ATN Podcast 280: Return of game balls

The first-ever February football in Division III is in the books, and Pat and Keith are here to hand out game balls and talk about the goings-on. Coaches were getting a bit of a breather in the fall, but those whose teams are playing now are making up for it. That’s what we heard from our guest, Randolph-Macon coach Pedro Arruza. It’s a great conversation about a program setting expectations for what’s important during this abbreviated spring schedule, about making sure that the student-athletes got through the downtime with their mental health intact, and about being gracious with players who have had to make decisions about whether they compete this spring, whether they are enrolled, or whether they choose to graduate and not return. In addition, of course, student-athletes at Wesley are facing much bigger decisions, with a large number of football players and members of other sports trying to find new homes for the fall, because Wesley’s athletics programs will be no more after this spring. We bring Greg Thomas back in to talk about this, because as the new Around the Nation columnist for D3football.com, Greg has been talking to Wesley and is working on a story. What does Wesley hope to accomplish, and where might all of those student-athletes end up? Plus, we tackle a listener question. All that and more in Podcast 280. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation between Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan and guests covering the wide range of Division III football. Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your mobile device. Full episode: [display_podcast] You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps: Apple Podcasts: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Google Podcasts: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast iHeart Radio: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Stitcher: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Spotify: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Theme music: DJmentos. Photo by Keith Lucas for Randolph-Macon athletics