'Corona Senior' Issue a Challenge for Both Coaches and Players
Jennifer Patrick-Swift has degrees in biology and sports management, and is currently working on a PhD in performance psychology. But as a spring sports coach during the current coronavirus crisis, she might consider brushing up on her math.
Specifically, to come up with a workable answer to one unforeseen equation: Adding three returning seniors that weren’t projected to be back on her NC State softball team to six incoming freshmen recruited to replace them and turning them into one cohesive unit.
It’s a calculation Patrick-Swift and others like her, including Wolfpack baseball coach Elliott Avent, will have to figure out between now and the start of next season thanks to an NCAA waiver granting athletes an extra year of eligibility as compensation for the cancellations of 2020.
“Down the road, a couple of years from now, we’re going to have to figure out some things, crunch some numbers,” Patrick-Swift said of the unusual circumstance. “But right now, we’re excited about it.”
She has three good reasons for that excitement.
Tatyana Forbes, Brigette Nordberg and Angie Rizzi made up the heart of a batting order that helped State produce the best 15-game start in program history before the season was abruptly cut short on March 12.
All three were playing what they thought would be the final year of their college careers. But thanks to the NCAA ruling, the Corona Seniors -- as their coach has dubbed them -- will again provide the foundation for the Wolfpack in 2021.
It’s a development Patrick-Swift said allows her to sleep better at night.
The problem is she might not be able to rest quite as easily next spring once the incoming freshmen she recruited to replace Forbes, Nordberg and Rizzi arrive on campus ready to play, creating a roster logjam that could potentially disrupt the team’s chemistry.
“If there are any good things that have come out of this (coronavirus) deal, it’s to have those three back,” Patrick-Swift said. “We obviously weren’t planning to have that, but it’s been great. I’m sure it’s a different look for the incoming freshmen, because there were some positions that were supposed to have been vacated, including the entire outfield. And now the entire outfield is back.
“It’s going to make everybody better. All my team and all the girls know that no one’s guaranteed a position. We don’t really use the words freshman, sophomore, junior senior or Corona Senior. The best nine hitters will play.”
In addition to Forbes, Nordberg and Rizzi, two other Wolfpack athletes -- women's tennis players Adriana Reami and Anna Rogers have also announced their intention to return for their extra year.
Putting together a lineup and keeping everyone happy is only part of the challenge facing spring sports coaches throughout the country. There are plenty of other logistics still yet to be addressed, including the expansion of roster limits and the division of scholarship money at a time of reduced athletic revenue.
They’re issues Avent will also eventually face. But unlike Patick-Swift, the veteran baseball coach can’t begin addressing them until after the Major League draft on June 10-11.
Not only is there the potential for seniors returning, but with this year’s draft limited to just five rounds, the Wolfpack also has the possibility of getting back several juniors that might otherwise have signed professional contracts.
“No one knows what’s going to happen,” Avent said. “We know the draft is going to take place. We know there’s going to be five rounds and there will be money after the draft on a limited basis that they may offer to people whether they be seniors or underclassmen.
“I try not to ask our players too many questions that I know they don’t have answers to. You can’t ask (seniors) Kent Kylman, Brad Debo of Lawson McArthur what they’re going to do right now, because they don’t have all the information to make their decision.”
Baseball coach Elliott Avent
TheACC.com photo
Avent said that any player wanting to return will be welcomed back with open arms. The decision to utilize the extra year of eligibility, however, isn’t always as cut-and-dried as it was for Forbes, Nordberg and Rizzi.
Two of their teammates, pitcher Devin Wallace and first baseman Skylar Johnson, both decided to take their newly minted degrees and enter the business world. Wallace has accepted a position as a technical staffing recruiter with TEKsystems in Charlotte while Johnston is set to join The Select Group in Raleigh as an associate account manager.
“In a time when people are losing their jobs, to have that security, we felt good about their decisions,” Patrick-Swift said. “They were set up for a bright and immediate future. That’s why they chose that.”
The potential for earning isn’t the only consideration a player must take into account before making a decision. There’s also the cost involved in returning.
“It all depends on where they’re at in their life,” Avent said. “If they choose to come back to school after having already graduated, they’ll have to go for their master’s and getting a master’s is quite expensive. We don’t exactly have full scholarships for baseball, so there’s an expense they’ll have to incur to go to grad school. They’ll have to weigh the financial aspects.”
It’s a balancing act softball player Rizzi and her family have already addressed, an emotional discussion made even more difficult by the fact that the New York native has been unable to go home because of coronavirus quarantines.
“My father is a huge softball fan,” the outfielder who hit .313 with a career-high six home runs before the 2020 season was cut short. “So I’m grateful for him when he called and said ‘Even if you don’t get a scholarship, I’m not letting you end your senior year like that. I want to see you play one more time.’
“That meant a lot, because out of state tuition is expensive. I had to think about that, but just knowing I had him in my corner, knowing he’ll support me, helps me get through this.”
The return of Rizzi, top hitter Forbes and Nordberg, the team leader with seven homers and 21 RBI, give the 2021 Wolfpack a formidable lineup that promises to be among the most potent in the ACC.
Although a lot of other teams will be able to say the same thing with their own unexpected Corona Seniors returning -- a point that both Patrick-Swift and Avent are quick to point out -- Forbes can’t wait to use the mulligan they’ve been given.
“It was a little frustrating,” she said of this season’s cancellation. “But that’s what’s going to make us more hungry for next year. For myself, and I think a lot of us are on the same page, we’re training this whole time that we have right now. Personally, I’ve never been this motivated for an upcoming season.”
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