Minium: You May Have Never Heard of ODU’s Academic Services Team, but it does Yeoman’s Work in Supporting 500 Athletes

By Harry Minium

Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Old Dominion University to shut down its campus, study hall was a weekly event for the women's basketball team.

Players would gather to do homework, study or write papers under the watchful eyes of Lubbock Smith III, ODU's Director of Student-Athlete Development and Leadership Programs.

Regardless of a player's academic standing, coach Nikki McCray-Penson deemed that study hall was mandatory for everyone.

And study hall is still mandatory even though the players have all gone home and are taking ODU classes online. 

Although they are many miles apart, the Monarchs gather each Sunday evening via Zoom, a cloud-based video conferencing platform that allows all players to see each other and study as a team.

That's one of the many ways that ODU's academic services team has provided the University's nearly 500 athletes with as much of a sense of normalcy as you could expect at a time when all but essential businesses are closed and like most of us, athletes are at home suffering from cabin fever.

The academic services team, headed by Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services Ron Moses, is tasked with monitoring, tutoring and mentoring athletes to make sure they do well academically. Take it from someone who watched Athletic Academic Advisor Amy Lynch work with the ODU men's basketball team at the 2018 NCAA tournament, everyone on Moses' staff is dedicated and works hard.

They certainly have produced great results. Sixty two percent of ODU athletes had at least a 3.0 grade point average during the fall semester while 143 athletes were on the Dean's List. ODU athletes had a combined GPA of 3.01 in the fall and 30 had a perfect 4.0 GPA.
 
Moses' team has seven full-time members who are generally supplemented by about 40 others who tutor students on individual subjects. Even though the coronavirus has reduced that number to about 20, athletes are being tutored on the same day and time as they were when they were on campus.

While little known to college sports fans, athletic academic support teams are standard at just about every Division I school. The NCAA long ago deemed academic support to be fundamental of part of athletics because athletes have more demands placed on their time than most students.

Athletes likely practice or work out in a weight room six days a week during the season and nearly as much during the offseason. They are away from class for extended periods while traveling and often have film sessions and team meetings in addition to their time on the playing field.

The men's and women's basketball teams, for instance, are generally out of town from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday evening every other week in January and February.

ODU's academic team also provides a friendly ear to listen to problems or frustrations athletes are experiencing. That's been an especially important role as athletes adjust to the "new normal" caused by the coronavirus.

"They don't know what the future holds and they are scared of the unknown," said Morgan Sumner, who worked with the Kentucky football team in 2019 and advises ODU's football defensive players. Sarah Walker counsels the offensive players.

Sumner also counsels the rowing and men's and women's golf while Walker also does field hockey and women's lacrosse. Each academic advisor works with between 80 and 100 athletes.

"My football players want to know if they will play this fall. The students always come to us for answers, but the fact is, no one really knows," Sumner said.

"We're trying convince them not to stress out and to finish out this semester strong."

For seniors, it's especially difficult because graduation has been pushed back to the summer or early fall. They may not get the chance to see their teammates again and their job prospects have often been affected by the coronavirus.

Swimmer Katie Ellett, a junior from Rockville, Md., is a rock star in the classroom – she has a 3.9 grade point average while pursuing a degree in sports and fitness management with a minor in marketing.



Ellett had an internship with Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain, set to begin in May. However, Marriott has furloughed thousands of employees and was forced to cancel her internship.

"It was disappointed, but I understand why," she said.

Moses said that once the coronavirus began to spread and it was clear athletes weren't coming back to campus anytime soon, his group individually reached out to all 500 athletes – not to talk about academics, but to make sure they were all OK.

"Our first directive before talking to them about schoolwork was to find out how they're doing," Moses said. "The football team was ready to come back for spring practice and had that snatched away from them. This has been hard on all of them."

Even so, athletes appear to have adjusted more easily to online classes than many of their academic advisors expected.

Most classes are conducted via Zoom and nearly all of athletes appear to have quickly picked up the basics of how to take classes online. Many athletes had already been taking online courses in part because it means they miss less class time during the season.

"I've been really impressed with how well the athletes have done, but maybe I shouldn't have been surprised," said Erin Cousins, Student- Athlete Educational Support Specialist, who reports to ODU's Office of Educational Accessibility.

"They really grew up on the internet. They have adapted well and adjusted quickly, and they've been open about asking questions."

Cousins deals with athletes on all teams that may need additional help beyond what they receive from academic advisors.

