Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim Among College Coaches Teaming Up For COVID-19 Response

After Jim Boeheim became the head coach at Syracuse in 1976, the first assistant he hired was Rick Pitino.

Now the two old friends are teaming up again as part of a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boeheim, the longtime Syracuse coach, and Pitino, the newly-hired coach at Iona, are among 44 men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball head coaches in New York who have come together to form TEAM NEW YORK. As part of the campaign, each coach will use his or her social media platform to share public health guidelines set forth by Gov. Andrew Cuomo with their audience in an effort to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. 

TEAM NEW YORK also includes St. John’s coach Mike Anderson, Manhattan’s Steve Masiello, Columbia’s Jimmy Engles and Hofstra’s Joe Mihalich, among others.

New York has suffered more than any state in the nation from the coronavirus pandemic. As of Sunday, there were almost 237,000 confirmed cases in New York State (accounting for almost a third of the confirmed cases in the U.S.), with more than 131,000 in New York City. Nearly 18,000 New Yorkers have died, including almost 9,000 in the city. (I detailed my own coronavirus case, which I believe originated in New York City in mid-March, in this story on NJ.com.)

There is also a TEAM NEW ENGLAND that includes every single men’s and women’s Division 1 basketball coach from six states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. That group includes Dan Hurley and Geno Auriemma of UConn, Providence’s Ed Cooley, Harvard’s Tommy Amaker, Rhode Island’s David Cox and Vermont’s John Becker.

The initiative was initiated by Dan Klores and Andy Borman,of the NY RENS AAU program, one of the region’s elite AAU organizations, and Ben Horwitz, a graduate assistant at Syracuse. They recognized the unique influence college coaches have in their communities and created the coalition to help communicate critical information to their followers, teams, students, fans, teachers, friends and alumni, during these unprecedented times.

“Speaking to Dan and Ben, we came up with the thought that we could reach out to all the head coaches and do a coordinated effort to spread best practices for staying safe,” Borman said in an interview.

Borman then reached out to the coaches to get them on board. Pitino got back right away.

“Andy asked me to get involved,” Pitino said.

Said Borman: “Governor Cuomo’s leadership during this time of crisis has been nothing short of inspiring and has influenced us as a basketball community to do our part – which is why none of these coaches even blinked when Ben and I asked them to join us.”

Horwitz hopes the campaign will inspire coaches in other parts of the country, too.

“Each one of these coaches is a leader in their community with the ability to reach both young and old,” he said. “We hope the fact they are choosing to use their platforms in this powerful way will inspire other States or conferences to get involved too.”

With uncertainty surrounding when pro sports like the NBA will return, the status of the college football and basketball seasons also remain in doubt.

There is currently no national testing campaign, no widely available antibody test and no easy way to get a follow-up test to confirm you’re negative after you’ve recovered. (I can attest to this from personal experience.)

“No one knows with basketball,” Pitino said when asked how he thought the virus would impact the college basketball season. “I believe baseball and football will be played without fans – more than likely basketball as well.

“If a drug becomes available that is successful with the virus, then maybe fans have a chance [of being at games]. It seems like the only answer to fans being at games is a vaccine. Apparently, that’s a year away.”

TEAM NEW YORK ROSTER

• Albany – Will Brown (Men’s), Colleen Mullen (Women’s)
• Army – Jimmy Allen (Men’s), Dave Magarity (Women’s)
• Binghamton – Tommy Dempsey (Men’s), Bethann Shapiro Ord (Women’s)
• Buffalo – Jim Whitesell (Men’s), Felisha Legette-Jack (Women’s)
• Canisius – Reggie Witherspoon (Men’s), Scott Hemer (Women’s)
• Colgate – Matt Langel (Men’s), Bill Cleary (Women’s)
• Columbia – Jim Engles (Men’s), Megan Griffith (Women’s)
• Cornell – Brian Earl (Men’s), Dayna Smith (Women’s)
• Fordham – Jeff Neubauer (Men’s), Stephanie Gaitley (Women’s)
• Hofstra – Joe Mihalich (Men’s), Danielle Santos Atkinson (Women’s)
• Iona – Rick Pitino (Men’s), Billi Chambers (Women’s)
• LIU – Brooklyn – Derek Kellogg (Men’s), Rene Haynes (Women’s)
• Manhattan – Steve Masiello (Men’s), Heather Vulin (Women’s)
• Marist – John Dunne (Men’s), Brian Giorgis (Women’s)
• Niagara – Greg Paulus (Men’s), Jada Pierce (Women’s)
• Siena – Carmen Maciariello (Men’s), Ali Jaques (Women’s)
• St. Bonaventure – Mark Schmidt (Men’s), Jesse Fleming (Women’s)
• St. Francis – Brooklyn – Glenn Braica (Men’s), Linda Cimino (Women’s)
• St. John’s – Mike Anderson (Men’s), Joe Tartamella (Women’s)
• Stony Brook – Geno Ford (Men’s), Caroline McCombs (Women’s)
• Syracuse – Jim Boeheim (Men’s), Quentin Hillsman (Women’s)
• Wagner – Bashir Mason (Men’s), Heather Jacobs (Women’s)

The simple message points to be stressed on the social media platforms of all 44 TEAM NEW YORK coaches are:  

• Practice social distancing and avoid crowds:
• Stay home as much as possible to help flatten the curve. If you must go out, avoid crowds and keep at least six feet of distance from others.

• Wash your hands and cover your cough:
• Wash your hands often and thoroughly with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. Sneeze and cough into a tissue or the corner of your arm.

• Don’t touch your face:
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

• Look out for New Yorkers at-risk:
• Avoid visiting those at risk and offer help in getting groceries and goods in a socially distant manner.

• Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects:
• Using soap and water, a bleach and water solution or EPA-approved household products, wash commonly touched surfaces regularly.

• Wear a cloth face covering in public settings:
• Cloth face coverings can be made at home and can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.