for successful esports program

student in the program defined his time as its head. Students from the esports athletes, coaches, social media coordinators and even the volunteer commentators can recall how Adler set them on their path. CS junior and Smash commentator Hrithik Ochani said that Adler was the one who set him on his path to casting.

“Greg Adler was one of the greatest supporting factors I had. [He’s the reason for] the mark I’ve been able to make, the things I’ve been able to do right: casting stuff like the collegiate esports league that he himself was running. He recommended me to Rec Readiness, which was the group that was there broadcasting. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had an amazing opportunity like that,” Ochani said.

Students attest that Adler saw whatever potential they had and always pushed them toward maximizing that potential. There is marketing junior Eric Aaberg, brought on as the first Student Assistant Esports Coach, who is now working an internship at Team Envy. While he had to turn away biology junior Avery Carter from playing on the Overwatch team, Adler then introduced her to the role of casting, which led to her role as Broadcasting Lead today. ITS junior and long-time Overwatch tank player Jonah Salinas said that early on, Adler saw the potential for him to be a leader and helped him grow into that role for the team.

“He always came to me and gave me advice and told me that he expects me to be the leader and has high expectations,” Salinas said. “And he sees a lot of leadership skills and qualities in me that I feel like a lot of people have not seen, but he saw it in me. And he believed in me and gave me the shot to essentially be like the team captain.”

As a coach, Adler was able to steady the course for all the teams in the esports program. While managing four different teams can be difficult, Smash player and CS junior Marcel Hayek said that Adler taught them a team mentality as well as how to stay in the mental game throughout sets and series. Additionally, Hayek said that Adler was a constant and consistent motivator.

“Greg was the one I would turn to for motivation. He knew whenever I felt bad. Whenever I did bad at a tournament, even before I even said anything, he’d be like ‘don’t even worry about it. You got this in the next one. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You got this. It was just a bad day.’ He constantly motivated me. He was always looking over all of us at the team,” Hayek said.

On top of being the team’s motivator, Adler was the team’s mentor and biggest fan. One of Aaberg’s favorite moments with the team coach was when he jumped from the commentator’s desk

SEE GOAT, PAGE 8

For the second iteration of “Coach check-in,” I sat down with Head Volleyball Coach Marci Allison to discuss the summer accolades accrued by the volleyball team—who went undefeated in last year’s regular season— the impact of the abbreviated offseason and her expectations for the fall.

Can you give me an overview of the previous season? How did postponement disrupt the team, and how did they handle themselves throughout that adversity?

“Looking back on the spring, I think for all of us, we had to learn to make adjustments. Even more so on the court, with all of the changes we’d been trying to implement for COVID policies. And then our athletic directors made the decision that we would play only doubleheaders, so it was pretty rough mentally and physically. That meant trying to keep everybody healthy—not just because of COVID, but also the wear of back-to-back matches—definitely took a toll on us, and unfortunately, we had quite a few injuries going into the postseason tournament. Every team did. So, we came out against Concordia, were able to sneak past them—and at one point, they were up on us 2-1, but our team was really gritty, we changed our lineup … and that worked out for us—but then Mary Hardin-Baylor just played really really well at home, and we weren’t full throttle. But I told the team after the spring that, regardless of win or loss, I was so proud of them. They showed really, really mature character: we were the only team that chose to wear masks, not just on the sideline, but also during competition. I think that shows a lot about their mindset, and it meant a lot to all the teammates who were dealing with a little bit more high risk than them, with the whole team respecting that.”

What’s the significance of the preseason rankings to this group of athletes, and how do you feel internally about the upcoming season?

“We don’t ever put a ton of clout into the preseason stuff, you know, and especially that AVCA poll. Even though we’re number 13, it was really hard for those voters because a lot of teams didn’t play last year, so they’re having to go off of 2019 and 2020 and strength of schedule, and so what we always tell our athletes is to look at those rankings as rewards, not pressure. Within the conference, coming in second to MaryHardin Baylor, that’s just what happened last year. Unfortunately for us, we do have a couple of injuries going into the start of the season, so we’re having to deal with some adversity out the gate. I think that’s a chance to work on one of the things for this team to improve upon, their resiliency. And obviously, starting the season at number 13 in the nation can put a lot of pressure on you mentally if you let it, but we try to just appreciate those who came before us and earned that respect.”

What is the continuing impact of COVID likely to be this semester?

“I mean, we’re still dealing with COVID. Obviously, the vaccines are helping, but we’re still having to stay on top of precautions, not only here in Dallas, but anywhere we travel, so making sure we follow all of the precautions in St. Louis or wherever we may be headed.

But the biggest thing, I think, that was hard on our team, is that we aren’t used to the kind of a turnaround where you finish in May and then start back up in August. There wasn’t time to heal and take time off; we basically ended our season and then jumped straight