Justin Schulte finds himself in a no-mans land, a situation he has not been in for as long as he can remember.
Ordinarily at this time of year, Schulte would be locked in and focused on baseball. The head coach of the Southeastern Community College baseball team the last 12 seasons and has been involved in baseball in one capacity or another the last 22 years, suddenly finds himself with plenty of time on his hands.
The NJCAA ended all spring sports last month, just as the Blackhawks were getting set to make a southern swing through Oklahoma and Kansas in preparation for their scheduled home opener March 21 at the Wagner Athletic Complex.
The Blackhawks were off to a 13-3 start and might have had the best team Schulte has coached in his tenure at SCC.
The COVID-19 pandemic put an end to that, leaving Schulte to wonder just what this year's team might have been able to accomplish and now trying to find something to do with his suddenly blank schedule.
Schulte is rolling with the punches, trying to make sure this year's group of student-athletes completes their classwork while trying to do some recruiting for next season.
"I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life. After 22 years of the same routine taken away, I'm trying to find a routine and still work on next year," Schulte said. "I am working on next year's schedule and doing some recruiting, trying to stay busy. I'm trying to figure out what I need to be doing to get ready for August and the fall schedule."
Compounding Schulte's disappointment is the fact that he believed this year's Blackhawk team had the talent and experience to make a run at the national tournament, led by a pitching staff which featured four NCAA Division I recruits. All four of those players are set to move on to the next level, if and when the NCAA opens things up again.
"We lose four Division I pitchers, two other pitchers and two position guys," Schulte said. "We lose eight sophomores, but most of the other guys are coming back. It just makes sense since we have a great group of guys who have a chance to come back here and have a chance to get to nationals and earn four-year scholarships."
Schulte said he anticipates bringing in a large freshman class next year to augment the talent already in place. But like many other schools, the standstill in the NCAA transfer portal has brought things on that end to a grinding halt. But Schulte is moving forward as much as he can.
"We have a number of kids who have already committed for next year," Schulte said. "We are keeping our eyes on the NCAA transfer portal. Hopefully when those kids get released to be recruited, we can get some of them over here and offer them scholarships. I think there will be a lot of interest. We can sell them on a team that was ranked fifth in the country and we return most of those guys."
The Blackhawks had ascended to No. 5 in the country in the last NJCAA Division II poll. The Blackhawks also feature a top-notch playing facility, the use of the FunCity Turf indoor facility, and upgrades o campus that make it one of the most attractive junior colleges anywhere.
"With the bubble and the strength and conditioning program at (Great River Medical Center), we have some great facilities here," Schulte said. "Dr. (Michael) Ash is doing a remarkable job of upgrading our facilities at SCC. He is really changing the dynamics out here."
In the meantime, Schulte and his staff — assistant coaches John McVey, Mitch Feller and Brad Merritt — are busy keeping tabs on this year's student-athletes, checking on their classwork and their health and well-being. And they are getting a big assist from SCC head volleyball coach Michelle Glass.
"Michelle has done a great job of helping us track their grades and giving us weekly reports on their progress," Schulte said. "I've had to make a few stern phone calls to stay on the guys, but for the most part they are doing what they need to do.
"A few of the kids couldn't make it back to their home countries. We have a couple guys from the Dominican Republic, one from Columbia and one from Argentina that weren't able to make it home, so they went to stay with relatives here in the United States. We have a couple local kids that come in and go to the library to get their work done. Most of our kids are doing fine with being able to get their classwork done."
Schulte is using the current situation as an opportunity to teach a few life lessons to his student-athletes.
"Never take anything for granted," Schulte said. "We had a really good group of kids. They put in a lot of hard work from August to February to get ready, only to have it all taken away. You just never know. We are going to try to learn from it and move on."
