SAN FRANCISCO – Senior Associate Director of Athletics/SWA Linda Lappe was in Las Vegas with USF's men's and women's basketball team when she got a call from University of San Francisco administration asking her to join a phone call with other members of the campus community. The goal of the call was to determine the next steps the campus needed to take and what they needed to prepare for regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during the call that Lappe, and the athletic department, started to grasp the full impact the pandemic would have.
 
Early in March, there was excitement on the Hilltop. Men's basketball just completed a strong showing at the WCC Championships and were confident of a pending invite to the NIT. The women's track and field team was celebrating the excitement of Aoibe Richardson's pending run at USF history as the first woman to compete at the at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. The department's spring sports were off to a strong start to their respective seasons. Then the news that the season was canceled dropped like a hammer.
 
In the second segment of the debut episode of season seven of "Behind the Mask," the USF athletics department looks back at the first days of COVID-19. From the excitement of a potential NIT bid and individual national champion, to the confusion of canceled seasons and rushed flights home, and the effects of shelter in place orders.
 
"Control the controllable," was what baseball head coach Nino Giarratano emphasized to his team during this tumultuous time.
 
The segment goes on to highlight some of the creative ways the Dons coped with the lost season and the loss of their sense of team.
 
Check local listings for your cable provider's station guide and additional air dates and times each month. Segments from the show, as well as past seasons of "Behind the Mask," are available on-demand on USF Athletics' Youtube channel.
 
To tune in to the show in the San Francisco Bay Area, NBC Sports California can typically be found on channel 698 for DirecTV customers, 438 on the Dish Network, 412-01 on Dish Hopper packages, 767 on U-Verse and 41 on most Comcast packages. CSN Bay Area can be generally be accessed at channel 40 on Comcast, 41 on the Dish Network, 696 for DirecTV subscribers, and at 770 on U-Verse.