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26
Inside Hokie Sports
Matt Dauby methodically drove through
the night after that UVA game. He was driving
home in hopes of driving toward a better future.
He arrived in Carmel shortly before dawn.
His parents immediately called Mason and
left a message. Mason returned the message
a couple of hours later, expressing relief that
Dauby was at home, offering support and
resolutely assuring them that Dauby’s place
within the Virginia Tech baseball program
would not change.
“He
[Mason]
was
more
than
understanding,” Dauby said. “Most coaches
around the country would not have treated
the situation the way Coach Mason did. He
took the time to get educated on how serious
of an issue this was becoming in athletes
and supported me throughout my journey of
finding myself again. He has shown that he is
extremely passionate about winning, but also
has the same amount of passion for assisting
in the overall well being of his players, short
term and long term.”
In that conversation, Mason made a
suggestion to Steve Dauby that probably
changed Matt’s life.
Dr. Gary Bennett works in the Virginia Tech
Athletics Department as the department’s sport
psychologist. In 2000, he started working with
Tech student-athletes, and in 2007, he became
one of the nation’s first sport psychologists of
an athletics program when then-Tech AD Jim
Weaver brought him aboard on a full-time
basis. Bennett routinely meets with student-
athletes for counseling sessions—he met with
244 during the past academic year—and he also
coordinates educational sessions about issues
related to various topics, including depression
and anxiety.
In 2014, Bennett brought Will Heininger,
a former Michigan football player, to campus
to meet with a large group of student-athletes.
Heininger spoke about his struggles with
depression and anxiety—though his issues
were not related to concussions—and he
encouraged student-athletes to seek therapy
as a means of coping instead of hiding within
oneself or abusing certain substances. A
therapist there in Michigan had helped him
turn his life around.
Mason suggested that the Daubys get in
contact with Heininger, so that he and Matt,
two people of common backgrounds, could
share their struggles.
“I was at the point where I’d try anything,”
Steve Dauby said.
They contacted Heininger, and he strongly
suggested therapy, telling Matt of how much it
helped him. Until this point, Dauby’s treatment
consisted primarily of medication.
A hesitant Dauby, at his parents’ urging,
agreed to meet with a therapist—Jennifer
Horn, the same woman who diagnosed post-
concussion syndrome. He spent that week at
home and met with her on three occasions.
Though he faced a long road, he started feeling
better about his direction.
At the end of that week, he convinced his
family to let him return to Tech and they
acquiesced, so he made the nine-hour trek back
to Blacksburg, filled with apprehension. He
knew his teammates and friends off the field
had questions, but he dreaded answering them.
During that week in Carmel, nearly every
one of his teammates called or sent a text
message. Mason had informed the team that
Dauby needed to step away from baseball for
a while to take care of some personal matters,
but he never got into specifics. When asked,
he told people that Dauby was out with a
hamstring injury, unapologetically lying to
protect Dauby’s privacy.
Some of Dauby’s closest teammates
knew of his problems stemming from the
concussions, but never fully understood the
extent of those issues.
“I was eager to get back, but at the same
time, I was nervous,” Dauby said. “I was a
younger guy at the time, so the juniors and
seniors, I didn’t know how they were going to
take it. Nothing came of it, but in my own head,
I wondered if they were talking about it when I
wasn’t there or thinking about it.
“I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me or
feel bad for me or try to help. It was something
I had to deal with. I didn’t tell anyone about
it because I didn’t want people to treat me
differently or feel bad for me.”
Things certainly didn’t turn around all
at once. He missed the remainder of that
baseball season. He wanted to be on the team
and hanging out with the guys. It pained him
when his roommates went on road trips, but
he knew he needed to overcome his mental
issues first.
He also struggled with all the questions.
People constantly asked him what was wrong,
ignorant of his situation. He refused to open up
and expose himself for the world to see.
“It [his mental struggles] was kind of
embarrassing,” he said. “And at the time, I felt
like it was a weakness.”
Dauby spent the rest of that spring going
to classes, studying and visiting regularly
with Bennett, who became his “Blacksburg”
therapist. He worked on mental exercises and
meditation, attempting to train himself to think
differently.
Once the semester ended, he never gave
summer baseball a thought, admitting to
himself that he still needed time to work
through his anxieties. He met with Horn three
or four times a week and performed his mental
exercises. This continued throughout the
remainder of the summer.
In fact, 2014 marked the longest year of his
life. He wasn’t sure if he would ever see the
baseball diamond again.
Continued from page 25