Rice Athletics Archives - Page 6 of 6

The 2020 college sports calendar was abruptly halted to protect against the coronavirus. Fans across the nation are still processing the sudden shock.

On Tuesday evening USA Today columnist Dan Wolken penned what was, at the time, an incomprehensible edict: cancel the NCAA Tournament. The reaction on social media was far-ranging. Some called him a fearmonger. Others praised his advocacy. But at some level all of us wondered… could he be right?

Less than 48 hours later, Wolken was right. There will be no NCAA Tournament. There won’t even be a Conference USA Basketball Tournament — not a complete one. Players and fans were sent home from Frisco after one day of the scheduled four-day tournament had been completed.

Rice women’s basketball had dressed for the game. They were ready to play through the maelstrom of uncertainty. Then they were sent back to the locker room. The game was over. The season was over. For some, like senior guard and two-time Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike, their careers were over.

All within 48 hours.

And it didn’t stop there. Conferences began to indefinitely postpone all spring athletics. Conference USA followed suit, halting the Rice baseball season in its tracks. The remainder of the spring sports were put on hiatus and soon after classes were moved online for the remainder of the semester. The NBA, NHL and MLB all delayed their seasons, too.

Then the NCAA announced that all spring championships were canceled. From March Madness — which was purportedly to be played without fans as a last-ditch, stopgap measure — to the College World Series in the summer. All of it. Gone. Done. Poof.

It should go without saying that the health and safety of student athletes, their families, coaches and all athletic staff personnel, is of the utmost importance. The “why” behind these cancelations is far from unconscionable. But the anguish, the disappointment, is going to last for a long time.

This fallout from these nation-shaking decisions is far from over. Eligibility questions will linger as the country readies itself for a global pandemic with no tournaments to distract them, to salve the harder days. What happens to seniors, some of which had just begun their spring seasons? Will there be waivers and how does that impact rosters for next year? Will the NCAA reach an equitable middle ground?

We don’t know.

Frankly, those three words sum up the last three days more succinctly than anything else. But the sun will rise tomorrow. Life will continue, with or without sports. It will undoubtedly take weeks to wrap our minds around what is happening in our world right now.

Rice Athletics will move forward and so will The Roost. We’re working through some contingency plans when it comes to content. We have some ideas and we’d love to get your input on what sort of things you’d be interested in reading in the coming weeks. Please leave us a comment on the forum or message us on social media and let us know. Today is a hard day, but we’ll make it through.

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Making Rice Athletics a premier program in the country continues to be an evolving vision, further strengthed by the rollout of a new strategic plan.

On Friday, Rice announced the details of their 2019 Rice Athletics Strategic Plan. You can read the complete plan in detail, here. At its core, the framework is built around a continued commitment to winning at Rice, both on the field and in the classroom. Achieving that, alongside the growth of the Rice Athletics brand headline the priorities in this coming season.

Infrastructure upgrades

Investment will be crucial to reaching those heights. The Strategic Plan provides some insight into how Rice plans to do this. The plan notes goals to “ensure adequate training space in support of high-performance goals” and to “renovate Rice Stadium”.

This seems to coincide with reports earlier this spring concerning a new practice bubble which is currently in the works. That facility, combined with a much-needed refresh of the stadium itself, will go hand in hand with increasing the effectiveness of the individual athletics programs and the fan engagement.

As for what areas of the stadium are at the forefront of the remake, Senior Associate AD Tanner Gardner said the focal point would be fan facing amenities such as common areas, the concourse, bathrooms, seating, club space and suites. The objective, as Gardner put it, is “to make our stadium a modern stadium” by building onto the existing structure in new ways. There won’t be any wrecking balls, but there will be new technology and excitement.

Commitment to winning

Building those facilities won’t be enough in itself to further winning at Rice. Athletic programs around the nation have made it clear that top end facilities plus top end talent leads to success on the field.

Further goals specify the intention to “create a special fund for extraordinary recruiting expenses”. What that looks like in reality remains to be seen, but opening up the purse to secure greater access to talent is essential to taking the next step athletically across all sports.

The obvious starting point is football, where a renewed commitment to a national search has necessitated an increased spending commitment. Said another way, money should not be the issue Rice can’t reach a recruit.

If Rice can do those things, they’ll set themselves up to fulfill their goals of building a strong brand. “Our goal is to always improve our standing in the college athletics world,” Gardner summarized, “Our job is to do the right thing. If we do the right thing we’ll get the right results.” It’s true, those right results are a ways away. But these principals set Rice up in the right direction. Now it’s time to execute.