BENNETT'S MINUTES: Former DePauw standout caught up in COVID-19 fallout

Monday, May 11, 2020
Quarterback Michael Engle led DePauw to the 2010 NCAA tournament. He has coached the past three years at Florida Tech, which eliminated its football program on Monday.
DePauw photo

The implications of COVID-19 on college sports have barely just begun.

Athletic directors at some schools have already asked coaches to take a salary reduction, and have announced repeatedly that some non-revenue sports will have to be cut in order to make up for the lost revenue if football is not played during the next school year.

Whether or not college football will happen at all has yet to be determined, although some schools — particularly in the Southeast Conference — are trying to connive ways in which their campuses are considered “open” but students still take classes online from dorm rooms or their parents’ homes to be able to justify putting student-athletes at risk.

One program which found out Monday it will not be playing football any longer is the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla.

On Monday, the Division II school eliminated its football program after seven years due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Not suspended or postponed, but eliminated.

FIT president Dwayne McCay made the announcement in a letter on Monday:

“Florida Institute of Technology President Dwayne McCay today announced a series of steps necessary to respond to the unprecedented economic uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff reductions and furloughs, the closure of the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts and the elimination of the football program are meant to reduce costs and ensure the university can achieve its core mission of STEM higher education.

“As I have continued to share with you, these are difficult times for our university,” McCay told the university community in a letter today. “Indeed, all of higher education is struggling to deal with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the uncertainty that accompanies a global disruption to daily life. Some universities will no doubt close. Florida Tech, however, has plans to persevere.

“In order to meet the financial challenges, the university will eliminate some staff positions later this month, while additional staff will be furloughed. Many of the furloughed employees are expected to be recalled to work closer to the start of the fall semester Aug. 17. Estimates of the number of employees impacted will not be known until the count of employees who opt to take an early retirement package is finalized.”

I have a particular connection with this school, and one of the affected coaches is a former DePauw standout.

Terre Haute North and Indiana State graduate Steve Englehart was hired nine years ago to start a program from scratch, with the team not playing games until its third season in existence. The Panthers played seven seasons before pulling the plug on Monday.

Englehart had attracted several former coaches and players from the Terre Haute and Indiana State area, including last year’s offensive coordinator, co-defensive coordinator, tight ends coach and strength and conditioning coach.

Also on last year’s staff was 2011 DePauw graduate Michael Engle of Terre Haute South, who led the Tigers to a 9-1 record in his senior year and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Engle, who passed for 3,157 yards and 30 touchdowns that season, served as wide receivers and special teams coach for the past three seasons. He had previously coached at Bryant University and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

In a Frequently Asked Questions section, McCay indicated that eight football coaches will be impacted, which is a large majority of the staff.

The school will be honoring student-athlete scholarships for four years, although any player wanting to transfer will not be required to sit out.

It will be interesting to find out the inside story on this situation, which seems on the surface to be either an extreme overreaction to an uncertain situation to a school jumping on the first opportunity to end a program it no longer wanted to offer.

Englehart led the Panthers to a 44-35 record in nine seasons in what is considered as the toughest Division II conference in the nation (Sunshine State Conference).

Here’s hoping that all the players and coaches find a new place to land and continue their careers, and no other schools take such a huge step until more information is known in the future about potential vaccines or cures for this horrible disease.