Moseley, Lincoln working through uncharted waters

Lincoln's Kendra Holt high-fives teammate Emily Williams after the two each scored a run during a game against Missouri S&T this season at LU Softball Field.
Lincoln's Kendra Holt high-fives teammate Emily Williams after the two each scored a run during a game against Missouri S&T this season at LU Softball Field.

It has been nearly two weeks since Lincoln's last sporting event took place, a softball doubleheader March 11 against Southwest Baptist.

Since then, it has been eerily quiet at Lincoln's athletic venues. No sprinting or jumping in track and field. No pings from drivers smacking golf balls. No thuds of softballs landing in gloves.

Nothing.

That's because the NCAA announced March 12 all winter and spring sports championships would be canceled, one day before the Lincoln men's and women's teams were aiming for Division II team titles in the indoor track and field championships, due to the COVID-19 response. That same day, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced it would suspend sports indefinitely.

"We sit here with still many unknowns," Lincoln athletic director John Moseley said. "How long is this going to last?"

Five days later, the MIAA canceled the 2020 spring sports season.

A lot has happened in a short period of time.

Lincoln's track and field teams went from being ranked in the top 2 in the nation, to having to wait until next winter before they compete again. The softball team, which had an 8-12 record and had already surpassed last season's win total of six, had its final 34 regular-season games called off.

Lincoln's golf teams, meanwhile, never got the chance to tee off the 2020 season.

The NCAA, however, announced it would grant all spring sports athletes an additional year of eligibility, if they choose to use it, whether or not their seasons had begun.

"So the decision became much easier with the blanket waiver to allow those athletes an additional year of eligibility," Moseley said of the MIAA's decision to cancel the spring sports season. "Just to go ahead and pull the plug and say, 'Let's just give all of them the opportunity, if they so choose, to come back for what would be their season next year.'"

That leaves senior spring athletes with a choice to make, especially if they were set to graduate this spring.

"I'm thankful that they're giving them this option," Moseley said. "I think it's neat that they at least have the opportunity, if they so choose, to come back and compete for what will be their senior year."

In one example, Moseley said one Lincoln men's golfer, who is a senior, has already been accepted into physical therapy school. Rather than use his extra year of eligibility next spring, the golfer has decided to move on and further his education.

In another example, Moseley said a Lincoln softball player was a senior athletically this season but had already started working toward her master's degree. With the extra year of eligibility, Moseley said it makes her decision easier to come back and play softball next spring, and then graduate with her master's degree shortly thereafter.

"As an administrator, we allow our coaches to have those conversations with their student-athletes," Moseley said. "The way it's going to work is, if a school was a full-scholarship school - for instance, in the sport of softball - if seven scholarships is what their max is, if you have a senior that is in this situation and they decide to come back next year, then they won't count against your full scholarships."

Moseley said it's still a difficult process at Lincoln, where none of its sports programs are fully funded.

"The coaches are still in position where they have to make a decision on their budget, as far as how that impacts their potential recruiting class," he said.

The coronavirus outbreak has also hindered college recruiting across all sports. On March 13, the NCAA announced it would "implement a recruiting dead period in all sports at least until April 15." There has been no decision yet if it will extend beyond that.

"What that means is coaches aren't allowed to go and visit the schools or visit gyms where athletes are," said Moseley, who is also the Lincoln men's basketball coach. "This is across all sports, but we're not allowed to go watch athletes play or compete, and they're not allowed to come visit our campus during this time either. And I respect that, because it makes it even for everybody.

"But the thing about recruiting that many people don't necessarily understand is even with that in play, recruiting doesn't stop. With technology these days, your phone still works, you're still able to call, you're still able to text, you're still able to email. There are still many ways for you to engage in recruiting. The number of emails and videos we receive on a daily basis, the number of games that are available online that you can watch a player compete in, has just changed so much throughout my career. We recruit every single day."

Moseley said the coronavirus outbreak prevent him and his staff from recruiting at the junior college national tournament and high school state basketball tournaments.

"I see a lot of Division II basketball coaches not really having a summer, because their summer will be packed with trying to fill their rosters," he said.

Moseley also wondered what the future would look like for football this fall. The Blue Tigers were in the middle of their spring football season when all activities were canceled, which included the spring game scheduled for this Saturday.

"At this point, we're not allowed any countable athletically-related activities," Moseley said. "Even if our athletes are on campus, we can't be in workouts with them, we can't do anything with them. They can't work out with their strength coach. The athletes are really totally on their own at this point."

Which leaves more questions to be answered in a time of uncertainty.

"Does the NCAA allow football coaches, for instance, to have access to their players this summer, because they didn't get access in the spring?" Moseley asked. "What would that look like? Once campuses are reopened, how quickly can other sports get back and begin to work their strength coach? In Division II basketball, you're not allowed any on-court time with your players in the summer. Does that change this summer, because you gave up your spring?

"There's so many moving targets right now that you keep trying to make a plan, and then you have to have a counter to it, just in case you get to that point and you have to re-evaluate."

Since the cancellation of the sports season, Moseley has been busy as an administrator in the athletic department. He noted the NCAA announced a one-time exception to allow schools to assist student-athletes by providing them financial means to move back home during the outbreak.

He helped arrange for flights for athletes to New York, California and Florida. Later this week, a student-athlete on the football team will be returning home to Spain.

"It was good to be able to assist them and help them get their rooms cleaned out, get them packed up and get most of them to St. Louis for a flight," Moseley said. " With nobody traveling, flights are really cheap. It hasn't come at an extreme expense, but it's been an expense to the institution that we didn't necessarily expect. Some of the funds left from some of the spring sports that haven't had a chance to have their season really get going have made it possible for us to assist these athletes."

But even with student-athletes returning home because on-campus classes have been canceled for the rest of the semester, there is still the responsibility of completing class work.

Beginning Monday, Lincoln's on-campus courses transitioned to online classes. Moseley said that presents another challenge for student-athletes - as well as Betty Kemna, Lincoln's assistant athletic director for compliance - as they have to keep up with their classes off-campus while remaining academically eligible when they return to campus.

Moseley said he has challenged Lincoln's coaches to make sure they stay in touch with their student-athletes and monitor their academic progress, just as they would if they were still on campus.

"The academic piece was already a really important part for all of our coaches, but now it becomes it becomes a little bit more, just to make sure the athletes are staying on top of their responsibilities through these online learning platforms," Moseley said.