Win or lose on Saturday—but preferably after a win since “it’s kind of what we’re paid to do,” says Towson University men’s basketball coach Pat Skerry—he will eventually settle into a comfy chair at home at night, likely with his 10-year-old son, Owen, and wife, Kirsten, nearby. The family television will be tuned to—what else?—basketball, and on the screen the Skerrys will once again proudly see the fruits of their labor, the campaign that they started.

If you watch a college basketball game this weekend—and, even in February, millions of people will—pretty much every coach, even the well-known ones, will be sporting a blue puzzle piece-shaped pin on their suit jacket lapel.

What’s that for, you may ask?

Well, that’s the point. It’s for autism awareness. For the estimated one in 59 children in the United States today, like Skerry’s son, and more than 70 million people worldwide living on the broad autism spectrum. And it’s specifically for Autism Speaks, the advocacy organization pushing for more research into what’s hypothesized to be a brain and nervous system disorder, but whose cause is still largely debated as diagnosis rates continue to rise.

“It’s something that’s dear to us,” Skerry says, “but it’s also the largest developmental disorder in the world.”

This weekend, in what’s become a very visible nationwide autism awareness push, nearly 400 coaches will wear the small pins, which are shaped like a puzzle piece as a nod to the complexity and nuances of the disorder. And at Towson, which hosts the College of Charleston at 4 p.m. Saturday, you can find the campaign’s co-founder wearing his while the Tigers don blue Under Armour jerseys in honor of Autism Speaks’ signature color.

Skerry started all of this nearly a decade ago, around the same time he was hired at Towson, with coaching colleague and friend, South Florida assistant Tom Herrion, whose son is also autistic. Since then, it’s grown from a truly grassroots effort. In 2014, the Skerrys hand-mailed pins to coaches around the country, and explained why they should wear them during televised games in February. The purpose was to raise awareness of the challenges of life with autism, which can include a variety of symptoms typically including trouble picking up social cues, engaging in repetitive behavior, and sensory issues.

It’s expensive. The average family with a child with autism spends more than $60,000 per year in care, and not all states provide health insurance coverage. When Owen was diagnosed, the Skerrys could afford it, but knew not everyone could do the same. “Not every family has the resources that they need, especially financially,” Skerry says. “We wanted to create more exposure about where to look for them.”

Eighty-two coaches participated in the first year of the campaign, and its footprint has grown each season. In 2018, close to 350 coaches and television broadcasters—many of them appearing on national television games—brought attention to the cause. “The next step is, I want to make it better and bigger,” Skerry says. “I always say it’s an awareness weekend, and I would like it to grow into an acceptance weekend.”

We don’t want to use the stereotype of Dustin Hoffman’s character from “Rain Man,” as an accurate portrayal of each of the millions of people who live with autism, because it’s not, though it is based on a true story. And in fact, at first, that was Pat Skerry’s only impression of a developmental disorder. But the fuller truth is that not everyone with autism is a savant, nor is anyone diagnosed identical to the next. “It’s a spectrum,” Skerry says, “so no two people are exactly alike.”

In the case of the boy closest to him, Owen Skerry was diagnosed at age 2, around the time symptoms in children usually present. Today, he attends the specialized Trellis School in Hunt Valley and has regular appointments with occupational therapists and speech pathologists. Along the way, Skerry and his wife have cherished small moments of growth, like a cry-free swim class or Owen trying a new food. Skerry says Owen is doing well, and his wife Kristen, “is the real hero in our daily mission.”

For reasons like these, Skerry is going to keep spreading the word about what autism really is, answer any questions about it—such as how to best interact with a person on the spectrum (asking questions about their routine is a big suggestion)—and consider the bigger picture and open-mindedness in unfamiliar, yet increasingly prevalent circumstances.

“There’s nothing harder or worse sometimes for a parent that’s maybe out to eat or at a store with a child, or an adult, and there’s an issue or disturbance or a meltdown, and people prejudge, or stare,” Skerry says. “We’re not asking anybody to be perfect, but this is something that affects a lot of people. We’re sensitive because we’ve seen it.”

