GOLDEN, Colo. — It’s a sign of the times.
Marv Kay Stadium sits silent and the McKee Strength and Conditioning Room is a ghost town. For a football coach, this is a like bad dream
“You’re right this is a bad dream. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a nightmare," Mines football coach Gregg Brandon said.
Brandon and the Orediggers are coming off a 12-1 season. The coronavirus sacked spring practice so the team audibled to virtual learning.
“You don’t have the in-person interaction with the kids, but we’re doing the best we can. We can watch film. We did get an opportunity to practice some. So we were able to evaluate some of the spring practices," Brandon said.
As an old-school coach, Brandon is buying into virtual instruction.
“I’ve got a lot of young coaches to help me. We’ve been doing these zoom meetings with our players and they’ve been working out well. It's good to get a chance to see everybody and look them in the eye. And make sure that they’re taking care of business, staying on course," Brandon said.
The players haven’t had any trouble getting up to speed and that includes individual workouts. In some cases, Trevor Florendo, the Mines strength and conditioning coach, was forced to intervene.
“I’ve had to tell some guys that they need to back off. It's like they got home, and they got this breath of fresh air. For them it's been a nice kick in the pants to ramp up their outside the box training," Florendo said.
It’s a fluid situation, as college football programs across the country attempt to prepare for the 2020 season.
“Everybody is going through the same deal right now with this virus. And hopefully it will pass, and we’ll be able to get back to some normalcy," Brandon said.
For the Mines football team, that means winning games and locker room celebrations, just don’t expect coach Brandon to use this downtime for choreography of celebration dances.