On April 2, Caroline McCombs announced her departure as head coach of the Stony Brook women’s basketball team, weeks after leading the program to its first America East finals win and first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium will rarely see a quiet moment over the next few months, with five different teams set to occupy the turf in one season. Such is the reality of the Spring 2021 semester, an unprecedented schedule.
Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020, athletes have become noticeably more vocal when it comes to addressing systematic and systemic racism in the United States.
Shawn Heilbron discusses plans in a video interview to keep athletes and coaches safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Basketball season starts on Nov. 25, which will be the first time a Stony Brook team has played since March.
On Nov. 25, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will begin their season, marking the first official competition for a Stony Brook team since the NCAA halted all college sports in March.
While the return date was originally slated for Nov. 10, this new move allows for the season to start when “at least three-quarters of Division I schools will have concluded their fall terms or moved remaining instructions and exams online.”
“Although it was our hope to compete this fall, circumstances beyond our control have necessitated an alternate path,” Stony Brook Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron said in a press release.
The current financial status of Stony Brook Athletics was a major talking point throughout the town hall. The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament in men’s and women’s basketball led to a reduction in revenue distributed to each individual Division I conference.
