CONWAY, Ark. — Days ahead of his return to coaching football on the sideline, Matt Williamson learned the realities of doing so in 2020.
Over the coming days, the Griffons would battle COVID-19, injuries and natural disasters — yes, Mother Nature — to make a return 329 days since its final game.
“I still didn’t really feel it was gonna happen until the ball was actually kicked when the game started,” Western’s fourth-year head coach said. “With all these things and the way things worked out, there was uncertainty.
“(Dr. Josh Looney) and I talked and I was like, ‘I’m not sure we’re gonna be able to do this.’ But I was like, this is an opportunity of a lifetime, I don’t wanna turn this down.”
The week to prep began Monday when the vice president of intercollegiate athletics received word that Wednesday’s pre-game COVID-19 tests weren’t going to be able to be shipped to their processing lab in California due to wildfires forcing evacuations.
Looney then began making phone calls to try and arrange a new lab to return results. On Wednesday, the samples were driven in a saran-wrapped cooler to the Kansas City Metro, and the Griffons inched closer to playing.
“We had to scramble and found someone to run our tests in Lee’s Summit,” Looney said. “That obviously impacted our football team and ability to play the game, but as well as our cross country team. It was one thing to add to the mix and overcome.
“Until it actually happened, you kinda keep in the back of your head, ‘Will this actually happen?’”
Aside from a positive test that forced a member of the offensive line to be held back from playing, it was unsure if the Griffons could fill the position group. A starter learned he had an enlarged spleen Tuesday, and another was pulled Wednesday after learning of a torn tendon in his hand.
“We lost three starters on the offensive line in three days,” Williamson said. “At one point, we didn’t even have a center to snap the ball.”
That was just one position group, as Western also lost starters on the defensive line and at running back.
Those challenges were only a portion of the week, as a positive case among the defensive coaching staff led to all but one of the group being forced to quarantine. Forced to call defensive plays for the first time since being hired at Missouri Western while also running special teams, Williamson did the unthinkable.
He brought competitors onto his own sideline.
In order to manage the game and personnel, he called up three old friends. Dan Augustine coached with Williamson at Central Arkansas and was a former coach at Missouri Western in 2003. Hud Jackson, now the head coach at Arkansas Monticello, and defensive backs coach Steve Wright, a former graduate assistant at Missouri Western, joined Augustine as Griffons for the day by helping coach on the field and in the coach’s box against Central Arkansas on Saturday at Estes Stadium.
“It was an absolute challenge, but it was great,” Williamson said. “This coaching fraternity is stronger than ever. Those guys showed up and definitely made it a lot easier for us.”
The Griffons lost 52-10 to the Bears in the first of four scheduled games this fall. Going through the adversity to even take the field only made the return sweeter.
“(Williamson) was like, ‘I don’t know if we’re gonna play UCA.’ We’re two, three days away,” sophomore Cooper Burton said. “We’ve been working this whole time.
“Win or lose, just being able to play football is amazing.”
