When New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell met with the media for his first “regular season” Zoom press conference on Wednesday, the energy radiating from Durham was palpable.
McDonnell has been waiting a long time to get back on the sidelines since having to sit out the 2019 season. It may not look normal and the calendar may scream March Madness and golf more than it does college football, but the Wildcats – and more importantly their head coach – will be more than ready when Albany comes to town on Friday night to kick off this never-before-seen spring season.
“It’s been a real long time,” McDonnell said. “I’m excited obviously, to get back out there, I’ll let you know how it feels after Friday night’s game. To have the opportunity to get back out there and compete with the kids and other coaches, I’m looking forward to it, it’s been a long time.”
For any coach or player, adjusting to this hybrid spring season has been odd. The one good thing that’s come out of it? Nobody has time for any pregame jitters or anything like that with so many other issues on their plate.
“What you’re learning in this day and age, with all the things you have to deal with, your nervous energy goes out the door, you don’t have much,” McDonnell joked. “All the nervous energy goes towards getting so and so to practice, how do we get kids back in the building, what do we do for protocols, what do we do for testing…I haven’t really had a moment to just sit there and say ‘okay, what’s this going to be like? (on game night),
“You’ve got to remember it’s a six-game season. There’s no opportunity to ease into something. We’ve got to be good and it’s got to be a good start Friday night.”
Senior defensive end Brian Carter was asked if he could tell whether there was a bit more pep in coach McDonnell’s step heading into a game week.
“For sure, you can feel it,” he said. “His presence is back at practice and it’s great. We’re all very excited, everyone just wants to get up and get out there and do what we’ve been working on pretty much all year. We just want to let that work show.”
If coach McDonnell is fired up, think about the players who have been chomping at the bit to get back on the field for over a year now. The Wildcats may be foaming at the mouth by 7 P.M. on Friday.
“It’s definitely exciting, I’ve been trying to find ways to keep myself calm,” added junior running back Carlos Washington Jr. “Obviously, we’re very anxious it’s been a long time coming, so we’re definitely very excited. This week we’re more dialed in, it’s kind of a short week, an unusual week because we’re playing on a Friday night but we’re all very excited, staying focused and keeping the task at hand in mind.”
If guys were curious whether they would have a softer, kinder, gentler coach McDonnell this season after his absence, they’ve quickly learned that it’s still business as usual.
“I thought I was a nice guy for the first couple of weeks, but I’ve been a little ornery the last couple of practices,” McDonnell admitted. “I want more from them and that’s the hard thing that you have. When I was away from this, I was able to look at body language and kids’ reactions to things and how they took to coaching. I feel like I need to do a better job these next two days and these next five weeks of being that guy.
“I’ve always challenged kids. I’ve always gotten after them. I want to make practice harder than anything we’re going to do. When I get to the game, there’s no voice, there’s no tone, there’s no yelling, I’m just playing, man. There’s that little voice in your head going get to the ball, cut the angle…, those are things I want to have happen naturally and you’ve got to let that happen as a coach.”
Wednesday marked my first time every sitting in on a coach McDonnell presser, and I made the mistake of asking about the new deal with NBC Sports Boston. It was revealed on Tuesday that NBCSB would be broadcasting all three of UNH’s spring home games this year.
On the surface it’s not really a big deal and a cool treat for local alumni, but in a pandemic world where recruiting is harder than ever, that exposure could be critical to the future of the program.
McDonnell acknowledged that it’s important, but the only thing he cared about (understandably so) was kicking off against the Great Danes on Friday.
“You don’t know me very well,” McDonnell said with a laugh when I asked about the big news. “I’ll tell you this. I’m excited we’re on TV three times, I don’t care when we play…obviously getting that New Hampshire brand, that name out on the airwaves is something people a lot smarter than me know about.
“It’s great that we’re connected to NBC Sports but I’m more worried about how we’re doing it, brother. It’ll be great exposure for us, it always has been. NBC Sports has been great, but I’m more worried about what’s going to happen Friday night at 7 o’clock.”