Ellett says she loves Zoom. "I like that you're able to share your screen," she said. "While you're in class, you can see what the professors are doing, in addition to listening to the lectures."

Moses calls Zoom "the MVP of our effort. It's allowed us to see our students and to show them exactly what they have to do."

There have been some hiccups, as you would expect.

Not every athlete has a home computer or good WIFI. ODU can provide "loaner" computers to athletes who live in Hampton Roads. Others have had to purchase computers. Many have used stipends the NCAA allows schools to pay athletes for costs beyond athletics, such as cell phones and travel, to purchase computers.

"That's what the money is there for," Moses said.

Kristin Eden, Director of Student-Athlete Academic Services, supervises day-to-day operations. Before classes began, she had sessions with every team member that included a power-point presentation to go over how Zoom works.

Since then, she and others have been reaching out to students by phone or Zoom daily, and there may be a hundred calls in a single day. Although the academic team is making it work, counseling kids remotely is more time-consuming than doing so in person. 

"Our football guys are going crazy," Sumner said. "They're not practicing, so they call me now more than I saw them in person.

"I'm happy to hear from them and do whatever I can to help them. I miss seeing them. I miss seeing them succeed in person."

Prior to the coronavirus, on any given day dozens of athletes would walk into the academic advising offices in the Jim Jarrett Athletic Administration Building to talk with advisors about academics, problems they may be having in a class or even with someone they're dating.

Academic team members could multitask in their offices by talking to several students at a time. Now, for the most part, they're talking with athletes one-on-one.

"When they're in front of you, you can triage," said Lynch, who the men's basketball team refers to as "Miss Amy."

"But there's only one phone. They're all going through the same thing. Their day isn't what they had when they were on campus. That has been a difficult adjustment for them."

Ellett works with Eden and Cousins and said both helped to smooth the transition to on-line classes and that both have helped her deal with being away from campus and her coach and teammates.

"I have called Kristin at weird times on the weekend," Ellett said. "I realize she has kids at home and she's been great about me calling.

"The way they have juggled everything to help us has been impressive."

Walker said that at times she can't help everyone who needs help right away.

"Some students might think their problem is the most important in the world. I have to tell them to let me get back to you about that," she said.

"I get back to them as soon as I can. You have to prioritize your time."

Especially when it comes to dealing with international students. Teams such as golf, tennis and soccer have a lot of international students and when a class is held at ODU it may be the middle of the night or very early in the morning.

Most international students are using WHATSAPP to communicate with academic advisors since most no longer have American cell phones.

Lynch said she's up early each morning, when it is the early afternoon in Europe, to speak to her international players. On Tuesdays, her biggest day of the week, work begins at 8 a.m. and doesn't end until well after 10 p.m.

"The international kids are making it work," Lynch said. "They are all high achievers and they're doing what they're supposed to do." 

The coronavirus has also forced the academic team to work from home at times under stressful conditions. Eden is married to Rick French, Associate Athletic Director for Operations, and they have two children (George and Faithe) at home.

George used to be in daycare and Faithe at Granby High School. George is three and needs a lot of attention and now both French and Eden are working from home.

They have staked out different parts of the house in which to work and are alternating taking care of George.

"We had to upgrade our internet," she said. "It just wasn't fast enough.

"Rick has been really good. We've always had good teamwork."

And while she's getting used to working at home, she's not yet accustomed to not seeing her athletes.

"That's the hardest part for me," Eden said. "I don't get to see them pop into my office and listen to the tell me good stories and just hang out. I miss that interaction with them."

Ellett said athletes miss that as well, but most of all, they miss being on campus and working out and spending time together with teammates.

"We spend so much time together, both in and out of the pool," she said of her teammates. "That's been the hardest thing for me to deal with.

"We've had some check-ins on Zoom and we're texting each other. It's not the same but it's the best we can do right now."

Lynch said being away from teammates and campus is the No. 1 subject her athletes talk about.

"They love their sport and they're so ready to get back into it," she said. "It's so much of their identity and it's so much of how they see themselves.

"They love it. They love their team and they miss their teammates.

"They understand how extremely serious this is and what they're doing is necessary. But it's human nature to miss something you love so much."

Smith said "We're using an optimistic approach and we're all making sure that we're available to student athletes whenever they need us.

"They can reach out to me if they ever need to talk about anything. If they have a personal issue they need to vent about, I want to hear from them."

"We're trying to provide as much help as possible," Walker added. "If you're doing this for a living, you do it because you love helping students.

"They're the ones we're here for. We're here to help them be as successful as possible."

Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu