AP FILE PHOTO - Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller speaks during a news conference on May 21, 2019, ahead of the Big Ten Conference Tournament in Omaha, Neb.

It’s been two weeks since the NCAA canceled all of its spring sports in an unprecedented move thanks to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. In that time, the United States has reportedly overtaken every other country in the world in confirmed coronavirus cases.

This global pandemic has thrown collegiate coaches and athletes into a world full of uncertainty — with a meeting of NCAA member schools set for Monday to determine whether winter and spring sports athletes will receive an extra season of eligibility. Iowa head baseball coach Rick Heller said he was really disappointed, given the team’s 10-5 record and good form leading up to the season’s end.

Thursday morning, Heller detailed what life has been life since the cancellation of the season, how he and the players were holding up and the difficulties surrounding the addition of an extra year of eligibility.

“We were super happy with the progress we were making,” Heller said. “It was coming together. I felt really good about where we were.”

‘100 to 0’

Heller said it was really difficult on both the team and the coaches to go “from 100 to 0” on such short notice, given the 24-hour time-frame that preceded the season being canceled by the Big Ten and NCAA while the team was about to head to Northridge, California, for a stretch of games.

“Just trying to do some exercise, some reading, some self-help type stuff,” Heller said. “Just trying to get a grip on what our next moves are going to be. There isn’t a whole lot we can do right now.”

While passing the time, he’s been trying to make sure his players are holding up as well. He said the team will have a Zoom meeting later in the week to catch up with the team and make sure they’re ready for online schooling — Iowa resumes online classes Monday.

Telling the team the season had been canceled was difficult for Heller.

“It was really tough because it was so final and so quick,” Heller said. “When you got up in the morning, you were hoping it was a bad dream and that it was all over and you could go back to playing.”

Eligibility questions

One thing Heller thought was completely up in the air is how the NCAA’s proposed extra year of eligibility for spring athletes will work out, or if the member schools will even approve it. Heller said it’s difficult to make things work in baseball, which is not a full scholarship sport.

“It’s really messy,” Heller said. “You can’t just say you’re going to give eligibility back and then expect the coaches to maintain their 35-man roster and 27 on scholarship and all that.”

Another difficulty is the potential impact these moves would have on future recruiting classes for the Hawkeyes, something Heller said he’s conveyed to Iowa administrators. He’s also had talks with some of the seniors, as well as players who are eligible to sign pro contracts or have a chance to be selected in the upcoming MLB Draft.