A few years ago, Quentin Hillsman sat in his office and brainstormed ways to improve how his players felt. He thought about introducing health-tracking mechanisms, providing more perks and adding academic support services. Maybe, he’d plan more off-court team-bonding events. Maybe, he’d ask his assistants what they thought.

Then he had an epiphany.

“Wait a minute,” Hillsman recalled last October. “Why don’t we just ask the players what’s going on? How can we help them off the court? Academically, socially?”

Hillsman went to Cedric Solice — SU’s director of program management and development — with a straightforward idea: Regularly scheduled meetings with players in Solice’s office. They became mandatory once per month, but players can pop in as often as they’d like. Even during the offseason, Solice meets with players to talk basketball, post-graduation plans, school — the list goes on. According to interviews with dozens of SU athletes, the women’s basketball team is the only SU team to run such wellness check-ins. Embedded in the program’s culture, the talks have helped as No. 3-seeded SU (25-8, 11-5 Atlantic Coast) continues its NCAA tournament push.

Players are required to meet with Solice and any topic is available. In meetings with “Ced,” players walk into his office in the Carmelo K. Anthony Center and open up. Conversations range from navigating MySlice and Blackboard to more serious issues such as frustrations with playing time and family life.

The chats give SU starters and end-of-rotation players alike a platform to share how they’re feeling with someone not referred to as “Coach Q.” They also discuss eating and sleeping routines, as well as internship hunts. Sometimes, Solice asks players how they’re feeling and encourages an open dialogue. In the first meeting with new players, Solice lays out that there are no expectations. In that sense, he tells them they can be as honest and open as they want.

“We promise these young ladies that they’ll have an amazing social experience,” Solice said. “Coach Q says we need to treat them like our daughters, so they know we’re here for them and they can talk about what they want.”

Hillsman got the idea before Director of Athletics John Wildhack initiated a recent push to address mental illness, Hillsman said. Wildhack has added two counselors available exclusively for athletes in Manley Field House.

“People think because we’re an athlete, with a camera on us, everything is gravy,” said guard Isis Young. “Usually, it’s not. We have bad days.”

Former Syracuse star Brittney Sykes said the meetings with Solice set her on a path to recover from her second ACL tear and develop into the star she’s become. He suggested she speak with a sports psychologist, who gave her the confidence to return to the court. Soon, she blossomed into a leader for the Orange. She now plays for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

“The wellness meetings with Ced save a lot of careers and lives,” Sykes said. “Including mine.”

Gabrielle Cooper, a junior guard, said she met with a psychologist before her sophomore season. She “was going through a lot” and wanted to meet with someone to help her develop tools to manage stress. She said stress would “pile up, snowball, get worse and worse.” She declined to elaborate but she said three years of meetings with Solice changed the tenor of her career.

By speaking with Solice, she noticed she slept, ate and felt better as a result.

“It’s much easier talking to Ced than to Coach Q,” Cooper said. “If you’re having a bad day, you don’t want to talk to Coach Q about it. He’s probably the one yelling at you … If you’re having a bad day mentally, it could really have a bad effect on you and your teammates. If you can control that, it’s really, really important.”

When Hillsman recalled his initial idea for the wellness meetings, he remembered thinking about his days as a young basketball player. Usually, he remembered, the head coach was the most-intimidating person to talk to within the program. So, he thought about encouraging players to talk to someone else.

“You don’t want to talk to me,” Hillsman said. “Because they’ll just tell me what they want me to hear. You want to go to someone they can be honest with.”

Published on March 25, 2019 at 12:01 am

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