Popolizio: 'At Some Point a Life Lesson Will Be Learned'

State wrestling coach Pat Popolizio describes the emotion of having his ACC champion team's season end only a week before the most important tournament of the year -- the NCAA Championships

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NC State has not officially made any coach or athlete available to the media since the ACC and NCAA announced the cancellation of their postseason championships through the end of the spring semester. Wrestling coach Pat Popolizio did, however, address the emotion of having his team's season cut short a week before the NCAA Championships on his #PackMentality -- Pop-Ins Podcast.  Here is a link to that entire segment.

Fresh off a perfect 15-0 dual meet season and a second straight ACC tournament championship, the NC State wrestling team was poised to bring home even more honors -- along with a national title or two -- from the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis this weekend.

But the Wolfpack never got the chance to put the anticipated exclamation point at the end of its season.

Despite having gone unbeaten on the mat, coach Pat Popolizio and his team were left with the ultimate feeling defeat when the national tournament, along with all other NCAA championship events, was canceled because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

"This sport teaches you a lot about life and then when you have to deal with these kind of situations, it’s like taking a really bad loss," Popolizio said on his #PackMentality -- Pop-Ins Podcast on GoPack.com "Your guys compete, you take a loss and it hurts, it burns. Everybody’s been through it at some point in their career and this one’s probably the worst one yet because it was out of your control."

The third-ranked Wolfpack was heading into the national meet on a high after winning the ACC crown , then learning last Wednesday that four of its wrestlers had received top-10 seeds for Minneapolis.

Two-time All-American Hayden Hidlay was seeded No. 2 at 157 pounds, his younger brother Trent was No. 5 at 184 while Thomas Bullard (165) and ACC champion Jakob Camacho (125) were both the No. 10 seeds in their respective weight classes.

In all, State qualified wrestlers in eight of the 10 weights, giving it a legitimate shot at competing for the first team national championship in school history.

But less than 24 hours after getting the good seeding news, the team's optimisim turned to disappointment when it learned the news that the tournament wouldn't be held.

“At some point a life lesson will be learned," Popolizio said of the cancellation. "I don’t know how we turn this into a positive, but we’ll figure it out and it will keep guys motivated and hungry long-term. It makes you sometimes really appreciate the things you have and you can’t ever take anything for granted. We’re dealing with a lot of that right now.”

Popolizio was in the process of making travel plans when he got the word that the meet was off.

The cancellation didn't come as a complete surprise.

The dominoes began on Wednesday when the NCAA announced that it would go forward with its championship events, but without fans in the stands as a precaution to curb the spread of the dangerous virus.

That was deflating enough, since over 40,000 tickets had been sold for the tournament at U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings.

The rapidly changing situation escalated quickly once the NBA announced the suspension of its season following news that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Once other leagues and conferences began falling in line by halting their competitions, including the ACC's men's basketball tournament, it was only a matter of time before the NCAA pulled the plug on its championship events.

That didn't make breaking the news to his wrestlers any easier on Popolizio.

“It was a painful process to go through that, the whole scenario with the guys who qualified. You feel for not just our guys, but for anybody that’s competing in this sport, because you know how much work goes into it. Obviously the other sports, too. So everybody’s been affected by it.”

“We were fortunate enough to have Boo (Corrigan), our AD, in the building when we got word on it so he came and talked to the guys,"

Popolizio said he understands why such drastic measures were taken and that the safety and well-being of the athletes and fans should always be protected.

But regardless of the reason, he added that there's still a hollow feeling in ending a season the way this one did.

"Obviously we know it’s over, but it just feels eerie to just say ‘that’s it,’" the coach said. "Usually, you get that amp up of NCAAs where you hit every emotion -- highs, lows, just the wild craziness. 

"But then to go compete at the ACC tournament, come back and like, ‘hey, the season’s over,’ it’s just a really weird feeling, because you always have that tournament to kind of get to see your guys compete. Usually that weekend you celebrate everybody’s success. You have a social where you honor guys, All-Americans, national champs, whatever it is the team accomplishes. It kind of puts the season to sleep. That’s not the case this year.”

If there's a silver linking to the events of the past week, at least from State's perspective, it's that the Wolfpack didn't have a senior in its starting lineup, allowing everyone to come back and try again next year.

"Our guys are trying to stay positive right now," Popolizio said. "Some of them are not able to do anything here, but I know a lot of them are doing stuff on their own right now because they feel that need. They’re workers and they want to keep working. They want to do something to better themselves.”