CHICAGO _ Northwestern coach Chris Collins has fixed up his garage. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey has taken up Pilates.
Loyola coach Porter Moser is journaling. Bradley coach Brian Wardle takes his kids on bike rides.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood plans to unpack a storage closet. He goes on daily walks with his wife and watches his son play the video game "Call of Duty" against friends.
College basketball coaches are adjusting to a life that doesn't require a frantic 24-hour spin cycle of spring recruiting since the NCAA put a halt to college sports to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The moratorium on sports means no in-person recruiting, no hosting recruits on campus and no face-to-face coaching.
Coaches are coping and finding silver linings _ such as having time for routine family dinners.
But truthfully? "It's brutal," Underwood said.
Turning off that internal engine simply feels unnatural.
"It's really hard," Underwood continued. "I've had friends who have gotten out of the profession or gotten fired or retired. The one thing they say is it's so hard to slow down. We run at 100 mph all year. What helps me get over the last game (of the season) is I don't have time to sit and dwell on it.
"It's, 'Where's the state tournament? Where can I go see this kid play? Who's coming in this weekend?' Then I'm back out (on the road) again going to see two more kids. And then you're planning AAU weekends. You're checking the transfer portal every day. You're making four phone calls every night to kids who popped up on the portal."
It's like a monsoon turned into a drought at the snap of a finger.
"Now it's stopped," Underwood said. "It's forced you to rethink how you want to do some things."
Like everyone, coaches are grappling with this unprecedented era. They're brainstorming how to influence recruits via technology, motivate current players from afar and keep their families safe and healthy.
"It's been weird," Collins said. "Usually this is a real hectic time for us. We're all homebound."
