March 24, 2020

Dear Panther Family,
 
I trust all are managing our new normal as best that can be expected. I certainly know fighting the Coronavirus has thrown all of us outside our established routines, yet I celebrate the courage and bravery shown by our friends who work as nurses, doctors, emergency medical techs, police, first responders, and the like. We especially thank our friends with GSU Police for taking care of our campus during this strange time. I'm encouraged by the stories of random kindness shown to others during this time as well.
 
Like so many others, our new normal isn't normal at all. No one ever imagined a scenario when March Madness would be cancelled. Today, we should be resuming classes to finish the remaining six weeks in our spring semester, our spring sports should be close to half completed with their seasons, our spring football game would be next weekend as well as the NCAA Final Four. Instead, our student-athletes have an extended spring break so faculty and staff can prepare to finish the semester teaching online classes, our staff can prepare how to assist our kids in this new learning environment, coaches are learning ways to recruit, teach and train virtually, and we are working to estimate the implications of what all this means, including social, emotional, and financial consequences.
 
So, how are we handling this?  Here is a sampling of new requirements placed on our staff. First, all of us have the technical capabilities to work remotely. Each department has established weekly work plans that our administrative group manages like we would if we were in the office daily. With no games to be played, the only in-person interaction our student-athletes have are with our dedicated sports medicine professionals and daily check-ins with their academic advisors and coaches. A shout out of thanks to our academic advisors for their efforts to make this transition as smooth as possible. All athletics programs have physical distancing rules in place that coaches and staff must abide by in terms of practices and workouts, so our compliance staff has a different set of processes they must manage during this time. Most tutoring and mentoring will occur via technology, which is a new endeavor for all.  For those who follow us on our various social media channels, the content creators in our department are working overtime to tell our story in a variety of ways to hopefully fill your void of Georgia State sports and enhance your connection to our coaches, teams, and student-athletes. Our development and ticketing staffs are making stewardship calls to each of you to make sure we can answer any concerns that are out there. Believe it or not, our equipment staff is busy doing inventory and coordinating orders for next season as we all need those rays of hope that we will get past this. And, finally, our business office is identifying all expenses and revenues to close out this fiscal year (and understand the financial implication of suspending sports this spring) as well as develop our 2020-2021 budget.
 
Finally, I want to thank Alexus, Erin, Lotte, Ra'Breekia, Angela, Damira, Mallory, Baylee, Sydney, Cara, Olivia, Kate, Maddie, Georgia, Harman, Bailey, Quentin, Daino, Brandon, Dalton, Tyler, Elian, Severin, Ashton, Egill, and Josh. These are our 26 spring sports seniors whose seasons were cancelled.  Along with our other seniors, we want to support them in every way possible to finish their degrees (some are already in graduate school) and celebrate their sacrifices.
 
Thank you as always for your support of Georgia State Athletics.
 
Charlie Cobb
Director of Athletics