Rolovich: WSU players, coaches must be ready for their 'hero moment'

With most of Washington State’s players scattered around the country in their homes away from campus and the university committed to on-line education through the end of the semester, the prospects of WSU starting spring practice before the end of April – or having any spring practice at all - are diminishing daily.

Nick Rolovich, though, doesn't care.

Washington State’s new head coach said Tuesday afternoon in a teleconference with reporters that football is a low priority right now with the coronavirus pandemic affecting most of the country, particularly the state of Washington, which has been front and center in the battle against the disease.

“There’s not a whole lot of concern about the football side right now,” Rolovich said. “It’s really about can we get adjusted to this on-line learning and how they are doing in their own unique situation with their family or wherever they’re staying at this time.

“This is not a time where players should be saying, ‘poor me.’ When the people making those decisions say the time is right, we’ll get back to it and we’ll attack it with everything we’ve got. There is zero part of me that feels bad for not doing football in this situation.”

Even if WSU started spring practice on Friday – as originally scheduled – Rolovich realizes the players’ minds would be elsewhere considering the severity of the coronavirus crisis.

“We wouldn’t have their full attention,” Rolovich said. “They have families. These kids have their own lives to live. The best thing for us right now is concentrating on them and academics. If we can get some football stuff done as we move forward, we will.”

Rolovich said a “majority” of WSU’s players were at home and not on campus at the present time. In terms of staying fit, the Cougars strength and conditioning staff have provided guidance to the players.

“But you have to be careful what you tell them to do because most of them are going to do it and you need proper supervision,” Rolovich said. “A lot of it concerns body weight. They are having some fun with it. They’ve started some group chat challenges and push-up parties. But there is not a high level of direction coming from our strength department, mainly because of the supervision issues we have now.”

Rolovich said WSU assistant coaches are communicating with their players daily. The eagerness of the players to learn the new schemes on both sides of the ball has been evident in his first two months on campus.

“We expect them (assistants) to talk to the players every day,” Rolovich said. “(The current situation) isn’t advantageous for a first-year coach, but it is what it is. I give our team a lot of credit. They are very eager to get comfortable with the new scheme. How they are wired and how they are built has put us in a better place whenever football returns. The team believing in the system and believing in each other is what wins football games in the fall.”

Since spring practice has been put on the backburner, WSU coaches are spending most of their workdays on recruiting. The early signing period for the 2021 class is nine months away, a brief period of time in the recruiting world.

When the coronavirus pandemic first struck the United States a few weeks ago, the NCAA quickly moved to impose a dead period until April 15, effectively barring face-to-face contact between coaches and prospects. Thus, no campus visits or coaches traveling to see prospects are allowed.

“A lot of the time we would be spending on football is getting spent on recruiting,” Rolovich said. “We can do some recruiting at this point, but obviously not on campus. We’re building and establishing relationships with the next class is important.”

Maintaining relationships with the crop of 2020 signees is important as well, Rolovich said.

“We can’t forget about our signees either,” Rolovich said. “Our signees want to know what’s going on too. They’re supposed to be up here in a few months.”

Rolovich and the WSU coaches are concerned with four groups of people right now, he said; 1) their families; 2) current players; 3) 2020 signees and 4) recruits. He makes sure time is devoted to each group daily.

If WSU is unable to hold spring practice, the Cougars will have a maximum of 29 practices in preseason camp to get on the same page unless the NCAA increases that number since many teams like WSU have had little or no time on the football field this spring.

“As long as we have ample time – and whatever time we get will have to be maximized to establish our scheme and build our team chemistry – that’s what we’ll do,” Rolovich said. "Not being able to see guys in person in the spring is just different. Football coaches are a creature of habit, but we should be able to adjust mid-stream and be ready to go.

“I call it your hero moment. Be ready for your hero moment.”