--Neal Brown offered his condolences to the family of Donnie Young.
--Online classes have began and they are off and rolling with the academic piece. Think they will have a solid semester. The Big 12 guidelines are in place and the health and wellness of players remain the same. They still can't monitor workouts but they have been in contact with the players giving them workouts based on what the players have to use at their disposal in regards to equipment. Working on good nutrition habits as well with the players. They are using the medical staff to virtually monitor the rehab players as well to make sure they are on target.
--The focus has been establishing a routine and giving recommendations on things that the players can do fundamentally. The players are on their own and away from the monitoring and the structure they normally have so they've been tying to get them to establish routines.
--The recruiting staff is working diligently on the 2021 class and getting ahead on the 2022 class. The recruiting is going to be a lot different. There won't be any spring evaluation period, Brown doesn't see any summer camps in June.
--Coaches have four hours a week to do a daily check in at 10 a.m. EASTERN to do team meetings and position meetings virtually. They have to chart those for compliance reasons, full position meetings three times a week and the position coach has the latitude to use individual meetings for the rest of the time. Those three meetings per week go around 30-40 minutes each. They try to break them up and do some book studies and try to grow their togetherness even while they are apart. It's new time for coaches because they haven't had to teach remotely so they quiz their players to see how they are doing as teachers and they're using all different types of technology. Right now because of two practices they don't have a lot of film to work with.
--The hurdles in remote learning has been understanding the approach to these meetings are the same as it would be an in-person meeting. Sitting down, making sure they have something to write with with and being in the mindset of learning. The groups are trimmed down to position groups which are usually close already and the second is the accountability teams which run until fall camp. Long term it will be beneficial. Forcing us to be a player led team instead of a coach led team. Long term Brown believes it will be a positive.
--Virtual tours, bringing in the coaches and our different departments into the recruiting process. Many of the professors have been helpful with face-time calls and answering questions. Mike Joseph, Brittany O'Dell and others have been brought into the recruiting process via phone and most of the time that would just happen on campus. With those guys that haven't been on campus they have to take the product to them. They use the WVU virtual tour and do videos to get to the families that haven't been here. It goes back to all these new found techniques with videos and graphics but the most important thing you have to do is connect. Whether that is text, getting on the phone and that is the best thing they can do and the most useful thing they can do right now.
--Brown is constantly looking for edges during this time that nobody expected and nobody planned for and there are ways to do that. How can you connect the most with your team? How can you create accountability? How do you set up expectations when they do return? How programs handle this period is how teams could possibly separate themselves and he doesn't know when they will return but they want to be prepared when they are ready. You can create some momentum and can get better during this time.
--The question everybody is trying to figure out is how long this would take to get players ready for football season. Everybody has become accustomed to that now with summer school and transitioning into the fall but before that most of the time college players went home and fall camp was longer to get into shape. He doesn't know what the time-frame looks like but he thinks it'd be four weeks or so to get into shape. Big guys have to get in position to have strength and impact. Around four to six weeks could cover it because you put players at risk for injury if you don't.
--Brown said that they had two spring practices, some haven't had any and some that are all the way done with spring football so it's uneven across the board. The biggest thing you're losing on this is repetition. Assume everybody is doing what they are supposed to do, which is off, the biggest thing you can't make up is the timing of the plays and the repetition that you log. You don't get those back so early in the season the product would maybe be as clean. That also could make programs be a little more basic because you don't have the time to rep the things you would.
--When it comes to players that enrolled early, they aren't in the business of pushing kids to do that. If they want to do that it's a win for us but they're not forcing kids to do it. It will be beneficial for those kids even without spring practice because they'll have a major leg up on the rest of the class because they'll know the system and have these meetings right now where the other recruits can't. They'll also have the college credits from an academic standpoint. They won't have the 15 practices but they will have a lot of the other things.
--Analysts have basically taken what they would do in May and the summer and attacked that now. That's professional development at the NFL and collegiate in all three phases they are interested in growing in. They are doing a lot of studies on that and helping with some opponent breakdown. Always do a summer opponent breakdown so when they get into fall camp they have an idea how they will lineup based on what they've done in the past. They do it for each opponent and work on preparing for those. They are doing those now and in a normal case they'd do that in July. Working with their position coach on what they'd normally do. Jeff Casteel was the right kind of guy, he's from West Virginia and loves the football program. He's been a part of some of the best era's and biggest wins here. Brown had a lot of respect for him as a football coach and they wanted to add some experience to gain wisdom. He won't just help defensively but he will help from an offensive standpoint as well by scouting the offense and what he saw were the strengths and weaknesses.
--Brown said it's a difficult deal because you're preparing for so many unknowns. From a football standpoint, they've got to have expectations when they do return. They have to clearly define what those expectations are and what do they expect them to know when they get back? What kind of shape do they expect them to be in? Define those as well so when they do return they know what to work toward when they arrive back on campus whenever that will be.
--This is a world wide tragedy that has affected everybody. Brown does think there will be some positives in each of our lives that come from this. They were forced to hit pause and he thinks they'll have real growth during this and spend time with their families, etc. Do they outweigh the tragedy? No, but there are some that come from this.
--Brown said that within his team some of the guys have done some PSA's that have been helpful. Several of the guys are doing things on social media and reading stories and video things for the children's hospital. They are realizing it's bigger for them and some guys that have platforms that are using them across the landscape of college football.
