Inside Temple Athletics and what it took to pull off a college basketball game during a pandemic
Coaches from both Temple and Villanova meet at half court prior to their Dec. 4 game
It had been over 270 days since Temple Women’s basketball had an official basketball game. With a lack of practice time because of multiple positive coronavirus test, the team was not where they wanted to be in terms of preparation for the 2020–21 season.
A conversation between Temple head coach Tonya Cardoza and Villanova’s head coach Denise Dillon offline sparked a resurgent idea, which led to an official call to schedule a noon game between the two Big 5 universities Friday, Dec. 4.
“Their coach called me and said, ‘you think we can fit this in?’” said Jessica Reo, Temple’s Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Women’s Administrator.
Reo then began to work with her team to set up officials, the time and day of the week that worked best for both schools. For the first time since March, Temple had an athletic event scheduled on its campus.
“What’s great about our athletics department team is that everybody’s excited for the season to start, and so everybody was like, ‘sure, what do we have to do?’” said Reo.
“Everybody got it onto the schedule, we got the conference, we got the officials, we got our doctor, you know, everything is set up, we won’t have fans, but everything else is normal,” she said.
What constitutes normal in the world of college athletics in 2020? And what did it take to even get to that Dec. 4 game at Pearson and McGonigle Hall played?
On Mar. 12, the NCAA shut down college basketball in the midst of it’s most profitable month because of the evolving threat of COVID-19. As the country went under various forms of lockdowns and quarantines over the subsequent months, questions arose about having college sports. What would those sports look like if they returned while the virus was still actively affecting thousands of people daily?
Lee Roberts oversees all athletic teams’ facilities as the Senior Associate Athletic Director of Facilities and Event Management. He is responsible for the event’s success. He manages everything from locker room setup, scoreboard operations, officials, and even fans. Making sure everything needed for games to be played is in place.
In May, Roberts gathered with Athletic Directors from schools in the American Athletic Conference to start developing plans for a safe return to athletic competition under state and city guidelines during the pandemic.
“Every operations representative from each school in our conference, our conference Associate Commissioner Scott Draper and his Assistant Commissioner Ryan Kelly were all on calls,” said Roberts.
“They were our liaisons to the AD. Whatever the AD was talking about and whatever the medical board was talking about, they brought it to us to tell us how we would pull it off under the requirements.”
On top of meetings with other schools, Roberts was on a task force for Temple. The university committee’s focus was multifaceted, from a plan to bringing students back on campus, dormitory setups, campus dining, and of course, sporting events.
Reo was also in meetings with the university. Because nobody knew the nature of the original shutdown, Reo said her staff figured they’d be home for two weeks and business would resume as usual. However, as time continued to press on and the stay at home orders across the country were extended, detailed meetings in May began to implement protocols if there would be a season.
“The more detailed the meetings became, it was like, ‘how do we have to implement this’”, said Reo
“We had about 20 people on our calls that were sports medicine strength and conditioning and facilities. We had our team doctors, and we had compliance,” she said.
All fall sports at Temple were canceled except football this year. Basketball had the benefits of seeing how operations handled the football season. Facility management, fans at games, and most importantly, positive coronavirus tests during a season and how they adapted to the ever changing guidelines.
Roberts said he leaned on his working relationship with the Philadelphia Eagles and their stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, where Temple plays its home football games.
You don’t realize how many things you take for granted in terms of working with people until working close has the chance of infecting you with an airborne respiratory virus. And that was the most significant adjustment besides positive tests during the football season.
“It’s literally taking something and creating it from the ground up,” said Roberts.
“The average fan doesn’t really kind of understand the little nuances that go into play in terms of how many touchpoints that you kind of took for granted. I mean, how we get kids water, postgame meals have to be packaged a certain way because you’re trying to minimize contact.”
Student-athletes couldn’t even interact with their parents too closely for fear of spread.
Roberts offered this nugget on the most significant difference for basketball instead of football, the ability to play outdoors.
“The number one challenge you face. As far as the facility goes, the ability to provide sufficient air circulation because the virus is aerosol, you want to try to continue to pump in as much pressure as possible, said Roberts.”
In September, when the NCAA announced that college basketball seasons could start as early as Nov. 25, Reo said her team had to eliminate some scheduled games before that date. Although there had been previous discussions with Villanova, nothing had been set up until both coaches realized they could benefit from adding that game.
Once Reo and her team had the date and time set and secured officials signed the contracts, it was finally time to play ball again.
All that was left was meeting Philadelphia and Pennsylvania and university and athletic conference requirements for COVID-19 testing.
“The FDA has a minimum standard number of tests, the conferences, have a minimum standard that you have to meet for each of them. The city has a minimum standard for what we have to do. And then we have a minimum standard,” said Reo.
Currently, the student-athletes are required to be tested at least three times a week, two PCR tests and one antigen test. If there are any positives, games are canceled.
All officials for games have to be tested before the game as well.
All statisticians, gameday equipment operators, and anybody in the building must be masked at all times. There are designated people who clean the basketballs.
To minimize closeness and time in locker rooms, teams are dressing before they arrive at the arena or coming to the stadium closer to game time.
Friday came and went, and Temple pulled off a successful basketball operation without any setback, losing to Villanova 90–72.
Temple Women’s basketball team warming up before season-opener vs. Villanova
Coach Cardoza admitted that the mandated stoppage when players tested positive for the virus was punishing. However, she felt it imperative they got in live game action, and it felt good to play an actual game.
Senior forward Mia Davis scored 22 points in the game. She said her teammates were just excited to play again after a nine-month layoff.
“Of course, it was a little exciting because no one got to play in a while, or we didn’t start out when other teams started, so we were excited about the game,” Davis said.
For Reo and her staff, it just felt good to have basketball back, and they’re looking forward to navigating through an entire season with ever-changing protocols. Temple’s next scheduled home game is Sunday, Dec. 20, against Southern Methodist University.
Brian Saunders is a freelance writer currently enrolled in Temple University’s graduate journalism program. He covers Temple women’s basketball for Temple-News
He can be reached at @sportswriter_BS on Twitter
