UMass coach Walt Bell thinks football being canceled is worse than his family members dying.
UMass canceled their 2020 football season because of coronavirus, and that apparently hit Bell in a very hard way. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
He told The Athletic, “You know, my dad passed away in 2008, my biological mom OD’d in 2012. And to be honest with you, this is probably a tougher day than both of those.”
UMass coach Walt Bell had an emotional reaction to informing his team the school was canceling the seasonhttps://t.co/aK76zeoKM6
by @BuckinBoston pic.twitter.com/Ty1wS7wAhg
— The Athletic Boston (@TheAthleticBOS) August 13, 2020
It would be really easy to pile on Bell here, but everyone handles and processes death differently. Before you jump on him, just realize that you have no idea what his private family life is like.
He might not have been close to his biological mother at all, and his father’s death could have been expected at some point.
You never know how death affects an individual.
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I’ll also say this. Football being canceled doesn’t just touch Bell. It impacts every single member of his roster.
Those are all young men that he’s responsible for helping to mold, and their worlds were just shattered. I can’t imagine how painful that must be for everyone involved, especially the head coach.
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Hopefully, Bell and the Minutemen return in 2021. It’s a sad time to be a football fan. That much is for sure.