In the spring of 2019, Jeff Boals came off of a 24-9 season with the Stony Brook Seawolves, finishing second in the America East Conference. His alma mater, Ohio University, finished an abysmal 14-17 and last place in the MAC East Division. With Ohio’s program in a much needed spot for change, Boals decided to make a homecoming return to Athens, Ohio, in an attempt to lift the Bobcats from the basement of the Mid-American Conference. It didn’t start out easy, multiple key players entered themselves into the transfer portal, leaving an extremely young but promising core to build upon. The season started with a few bumps in the road and the team had a mediocre record heading into a late-January game against Ball State. A blowout ensued that went to the Cardinals favor and the team left Muncie, Indiana, dejected about their late fortunes. Boals sensing this dejection, ordered the bus driver to stop off at a roadside Dairy Queen to lift spirits. Whatever was in that ice cream caused the team to make a surprising run for the last half of the MAC season, earning them a berth in the Cleveland portion of the MAC Tournament, something which hadn’t been done for the past two seasons. The team was riding high, but it all came crashing down at the announcement of cancellation of the tournament due to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
INTERVIEW TALKING ABOUT 2019 SEASON, MENTIONING BALL STATE TRIP AND ENSUING RUN, B-ROLL OF A DAIRY QUEEN WITH WHAT BOALS ORDERED THAT DAY, MAC TOURNAMENT RUN
