Perhaps there is an alternate universe somewhere in which a very similar but slightly different Seton Hall team went all the way to the Final Four.
And then there is our own universe, where the real edition of the Seton Hall team never received that chance. And people such as athletic director Bryan Felt wound up consoling the players rather than congratulating them.
Felt understands the future and well-being of the nation is at stake. But, also, like so many of us, he cannot help but think about what might have been.
“You put it in the context of the world we’re in,” he said in a recent phone interview, “the health and safety of everyone is what’s most important, but at the same time, we’re all human, and I'm certainly cut from the same cloth as all of our fans and all of our alumni.”
Because, of course, he is an alumnus, Seton Hall Class of 1997.
Felt continued, “We absolutely love college basketball season, we love our alma mater and we love our team. And we’re fans. It's hard. My heart certainly went out to the young men on our team because I know how hard they worked and this was that moment for them, especially our four seniors. That they didn’t get that chance that I think they always have lived for, and worked for all year, it’s heartbreaking, no doubt about it.
“I've spent a lot of time talking to them the last couple of weeks, and our coaching staff has been talking to them, and they’re great. They're so mature. They handled it so well. They understand what has happened is beyond anyone’s control. They're working on dealing with it in their own way but they’ve just handled the situation with such great class. I'm incredibly proud of all of them.”
Not only was there the promise of a potentially historic season unfulfilled, but Seton Hall also was denied its highest seed since being a No. 2 in 1993 and a record fifth straight NCAA appearance. Not to mention the ancillary financial benefits from being in the NCAA Tournament spotlight, including earning credits of $282,150 to be shared with the Big East for every tournament win until the Final Four.
Plus the intangible financial benefits of the publicity, which helps spike admissions applications.
“It certainly does hurt,” Felt said. “It hurts from an institution standpoint. I think we know what an exciting Big East tournament and what an exciting March Madness could have meant for us. We certainly felt good about our chances and it’s certainly tough not to experience it. But the safety and health of everyone was most important.”
At a time when people are feeling the economic crunch because of the pandemic shutting down non-essential business, universities are similarly afflicted. Worse yet, they will not get the money they usually would from the NCAA’s most lucrative event, the canceled men’s basketball tournament.
“Every school is in the same boat right now,” Felt said. “When you literally have to stop the semester and send students home, you’re going to have a shortfall in terms of revenue and athletically the NCAA distribution will be less than half (of normal), so we’re working as a school, we’re working as a conference to get a handle on all those numbers, spending time looking at all our revenue, and certainly knowing that we’re going to have a shortfall.
“Certainly the fans and the folks that have donated already know that we’re going to have a need, and that need is going to go to our student-athletes and our student emergency fund and Pirate Blue. And certainly some of the money that Pirate Blue raises will go to the student-athletes that we have to extend the eligibility for. So there’s going to be need and we’ll be sensible about the fund-raising piece of it and it’s been encouraging to see the response we’ve already gotten from folks.
“It's an incredibly sensitive time for everyone. We're in the middle of a national pandemic. So I think we’re sensitive to that, certainly (giving to SHU) remains important. it’s the lifeblood of our institution and our athletic program and we’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback we’ve gotten from our fan base and our alumni. I had a letter go out last week to a lot of our fans giving them an update on things. We have received some nice support on that with many people already giving donations.”
Felt and Seton Hall support the NCAA permitting spring athletes to come back for another scholarship season with expanded rosters.
“It was the right decision, without question, and Seton Hall, we’re going to have to deal with it like every other institution. We're going through the logistics now, working with our student-athletes that it applies to. At the end of the day, not every student-athlete is going to come back. On a good note, many of them have jobs lined up. They're getting ready to go into the real world and coming back to school to pursue a second degree is not the first option for them. We're working with those that we think are going to come back and going through the picture of how that would work.”
Felt stated that is one reason donations are needed, to help cover those extra spring scholarships. The school will hold a Caring Day for donations on April 21 with the hope that those that have the means can be generous.
But the department still is working with its student-athletes even in the absence of games.
Felt said, “We’re making sure we’re doing all we can to engage our student-athletes.”
He noted how he believes one reason student-athletes from all sports tend to do well after college is that they are used to planning their days in a regimented fashion with training, nutrition, practice and the like. Felt said the Pirate Wellness Video Series helps them accomplish this on a virtual basis.
“Something is going out to our student-athletes every day,” he said. “A message from me, a message from the trainer, a message from the nutritionist, whatever it might be, some sort of tips that we can be giving them. And on Teamwork Tuesday our fans can log on, which is kind of fun. Our coaches have been busy doing all kinds of virtual meetings with their teams just to touch base with them, and also are providing virtual workouts for them.”
As for Felt himself, “Every day I'm in a Zoom meeting or a Microsoft Teams meeting two or three times, plus conference calls, I get to see who’s growing beards. We’re keeping everybody engaged, keeping everybody busy.”
The economic situation likely has put the brakes on the planned renovation of venerable Walsh Gymnasium.
“It may not make sense,” he said, “in all honesty, to start that project right now, with our focus being on our student-athletes and our students at the university. I think that’s what’s really most important, so as we look to prioritize right now given this whole situation, the most important thing is making sure funding is in place for students, student-athletes and our department. I know a lot of projects across campus are being put on hold for the time being and I expect Walsh most likely to be in that same boat.”
