A branch of the Singler football coaching tree finally made it onto the field.<\/p>\n
And Mitch Singler did so in one of the game\u2019s most hallowed venues.<\/p>\n
Singler took his perch in the press box and helped facilitate Duke\u2019s offense when it opened the season last Saturday at\u00a0Notre Dame\u00a0Stadium under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus.<\/p>\n
The locale and top-10 opposition was daunting enough. Playing a game in the COVID-19 era, with a relative smattering of fans on-site but untold thousands taking heed, added to the unusual nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was actually kind of crazy to have coaches text me like, oh, man, you guys are already going out and playing a game,\u201d said Singler, whose father, Bill, and brother, Jack, are also in the coaching ranks but have been idle because of the virus. \u201cIt hits you, dang, you realize the pandemic we\u2019re in and the situation we\u2019re in and that you\u2019re so lucky to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill Singler is the longtime head coach at South Medford High, and his youngest son, Jack, is an aide with the Panthers after returning from\u00a0Central Washington University, where he was a graduate assistant.<\/p>\n
Mitch Singler, 29, is in his third year at Duke, in Durham,\u00a0North Carolina. His title is football analyst\/offense, and he assists with\u00a0running backs.<\/p>\n
A South Medford alumnus, he lettered three years at wide receiver at\u00a0Oregon State\u00a0before graduating in 2014. He served as a\u00a0quality control\u00a0coach with the Beavers for two seasons, then headed to Duke to broaden his coaching experience.<\/p>\n
Against the Fighting Irish, the\u00a0Blue Devils\u00a0acquitted themselves well but weren\u2019t able to pull off an upset in\u00a0South Bend, Indiana, losing 27-13.\u00a0Notre Dame\u00a0climbed three spots to No. 7 in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week.<\/p>\n
Duke started the game in dominant fashion, outgaining\u00a0Notre Dame\u00a0151-13 in the first period, and was within 17-13 entering the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The Irish, however, took over in the latter stages to salt away the victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur kids fought hard, to be honest with you, from start to finish,\u201d said Singler. \u201cThey played their butts off, man, and it was really good to see our kids just have that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conditioning may have played a role as the Irish pulled away, he said, a possible effect of coronavirus workout limitations dating to March.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur kids played good, we just didn\u2019t execute some plays in the second half,\u201d said Singler. \u201cThey took advantage of those. When it comes down to it, you\u2019ve just got to score in the red zone, and we didn\u2019t make the most of our opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the press box, Singler had a bird\u2019s-eye view of the proceedings, something new for him.<\/p>\n
In previous years, he\u2019s been on the sidelines, signaling in plays or noting formations and relaying tendencies to head coach\u00a0David Cutcliffe\u00a0\u2014 who also is the\u00a0offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
Singler\u2019s role doesn\u2019t allow direct coaching of players. Rather, he delves into analytics around the sets the\u00a0Blue Devils\u00a0use, the down and distance, how the opposing defense reacts and what adjustments can be made.<\/p>\n
They are the same duties he has during practice, when he\u2019ll also monitor the flow of each session and help Cutcliffe and other coaches stay on script.<\/p>\n
During the game Saturday, he was flanked by quarterback and tight end coaches who had similar assignments.<\/p>\n
The action on the field wasn\u2019t the only thing Singler noticed on this unique day.<\/p>\n
There were slightly more than 10,000 fans, mostly students, in the 77,622-seat stadium, and for the most part, they practiced social distancing.<\/p>\n
Seeing so few spectators \u201cwas weird,\u201d said Singler.<\/p>\n
Atlantic Coast Conference\u00a0logos were on the field, signifying the first time in 132 years historically independent\u00a0Notre Dame\u00a0played a conference game. It joined the ACC for this season out of desperation when other conferences elected not to play this fall and canceled games against the Irish.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the COVID-19 ramifications, said Singler, it was still\u00a0Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows the tradition of\u00a0Notre Dame football,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know that place is special. It was surreal just to walk in that stadium and know that you\u2019re in history there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just crushes you because we can\u2019t have fans there,\u201d Singler added, \u201cbut you\u2019re still playing for the love of the game. That took over. Honestly, you just put that football down and the whistle blows and then at the end of the day, you don\u2019t really need fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pandemic had already significantly altered the build-up to the season, which continues Saturday with a\u00a0home game\u00a0against\u00a0Boston College.<\/p>\n
Spring practice was canceled after only three sessions. A dozen walk-throughs were permitted when athletes were phased into a return to campus in mid-July. Fall camp began for the\u00a0Blue Devils\u00a0Aug. 7.<\/p>\n
Athletes had to self-quarantine at home for two weeks before going to Duke and continued the practice for three days upon arrival.<\/p>\n
Weight lifting and other conditioning was spread out over six groups to abide by distancing measures, and players followed other precautions throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely was a challenge, especially being away from your guys for about a third of the year,\u201d said Singler. \u201cYou don\u2019t get that face-to-face contact, you don\u2019t have that interaction, and they\u2019re not getting the training they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys were awesome in how they handled the situation. They took pride in everything they did in terms of the protocols put in place by the university, all that sort of stuff. They felt ready and eager to get on the field to start playing the game they came to Duke for.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was one other issue that socked Singler\u2019s consciousness as the opener approached: His home region was devastated by wildfires that began the Tuesday prior.<\/p>\n
His parents texted him saying they might have to evacuate and asked if there was anything in the house they should save for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, holy crap, this is actually for real,\u201d said Mitch.<\/p>\n
The first thing that came to mind wasn\u2019t a thing; it was them. He told his parents to take care of themselves and be safe.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Medford Singlers did not have to evacuate.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d rather care for your parents and family,\u201d said Mitch. \u201cStuff is stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same vein, he\u2019s caring for himself. Singler doesn\u2019t know what the future holds. He\u2019s happy at Duke and cherishes working for a head coach the magnitude of Cutcliffe, who has guided the program since 2008.<\/p>\n
But coaching is often a vagabond existence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know what tomorrow might bring, so I just always am where my feet are,\u201d said Singler. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy to be here at Duke. It\u2019s a special place.\u00a0Duke football\u00a0is home right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A branch of the Singler football coaching tree finally made it onto the field. And Mitch Singler did so in one of the game\u2019s most hallowed venues. Singler took his perch in the press box and helped facilitate Duke\u2019s offense when it opened the season last Saturday at\u00a0Notre Dame\u00a0Stadium under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus. The locale and top-10 opposition was daunting enough. Playing a game in the COVID-19 era, with a relative smattering of fans on-site but untold thousands taking heed, added to the unusual nature. \u201cIt was actually kind of crazy to have coaches text me like, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n