For the fourth time in eight days, personnel issues have put a dent into the Colorado men’s basketball program.
This time, it struck at the top.
On Tuesday morning, CU announced that head coach Tad Boyle will miss Thursday’s home date against Oregon after testing positive for COVID-19. Associate head coach Mike Rohn will take over for Boyle at practice this week and lead the team against the Ducks. Boyle’s status for Saturday’s game at Oregon State will be determined later this week.
The entire team, including Boyle and his staff, has previously been vaccinated and boosted.
Boyle is closing in his 400th game as CU’s head coach, as Sunday’s loss at Washington State was his 397th as the Buffs’ leader. Only Sox Walseth (506) has coached more games in program history.
Boyle’s setback continues a run of bad luck for the Buffs that began with a knee injury suffered by freshman Lawson Lovering early last week that likely has ended the 7-foot-1 center’s season. CU won at Oregon to begin a three-game road trip last week, but in a loss at Washington two days later the Buffs played without starting forward Tristan da Silva, who also was sidelined due to COVID.
Da Silva remained away from the team during Sunday’s loss at Washington State, where CU also played without senior guard Elijah Parquet, who couldn’t play for the third time in five games due to a nagging foot issue.
“While I’m disappointed I can’t be on the court with our team, I have full confidence in our coaching staff and know that coach Rohn will have our team ready to play on Thursday,” Boyle said in a statement. “We’re all doing everything we can to navigate the impacts of COVID-19, and I’m grateful for the expertise and care of our medical staff in ensuring we take the proper steps to keep our student-athletes and staff safe.”
