Q&A: Bradley’s Chris Reynolds discusses college sports amid COVID-19, new MVC members

Chris Reynolds always has plenty to contend with as the leader of the Bradley University athletic department.

The Braves men's basketball team has been on a bit of a roll with four wins in its last five games. The women's team recently just snapped a 15-game losing streak. The volleyball team has a new head coach.

All of it comes as the department copes with economic challenges associated with COVID-19, and an evolving college sports landscape.

In a conversation with WCBU reporter Joe Deacon, Reynolds discusses the status of Bradley athletics as the department continues to weather the impact of the pandemic.

This conversation has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.

Joe Deacon: As we're a little more than midway through the second academic year amid COVID-19, we're checking back in to see how the Bradley athletic department has adjusted during the pandemic. So how have things changed and how would you characterize the status of the athletic department?

Chris Reynolds: Well, that's a loaded question, and I would say the question can be answered and addressed from a lot of different perspectives. I would say it's day-to-day to be really candid, because our perspective is such that our student-athletes are the center of everything that we do. So we have to walk with them day by day in this journey, because this is something that obviously they've never experienced before, nor have we. So making sure their mental health and their physical health are in good order is number one on our priority list.

How have you seen attendance in the basketball games, the biggest revenue producers, and how has it affected the financial outlook of the department?

Reynolds: I would say, if you look nationally, attendance is down, whether it was football in the fall, or men's basketball in the winter and spring. I think a lot of it has to do with people feeling comfortable being in large groups, and that's just something that I think nationally in college athletics everyone has had to adjust to. Our hope is that with the vaccinations and the boosters that are coming out, that people that choose to partake in those will feel more comfortable being involved in large groups.

Have you seen a financial impact in the department, though, from all of this?

Reynolds: Well, certainly, if there's one person who doesn't show up, you have an impact. Certainly, I guess the short answer would be there is going to be an impact, and so what we have to do – and what we have done – we've had to fundraise and do other things to balance that out. And so for us, my philosophy is such (that) you don't ever let anything be an excuse for moving forward, so we have to continue to move forward. So if there are items that from a revenue perspective where we've been accustomed to generating a certain degree of revenues, then we have to come up with creative ways to fundraise or come up with other avenues to balance that out.

The show goes on, and we move forward. I'm really excited about how our donors have really stepped up tremendously for us, and they really have. People love Bradley in this community, and they're not going to let us fail. From my perspective as a leader, it's just important for me to make sure that our fans and supporters are aware of the items that we have going on in the department. What I’ve found being a native Peorian is that people want to help. They just need to be asked, and we've made the ask and people have really stepped up to support us.

The Missouri Valley Conference is going to look a bit different next year with the departure of Loyola-Chicago, and then the addition of Belmont, Murray State and UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago). How will these changes affect the conference as a whole and Bradley in particular?

Reynolds: I would say when you look at Belmont and where they are in the landscape of college athletics and with men's basketball being their flagship program, as well as Murray State, the additions have been tremendous. We get two top-flight programs from a basketball perspective, and we're hoping that Illinois-Chicago will come in and do great things as well. But Murray State and Belmont, they've already established themselves on a national level and they’re big-time programs in the landscape of college athletics.

Being a member of the (NCAA) Division I men's basketball committee, those are programs that have been staples in the committee room conversation when it comes time to select teams for the NCAA tournament. So we're really excited about the addition of all three of those members that will be joining the Missouri Valley Conference, but in particular, Belmont and Murray State, they bring a tremendous amount from a basketball perspective to the conference because they're already strong, established programs.

UIC brings something to the table as well, it's just different. Having a team or program in the Chicago market is important to Bradley University. It gets us up into Chicago, where our donors and alums are as well. So all three programs are great adds to the conference and we're looking forward to them join us beginning this summer.

With being in Chicago and adding UIC, how much does that offset the departure of Loyola from the Chicago market standpoint?

