By River Mitchell
This season at Springfield College for many athletes on campus was an unusual experience compared to what most of them are used to. Three teams on campus either had, or are going through, their season with a temporary head coach.
These teams are women’s soccer, softball and baseball, with softball and baseball needing to find permanent replacements once the year has concluded.
Overall, women’s soccer had arguably the easiest transition of the three. Led by coach Kristin Cannon in the ‘22 and ‘23 seasons, assistant coach Brendon Boates stepped in as Cannon prepared to have a child. Boates was eager to lead the program.
“I was excited for her that she was having her first child,” Boates said. “On my side of things, it was sad to have her not there for the fall. But I was fully confident that I was able to run the program. It was a really great season, we had a great time and credit to the players on how hard they worked and they handled the transition seamlessly.”
While there were some parts that were slightly daunting, Boates felt comfortable and confident in his leadership style. He has been coaching for 23 years, so stepping into the new role was more exciting than nerve wracking.
“Whether it’s assistant coach, head coach – you’re not going to change your leadership style,” Boates said. “You don’t coach any differently based on what your role is.”
Being a head coach did force Boates to be a bit harsher, but he knows that anything negative he says towards the players is meant to get the most out of them.
“[The assistant] can be a little bit more of the caretaker type, where the head coach is getting after you a little more,” Boates said. “As the head coach, you kind of have to be the hammer all the time. That changes a little bit, but I think I have a pretty good balance of building a good relationship with our players.”
For softball and baseball, however, the initial transition was a bit more bumpy.
After head coach Kate Bowen left the softball team for Southern Connecticut State University, the team needed a head coach to fill in. The responsibilities ended up falling on graduate assistant Sam Garcia, and the news was sprung on her very quickly after arriving on campus a week late due to an appendix removal.
“My first conversation back here with her, she said she wanted to have a coaches meeting,” Garcia said. “We’re like, ‘Ok, cool. Getting ready to start the season.’ Then she tells us that this happens right before we’re about to have a team meeting.”
Garcia had talked previously with Bowen about wanting more responsibility, and she certainly has gotten that in her new role. However, it took Garcia a little while to get used to all of the administrative work and learning more about how to handle the players, coaches and in-game situations, but she eventually began to find her footing.
“Our coaches have been doing an amazing job, especially considering the circumstance they were thrown into,” said pitcher and utility player Amelia DeRosa. “They filled in the role of a head coach without skipping a beat and through everything they still find ways to support us when we need it.”
The change was also difficult for the players. However, it’s helped in other ways as the team gears up for the remainder of conference play.
“In a weird way this brought us together,” DeRosa said. “We lean on each other more than ever. We realized that we have the unique opportunity to find a new identity for the team.”
For baseball, the transition also proved to have its challenges and positives.
After the official retirement of long time head coach Mark Simeone, who was at the helm for 28 years, the team has been led by graduate assistant coach Arlo Pike. The decision for Simeone to leave was due to a family related matter, as he took a leave of absence in the fall before officially retiring in the spring.
“You never really think it’s going to be the end,” said senior outfielder Michael Lepere. “A guy that’s been here so long, a guy that’s impacted the program the way he did, you never expect him to just step away. We all wanted to see Coach [Simeone] come back and we hate to see our leader hurt the way that he was.”
The transition took a little bit of getting used to for Pike. Similar to Garcia, it took a while to adjust to a lot of the administrative work. Throughout the year, Pike has also learned the importance of delegating, allowing coach Jacob Goodreau to handle pitchers and catchers.
Pike held a meeting with the team in the fall to talk about the culture in past years and how some players were getting complacent. With Pike being much younger than Simeone, he feels he has used his youth to help motivate the players to perform better.
“Not here, just in general, fear has been used as motivation with coaches,” Pike said. “Trying to tell guys other people are working harder than you, all the basic things that should fire people up. Some people are also motivated by success [and] by praise. So relating to the guys and being able to build a relationship with them in my mind is easier now when I’m younger.”
With the season in full swing, the Pride look to lock in for the remainder of conference play and finish out their schedule on a high note. Even with the bumpy start to the season, Pike appreciates how the players have bought into the new culture.
“They’ve made all of this ten times easier,” Pike said. “We talked about it as a team in the fall, and they took it upon themselves to really lead that [and] hone that in.”