Coaches react as sports get pushed back at local NCAA Division II universities 

Barry University men’s basketball coach Butch Estes isn’t surprised.

NSU men’s basketball coach Jim Crutchfield said he’s disappointed.

Those were among the reactions on Thursday after the Sunshine State Conference — home to local NCAA Division II athletic programs Barry and NSU — postponed all basketball games and swim meets through Dec. 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fall sports had previously been postponed, and all of those teams are hoping to return in January.

“I anticipated this,” said Estes, who in seven season at Barry has taken the Bucs to five NCAA tournaments and two appearances in the Elite Eight. “I’m hopeful we will be able to play a full conference schedule, even though that is yet to be determined.

“But now there are 100 more questions. When do we start practicing? How many games will we get to play?”

Estes said his players —who he met with on Thursday via Zoom — have until Oct. 1 to opt out of the season while retaining their scholarship, although he does not expect any of them to come to that decision.

Meanwhile, Crutchfield has turned NSU into a national power in just three years at the school. He inherited a 6-20 team and went 17-10 in his first season. He went 29-4 with a berth in the national Elite Eight in his second season at NSU. And the Sharks went 23-6 and were about to start their second straight NCAA tournament run this past March when the season was canceled due to the pandemic.

“I’m disappointed,” Crutchfield said when asked about his emotions following Thursday’s news that the season was getting pushed back to January. “I’m not disappointed in any individual. I’m just disappointed for my players.”

Crutchfield said he is tired of meeting with his players on Zoom. Instead, he gathered his players on Thursday — everyone wearing masks and socially distancing — and gave them the news.

“We’ve got a really good group of guys,” Crutchfield said. “Our No. 1 rule is ‘no complaining’. They know they can’t complain, but I saw the looks on their faces.

“We have a good nucleus of 10 guys back from last season, and we have four newcomers. I just hope we get to play in January.”

NSU athletic director Mike Mominey, in a statement, said postponing sports until January was a difficult decision that needed to be made.

“The optimistic way to look at this,” Mominey said, “is that this gives us the opportunity to safely plan for the return of competition in all sports in 2021.”