Reynolds: Well, I think of it from the perspective of the Bradley athletic department and the university having the opportunity to get up to Chicago to meet our alums face-to-face, our donors, people that have supported us, people that have graduated from Bradley. So whether it's Loyola or UIC, that doesn't really matter; it allows us to get up there. It gives us a reason to be in that part of the state, to make sure that we have face-to-face interactions with our friends, with our supporters, people who love Bradley. So (we’re) just really excited about that opportunity and that it will continue.

You mentioned being on the selection committee and we are getting closer to March. Obviously, you've been on (the committee) for a couple years. This year, you're going to be the vice-chair of the committee and then next year, you're going to chair the committee. What did it mean to you to be given those honors, and how does those change your responsibilities to the committee?

Reynolds: Well, first of all, it's just a tremendous honor and just something that you never really think or dream about or aspire to; you're just grateful when it happens. I think for me, what's more gratifying is that the committee members selected me as the vice-chair for this year, which will evolve into being the chair next year. So to have the respect around the table of your peers is extraordinary for me. When you look around the table and (see) the individuals on that committee, the institutions and the conferences that they represent are at the highest level of college athletics. So to be chosen by my peers means a great deal to me.

The responsibilities are such that it's my role to support the chair. We have weekly meetings, and we talk about the path moving forward. Really, it allows me to get a glimpse into what the chair responsibilities are, and I'm just a support to him as we move forward.

You recently announced Alicia Williams as the new head coach of the volleyball team. What set her apart as the top candidate for the position and what will she bring to the program?

Reynolds: Alicia is a big-time winner, and when you look at her resume it speaks for itself. The last two years, her (Iowa Western) program won the Division I junior college (NJCAA) national championship, which is very hard to do. It's hard to win one; she won two back-to-back, so she just has winning in her DNA. There's a reason why she's a winner: it's her personality, her style, the way she communicates.

It was apparent to us from the moment we met her that the search is over, it's a no brainer. She was head and shoulders above the rest of the candidates, and we interviewed sitting head coaches, and also coaches that had a head coaching experience at the Power-Five (D-I conference) level. So she was selected from a very, very impressive pool of candidates, and again, when we sat down to visit with her, it was clear that she was a top choice.

The women's basketball team obviously had tremendous success last year, and now has struggled a bit this year after losing star senior Gabi Haack to a season-ending injury. How hard is it in your position to cope with the roller-coaster nature of intercollegiate sports?

Reynolds: Well, it comes with the role; there's going to be ups and downs. So from my perspective, it's always (about) being a support to our coaches, to our student-athletes, understanding that there are going to be these types of years. But it doesn't diminish anything from what the women's basketball has done in the past, when you look at last year: going to NCAA tournament for the first time in school history is a tremendous accomplishment.

These things happen, particularly this year with Gabi having a season-ending injury, and she obviously is our leader. So what we have to do is look at it from a half-glass full perspective: we have to play every game as though it's our last, and the student-athletes on the women's basketball team, they're getting tremendous experience, they're getting better, they're improving. It certainly isn't showing up in the win column. However, we believe that if we continue to build and grow and support them, as you move forward, it's going to pay dividends.

Last summer, we discussed the new name-likeness-image (NLI) changes in college sportsand you said then that it was kind of too soon to know exactly how potential compensation for athletes would work out. Now several months later, what is your assessment? Do you have any more clarity on how this is all going to work and how it will impact college sports?

Reynolds: Not really, and let's be really candid, it's still too early. It's going to take a few years for this to shake out to really see the impact. When you look at college athletics, particularly from the major sport programs, the teams that have always recruited well have continue to recruit well. Teams that have been a little bit middle of the pack, they continue to be middle of the pack. So when we talk about name, image and likeness, I think there was a thought that it would be such a game-changer, particularly for those programs that maybe weren't in the top echelon of college programs, and maybe they are able to gain ground because of this.

But we really haven't seen a difference at all. So at the end of the day, what we're finding, at least here initially, is that young people, they're not going to go to a school based on name, image and likeness. They're going to go to a school based upon the quality of the administration, quality of the head coaches, quality of the school, what that school has to offer. But we're not finding, at this point, that name, image and likeness is moving the needle one way or the other.