From the Desk of the Director of Athletics...

This message has been approved for distribution as part of Daemen College's COVID-19 official response.

To Our Fans and Supporters, 

I hope you are healthy and doing well despite the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic that we've been dealing with for some time now. You are likely aware that the ongoing pandemic has made the anticipated return of collegiate sports this fall anything but a certainty. Like many others in our state and region, including our fellow East Coast Conference institutions, we too have crossed the bridge into uncharted territory with the postponement of intercollegiate athletics for the Fall 2020 semester. 

I can assure you that this decision was not made lightly. For several weeks, I have been engaged in discussions with my colleagues across our conference, as have the presidents from each college or university. The discussions have been extensive, informative, and, at times, frustrating but ultimately collaborative and productive. The question before us is simple: How do we return to competition while ensuring the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and even spectators? The answers have not proven simple, and some are still unknown. 

What we've achieved with the postponement is more time -- more time for the scientific community to develop treatments and vaccines; more time for us to seek answers to the questions we continue to ask; more time for student-athletes to resocialize under the proper guidelines and reestablish themselves with their chosen sports; and more time for us as coaches and administrators to develop a plan to potentially fit a year's worth of competitions into a five-month period. 

Despite the circumstances, Daemen College and the ECC are committed to providing each student-athlete the opportunity to compete this academic year. Many other conferences and institutions, especially in our region, have made the same decision. We will work with them and the NCAA to provide our student-athletes with a meaningful season and championship experience during the Spring 2021 semester. Our planning sessions are now shifting and discussions have begun on just how to provide positive athletic experiences and seasons of competition for all impacted fall and winter sports and student-athletes beginning after Jan. 1, 2021.

Although there will not be competitions on the immediate horizon, our sports medicine and performance staff, led by Jeff Sage, have already begun working on guidelines and policies that our coaches and student-athletes will use to safely return to conditioning workouts and even team practices. It will not be easy and it will certainly be different, but our student-athletes have shown an amazing ability to thrive under pressure and adapt to changing situations. We expect they will be able to rise to the challenge this fall. 

As you can tell, there is much work to be done.  Fortunately, Jeff Sage, along with Alexis Wayne, director of operations have developed guidelines for facility use, accounting for, at a minimum, face covering requirements, social distancing norms, and sanitization procedures as required by New York State. With these guidelines in place, we will be ready for the return of all students to our campus and the resumption of team practices in September.   

Let me assure you, the Daemen Division of Athletics is not closed. We must continue to compete for championships, regardless of what month the competition is in. Tough times don't last, but tough people do. Please keep an eye on daemenwildcats.com for further information regarding future events and updates on our programs as we prepare to BE FIERCE!

Go Wildcats!

Traci Murphy
Director of Athletics