WKU football coach says sports can bring people together

June 5, 2020 | 12:08 am

Updated June 5, 2020 | 12:12 am

Western Kentucky University sponsored the second remote Rooster Booster Thursday morning, with Hilltopper football coach Tyson Helton serving as the guest speaker.

Helton reflected on the effects of COVID-19 on WKU’s football team and said he is hoping the upcoming sports season can help bring the country together.

“Football conversations turned more to life conversations, and I really felt like we grew as a program,” he said. “We grew as a team. We grew as individuals. It’s an important time for us and our university to embrace the upcoming fall sports season, and hopefully, if we’re able to do that, we can heal as a country. We can move forward as a country.”

It’s going to be a step-by-step process for WKU to phase the football team back onto the field when training starts on Monday, Helton said, but great things are ahead and “there’s a lot of enthusiasm starting to build.”

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed about the football season,” he said. “It’s amazing what sport does in society. I really feel like sport leads the way. In trying times when there’s a lot of unknown, usually it’s sports that bring people together.”

WKU president Timothy Caboni also made an appearance during the virtual Rooster Booster. Caboni said WKU is on track to celebrate the largest increase in the size of its freshman class in 18 years.

“We’re on track to celebrate a significant uptick in the number of freshmen specifically from Daviess County,” Caboni said. “We will see an 83 percent year-over-year increase in the number of freshmen coming to us from Daviess County.”

He thanked city and county officials and Owensboro Community & Technical College for the continued partnerships through the WKU-Owensboro campus facility.

June 5, 2020 | 12:08 am

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