--Online classes have began and they are off and rolling with the academic piece. Think they will have a solid semester. The Big 12 guidelines are in place and the health and wellness of players remain the same. They still can't monitor workouts but they have been in contact with the players giving them workouts based on what the players have to use at their disposal in regards to equipment. Working on good nutrition habits as well with the players. They are using the medical staff to virtually monitor the rehab players as well to make sure they are on target.
--The focus has been establishing a routine and giving recommendations on things that the players can do fundamentally. The players are on their own and away from the monitoring and the structure they normally have so they've been tying to get them to establish routines.
--The recruiting staff is working diligently on the 2021 class and getting ahead on the 2022 class. The recruiting is going to be a lot different. There won't be any spring evaluation period, Brown doesn't see any summer camps in June.
--Coaches have four hours a week to do a daily check in at 10 a.m. EASTERN to do team meetings and position meetings virtually. They have to chart those for compliance reasons, full position meetings three times a week and the position coach has the latitude to use individual meetings for the rest of the time. Those three meetings per week go around 30-40 minutes each. They try to break them up and do some book studies and try to grow their togetherness even while they are apart. It's new time for coaches because they haven't had to teach remotely so they quiz their players to see how they are doing as teachers and they're using all different types of technology. Right now because of two practices they don't have a lot of film to work with.
--The hurdles in remote learning has been understanding the approach to these meetings are the same as it would be an in-person meeting. Sitting down, making sure they have something to write with with and being in the mindset of learning. The groups are trimmed down to position groups which are usually close already and the second is the accountability teams which run until fall camp. Long term it will be beneficial. Forcing us to be a player led team instead of a coach led team. Long term Brown believes it will be a positive.
--Virtual tours, bringing in the coaches and our different departments into the recruiting process. Many of the professors have been helpful with face-time calls and answering questions. Mike Joseph, Brittany O'Dell and others have been brought into the recruiting process via phone and most of the time that would just happen on campus. With those guys that haven't been on campus they have to take the product to them. They use the WVU virtual tour and do videos to get to the families that haven't been here. It goes back to all these new found techniques with videos and graphics but the most important thing you have to do is connect. Whether that is text, getting on the phone and that is the best thing they can do and the most useful thing they can do right now.
--Brown is constantly looking for edges during this time that nobody expected and nobody planned for and there are ways to do that. How can you connect the most with your team? How can you create accountability? How do you set up expectations when they do return? How programs handle this period is how teams could possibly separate themselves and he doesn't know when they will return but they want to be prepared when they are ready. You can create some momentum and can get better during this time.
--The question everybody is trying to figure out is how long this would take to get players ready for football season. Everybody has become accustomed to that now with summer school and transitioning into the fall but before that most of the time college players went home and fall camp was longer to get into shape. He doesn't know what the time-frame looks like but he thinks it'd be four weeks or so to get into shape. Big guys have to get in position to have strength and impact. Around four to six weeks could cover it because you put players at risk for injury if you don't.
--Brown said that they had two spring practices, some haven't had any and some that are all the way done with spring football so it's uneven across the board. The biggest thing you're losing on this is repetition. Assume everybody is doing what they are supposed to do, which is off, the biggest thing you can't make up is the timing of the plays and the repetition that you log. You don't get those back so early in the season the product would maybe be as clean. That also could make programs be a little more basic because you don't have the time to rep the things you would.
--When it comes to players that enrolled early, they aren't in the business of pushing kids to do that. If they want to do that it's a win for us but they're not forcing kids to do it. It will be beneficial for those kids even without spring practice because they'll have a major leg up on the rest of the class because they'll know the system and have these meetings right now where the other recruits can't. They'll also have the college credits from an academic standpoint. They won't have the 15 practices but they will have a lot of the other things.
--Analysts have basically taken what they would do in May and the summer and attacked that now. That's professional development at the NFL and collegiate in all three phases they are interested in growing in. They are doing a lot of studies on that and helping with some opponent breakdown. Always do a summer opponent breakdown so when they get into fall camp they have an idea how they will lineup based on what they've done in the past. They do it for each opponent and work on preparing for those. They are doing those now and in a normal case they'd do that in July. Working with their position coach on what they'd normally do. Jeff Casteel was the right kind of guy, he's from West Virginia and loves the football program. He's been a part of some of the best era's and biggest wins here. Brown had a lot of respect for him as a football coach and they wanted to add some experience to gain wisdom. He won't just help defensively but he will help from an offensive standpoint as well by scouting the offense and what he saw were the strengths and weaknesses.
--Brown said it's a difficult deal because you're preparing for so many unknowns. From a football standpoint, they've got to have expectations when they do return. They have to clearly define what those expectations are and what do they expect them to know when they get back? What kind of shape do they expect them to be in? Define those as well so when they do return they know what to work toward when they arrive back on campus whenever that will be.
--This is a world wide tragedy that has affected everybody. Brown does think there will be some positives in each of our lives that come from this. They were forced to hit pause and he thinks they'll have real growth during this and spend time with their families, etc. Do they outweigh the tragedy? No, but there are some that come from this.
--Brown said that within his team some of the guys have done some PSA's that have been helpful. Several of the guys are doing things on social media and reading stories and video things for the children's hospital. They are realizing it's bigger for them and some guys that have platforms that are using them across the landscape of college football.
