Long-distance dedication: FSU staff learns to teach, coach, lead via Zoom
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of stories detailing how Mike Norvell and Florida State's first-year coaching staff worked to lead their players remotely during the first four months of the coronavirus pandemic.
Part 1: An inside look at the most daunting offseason in college football history
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Long before there was even a hint that the coronavirus pandemic might impact the United States -- let alone college sports -- Florida State's football staff made one simple technology purchase that would end up playing a pivotal role in the Seminoles' ability to navigate a months-long shutdown of the athletics department.
They bought brand-new iPads for every player on the football team.
Fortunately for FSU, the devices were delivered just before the Seminoles wrapped up their first week of spring practice and the players headed out of town for spring break on Friday, March 13. And with the coronavirus becoming a greater concern by the moment, FSU's staff made sure the iPads were disbursed before the players hit the road.
"They actually arrived on like Wednesday-Thursday, and our IT department programmed them all through the night on Thursday so we could give them on the way out on Friday morning," said Bruce Warwick, chief of staff for first-year head coach Mike Norvell. "They basically turned into the players' viewing device for most of their classes."
Indeed, when the ACC announced on March 17 that all spring sports activities would be canceled and FSU officials locked down the campus for the rest of the spring semester, those iPads became the primary link between the university, the football staff and the Seminoles' players.
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At first, all football uses were voluntary.
During the first two weeks of the shutdown, college football coaches were only allowed to check in with their student-athletes to make sure they were safe and sound; NCAA rules prohibited them from providing any instruction or holding team meetings.
It wasn't until April 2 that the NCAA permitted coaching staffs up to four hours per week for activities such as film review and "chalk talks." That time allotment later was increased to eight hours per week, and FSU jumped in with both feet.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Many college football coaches pride themselves on being technologically savvy.
They FaceTime with recruits. They post memes on social media. They download hot new music so they can relate to the teenagers they recruit and coach.
But very few, if any, of Florida State's football coaches had been on Zoom before March of 2020.
“I never used it, but it looks like something I should have invested in,” FSU running backs coach David Johnson said with a laugh.
The popular video conferencing software, which would become ubiquitous in many industries during the pandemic, soon emerged as an essential part of the Seminoles' program.
In the early days of the shutdown, it was how Norvell would communicate each day with his coaches and support staff -- all of whom were forced to work from home. Then once the NCAA cleared the way for virtual team instruction to begin in early April, the entire program embraced it.
Much of the weekly allotted time was devoted to position meetings, as the Seminoles tried to catch up on lessons lost to the cancellation of spring practice. The rest of the time was reserved for larger groups, such as offense, defense and special teams.
But before that system could really get going, the coaches first had to establish some ground rules for their online meetings.
Number one, the players were expected to find a quiet place to log-in so they could give the coaches their undivided attention. And that was sometimes easier said than done.
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