And then there is our own universe, where the real edition of the Seton Hall team never received that chance. And people such as athletic director Bryan Felt wound up consoling the players rather than congratulating them.
Felt understands the future and well-being of the nation is at stake. But, also, like so many of us, he cannot help but think about what might have been.
“You put it in the context of the world we’re in,” he said in a recent phone interview, “the health and safety of everyone is what’s most important, but at the same time, we’re all human, and I'm certainly cut from the same cloth as all of our fans and all of our alumni.”
Because, of course, he is an alumnus, Seton Hall Class of 1997.
Felt continued, “We absolutely love college basketball season, we love our alma mater and we love our team. And we’re fans. It's hard. My heart certainly went out to the young men on our team because I know how hard they worked and this was that moment for them, especially our four seniors. That they didn’t get that chance that I think they always have lived for, and worked for all year, it’s heartbreaking, no doubt about it.
“I've spent a lot of time talking to them the last couple of weeks, and our coaching staff has been talking to them, and they’re great. They're so mature. They handled it so well. They understand what has happened is beyond anyone’s control. They're working on dealing with it in their own way but they’ve just handled the situation with such great class. I'm incredibly proud of all of them.”
Not only was there the promise of a potentially historic season unfulfilled, but Seton Hall also was denied its highest seed since being a No. 2 in 1993 and a record fifth straight NCAA appearance. Not to mention the ancillary financial benefits from being in the NCAA Tournament spotlight, including earning credits of $282,150 to be shared with the Big East for every tournament win until the Final Four.
Plus the intangible financial benefits of the publicity, which helps spike admissions applications.
“It certainly does hurt,” Felt said. “It hurts from an institution standpoint. I think we know what an exciting Big East tournament and what an exciting March Madness could have meant for us. We certainly felt good about our chances and it’s certainly tough not to experience it. But the safety and health of everyone was most important.”
At a time when people are feeling the economic crunch because of the pandemic shutting down non-essential business, universities are similarly afflicted. Worse yet, they will not get the money they usually would from the NCAA’s most lucrative event, the canceled men’s basketball tournament.
“Every school is in the same boat right now,” Felt said. “When you literally have to stop the semester and send students home, you’re going to have a shortfall in terms of revenue and athletically the NCAA distribution will be less than half (of normal), so we’re working as a school, we’re working as a conference to get a handle on all those numbers, spending time looking at all our revenue, and certainly knowing that we’re going to have a shortfall.
“Certainly the fans and the folks that have donated already know that we’re going to have a need, and that need is going to go to our student-athletes and our student emergency fund and Pirate Blue. And certainly some of the money that Pirate Blue raises will go to the student-athletes that we have to extend the eligibility for. So there’s going to be need and we’ll be sensible about the fund-raising piece of it and it’s been encouraging to see the response we’ve already gotten from folks.
“It's an incredibly sensitive time for everyone. We're in the middle of a national pandemic. So I think we’re sensitive to that, certainly (giving to SHU) remains important. it’s the lifeblood of our institution and our athletic program and we’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback we’ve gotten from our fan base and our alumni. I had a letter go out last week to a lot of our fans giving them an update on things. We have received some nice support on that with many people already giving donations.”
Felt and Seton Hall support the NCAA permitting spring athletes to come back for another scholarship season with expanded rosters.
“It was the right decision, without question, and Seton Hall, we’re going to have to deal with it like every other institution. We're going through the logistics now, working with our student-athletes that it applies to. At the end of the day, not every student-athlete is going to come back. On a good note, many of them have jobs lined up. They're getting ready to go into the real world and coming back to school to pursue a second degree is not the first option for them. We're working with those that we think are going to come back and going through the picture of how that would work.”
Felt stated that is one reason donations are needed, to help cover those extra spring scholarships. The school will hold a Caring Day for donations on April 21 with the hope that those that have the means can be generous.
But the department still is working with its student-athletes even in the absence of games.
Felt said, “We’re making sure we’re doing all we can to engage our student-athletes.”
He noted how he believes one reason student-athletes from all sports tend to do well after college is that they are used to planning their days in a regimented fashion with training, nutrition, practice and the like. Felt said the Pirate Wellness Video Series helps them accomplish this on a virtual basis.
“Something is going out to our student-athletes every day,” he said. “A message from me, a message from the trainer, a message from the nutritionist, whatever it might be, some sort of tips that we can be giving them. And on Teamwork Tuesday our fans can log on, which is kind of fun. Our coaches have been busy doing all kinds of virtual meetings with their teams just to touch base with them, and also are providing virtual workouts for them.”
As for Felt himself, “Every day I'm in a Zoom meeting or a Microsoft Teams meeting two or three times, plus conference calls, I get to see who’s growing beards. We’re keeping everybody engaged, keeping everybody busy.”
The economic situation likely has put the brakes on the planned renovation of venerable Walsh Gymnasium.
“It may not make sense,” he said, “in all honesty, to start that project right now, with our focus being on our student-athletes and our students at the university. I think that’s what’s really most important, so as we look to prioritize right now given this whole situation, the most important thing is making sure funding is in place for students, student-athletes and our department. I know a lot of projects across campus are being put on hold for the time being and I expect Walsh most likely to be in that same boat.”
