focus on me and get myself right. I almost feel guilty that I wasn't more engaged with the team, more engaged with the coaching staff, more engaged with our players and their families. I just did not feel well.
"It was really good to get back though. I have a deeper appreciation for my health and being healthy and being able to come out here every single day with these young men. I've always counted that as an honor and a blessing. Those moments in time really just reinforce those things for us."
There's no denying that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the athletics landscape has been different. Just to give teams the opportunity to compete, it's a constant give-and-take. Routines are thrown out the window.
No one knows this more than the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team.
There isn't a week over the course of the 2020-21 academic year that the program wasn't affected in some way by the pandemic. But there are reasons the protocols are in place. Protect the players and coaches. Protect the fans. Basketball is a team game, and this season, to get this year in the books, everyone is part of the team.
"Everybody has been put into a different situation," Pelphrey said. "All of us – not just college basketball. It's a new landscape. We've talked to our players about who handles these situations the best will largely determine who gets the chance to play."
The Tennessee Tech women have had seven games postponed or outright canceled because of the pandemic – however, just two on Tech's end. The Golden Eagle men have not had any schedule changes thus far for COVID protocols.
Pelphrey said, "That's one of the things we've been really proud about is that, in this point In time, we haven't missed a game from our side of it. That's a tribute to the players, the coaches, the administrators, all the people involved to understand the objective, carry the message and just stay with it."
Other teams in the Ohio Valley Conference haven't been as lucky. As of this writing, the SIUE men had a non-conference game against Northwestern cancelled and got one OVC contest in on December 18 at Morehead State, then didn't take to the court again until January 21 – over a full month between games – with eight games slated to be made up if they can. Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri have had three rescheduled games, while Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, Tennessee State and UT Martin have had two.
On the women's side, Belmont have had seven postponements, while JSU, Murray State, SIUE and UT Martin have had three each. No team on the women's side has been able to avoid a schedule change.
In all, the Tech men are currently the only team in the conference to not have a COVID-related schedule change. The OVC has a tournament bracket change in place in case teams aren't able to complete their schedules even with makeup dates.
That's not to say the Golden Eagle men have been immune to it – there's been other factors that the effects of the virus orbiting the program has incited.
"We certainly had our share of it before the season started," Pelphrey said. "Certainly, trying to practice has been a challenge. To keep a level of conditioning has been hard. To develop skills, chemistry, camaraderie, it's all been a challenge. We've been very fortunate that our guys really like each other. Our weight room was even shut down for a period of time, so our physical development lacked as well.
"There's been a lot there. You worry about not being able to develop, not able to lift weights, not able to get into great shape. You worry about injuries and we've had some of those. I don't know if we could really attribute it to everything that's going on, but we have had a couple of stress fractures and one young man go out with a shoulder surgery."
As the Golden Eagles have traveled all over the region to play non-conference and OVC foes, there's no question that this has indeed been a different season with empty seats, different bench configurations and piped-in crowd noise.
"It's been very different," Pelphrey said. "We played a game this year where we only had two referees. I can't remember the last time that happened – maybe back in high school. There's been gyms where there's only been a few people in there, as well as games where there has been no one there but the two teams and the people keeping score. It's very much a different environment.
"Having to change in shifts in the locker room, having to watch film in shifts, not being able to have team meals together as you grab your food and head up to your room, having to travel five hours on a bus while wearing your mask – it's just been a totally different environment."
As frustrating at the COVID protocols can be at times, there's no question that the abundance of caution is being done for a reason.
"Sometimes it's not been a lot of fun, quite honestly – it hasn't," Pelphrey said. "But with everyone's desire to compete in college basketball, you understand the value in wearing a mask, of washing your hands, of social distancing.
"We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. We're clearly right in the middle of it. We think that hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel with eventually a vaccination for everybody, hopefully herd immunity. But those things aren't happening this basketball season, so it's to keep people safe."
While the coach's charges are all in their late teens to early 20's, there's still a responsibility to not only the players in his care, but to the people around the program.
"Yeah, the data, the information says overwhelmingly that young people don't get severely sick, but no one wants to have the first man or woman experience that," Pelphrey said. "A lot of the people that work with us, support us -- trainers, administrators, people who run our facilities, drive our buses, deliver our meals – they're not in that age bracket and they need a job and they're trying to figure out how to best keep themselves safe so they can provide a service and they can go home safely to their families."
Pelphrey continued, "Even if you're in a demographic where the virus may only take a couple of weeks from you and may not challenge your life, you need to adhere to protocols as well because you could be protecting somebody else's life. That has been proven to be true. Right now, the way our hospitals are, only the critical of anything can be admitted and that's a really challenging place to be. None of us want to get to that point where we need some serious medical attention and can't get it."
The physical effects of the virus are well documented, but there's another aspect to it when it comes to team dynamics.
"It's a challenge on a daily basis," Pelphrey said. "The other challenge is leadership when someone does have it and they go into quarantine or isolation. You don't want them to feel like they're quarantined and isolated. You want them to stay connected, that they're not alone.
"This thing is two-fold – there's a physical piece to it that can make you not feel well, but there's also a mental element to it as well that can affect you."
One positive that has come out of the pandemic is teams have been able to go back and examine the way they do things. Through that, Pelphrey has seen pros and cons.
"I think one of the biggest things we've learned is there is a way to manage," Pelphrey said. "There's a way to make it happen, but we all have to be in this together. We've had to be creative, we've had to think differently. There are things that I didn't realize how important they were before because that element of our program, practice, communication, whatever that piece was, I'm really looking forward to getting back to that, because it is a big part of developing relationships, all of us being on the same page and understanding.
"It does take a lot more work when you have to watch film in groups, practice in groups, travel in groups. It takes so much more work and takes away from the unity. I guess it'd be the equivalent of a preacher delivering three sermons on Sunday. Are all of them the same? Are they all good? Did you deliver the same message or was something missed? You really have to be organized and make sure you don't miss your message from one to the next. Yeah, we've been creative, but there's some things we've missed too."
As Tech enters the latter half of the 2020-21 campaign after a tough start, optimism abounds for the program as the hope of continuity reigns.
"There's been a lot that's been put on our young men," Pelphrey said. "I'm very proud of them. On top of all this, they've had a semester of school to deal with. You've always got fall break and Christmas break in there – more disruptions where our team leaves and comes back. But we're excited now – we're looking forward to continuing this trend of practicing, staying away from COVID as much as possible and see what we can do in the second half of our season in terms of development, chemistry, conditioning and see where we are as a basketball team."
How have the players responded to all of these changes?
"I think they're good," Pelphrey said. "Young people are resilient. They're creative, they're smart, they show their passion for wanting to be here. In a point in time where you don't get a quality practice, don't get a full roster and there's all this disruption, you still get to play the games. Even though you may not get the results you want, to be able to come back and be together and enjoy this and understand that there's a bigger picture here, it's important to them.
"There's a reason the NCAA gave them all this year back. Maybe that gives them some relief back mentally…
"'This is a tough way to spend my senior…
"'This is not going to be your senior year.'
"'This is a tough way to spend my first…
"'This is not going to be your first year. You're going to have a chance to get it back.'
Pelphrey continued, "I think our guys have really embraced the overall big picture of the thing, and just try to stay in the moment every single day, adhere to the protocols, go to school, enjoy playing basketball and continue to be tough and resilient."
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