But he doesn’t want to be pushy, either. He’s not asking for money, though Autism Speaks definitely accepts donations and he admits more funding for grants and research would help the cause that he’s so invested in.

Skerry just wants people to pay attention, to come to Towson’s game Saturday, understand, and be aware. He also wants all those coaches to wear the blue pins, for kids like Owen and everyone else trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

For the second year in a row, Baltimore is hosting the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) men’s basketball tournament. Running March 6-9 at Royal Farms Arena, the Division I tourney will pit the league’s 10-member teams against one another with the winner earning a seed in “the big dance”—the NCAA’s March Madness tournament.

In advance of that, we sat down to talk to Towson University’s head coach, Pat Skerry. Here’s what he had to say about the league, the Tigers, and his future at Towson.

How long has Towson been in the Colonial Athletic Association?
That’s a good question. I think it has probably been close to 20 years now.

A lot of teams from the CAA have then gone on to the NCAA. Is that common? Is it seen as a feeder league?
There’s usually at least one from this conference that goes on to the dance. There have even been a few instances where we’ve had multiple teams go. That’s always the goal. That certainly depends on how well your non-conference [games] go, normally. But what happens now is whoever wins the conference tournament gets the automatic bid. That’s the true definition of why they call it March Madness. And what I think it really neat about the tournament. Last year was the first year it was in Baltimore—and I thought it was pretty good turnout. We’ve got to have some patience as the tournament grows—and we all know Baltimore is a great sports town. There are over 100,000 alums from all the CAA member institutions in the greater Baltimore area.

Right. The teams are William & Mary, Elon, College of Charleston, Hofstra, Delaware, James Madison, etc.—there are tons of people from all of those schools in Baltimore, and many bars that have allegiances to them. How was attendance last year?
There’s the quarterfinals, two games in the afternoon, two games at night. The semis are the next day, there’s two games, then the finals. I think they averaged about 5,000 people each session, which I thought is a pretty good start. I would anticipate that will grow. But I think that everyone involved in the tournament needs to be both mindful and have some appreciate for—it takes a little bit of time to build something, too.

Right. The CAA tournament is coming back to Baltimore again next year, right?
Yes. They initially signed a three-year deal, so my personal opinion and that of most of my coaching brethren in the conference is that they want to stay in Baltimore for a long time. Hopefully, Baltimore is willing to do that.

Well, it’s certainly very convenient for you guys at Towson. Do you get home-court advantage?
You know, it is, obviously, from a travel standpoint. It’s funny though because I don’t know if it’s any advantage. We don’t get to the tournament as early as the other teams.

Oh really, why?
Well, I don’t want them missing class. We’re right here, you know.

Well, but you must be able to attract more fans than the other teams.
Well, I hope. We’re still growing. We had good turnouts last year. Our last couple seasons here have been really good. We’ve got a young group right now, but certainly we think that our potential is pretty high over the next couple months and next couple years. I think our fanbase and everything at Towson has undergone so many good changes in athletics and academics that that will continue to improve. But we don’t get to play any games down in Baltimore, so it’s not like we have a big advantage where it’s the court or the floor that we play on all the time.

Your current record is 12-19. But a lot of those losses have been in really close games.
That falls on me. We’ve got to do a better job in close games. That’s something the last couple of years we’ve done a really good job of winning close games, and we’ve gotta get better with that. But I do like the group. We’re young. There’s roughly 350 teams in the country, and there’s an advance stats site called kenpom.com, and we were rated the 307th most experienced team in the country, so we’re very young. That’s not necessarily a good thing. We’ve got a lot of freshman and sophomores.

What are you doing to help that?
So we’re trying to put a pretty good emphasis on defense and rebounding. I think that gives you a chance every night out. And on offense, we want to try to get good players and help them get better and give them a lot of confident.

What’s the recruiting picture at Towson?
Pretty good. We also have a very, very good player sitting out who will be playing next year, a transfer from Wake Forest. He’s a Cameroonian kid. His name is [Arnaud William Adala] Moto. He’s a forward, 6-foot-7, 240 pounds, very athletic, skilled. He’s going to be really, really good. So we’ll have our whole team back, so I think our upside is really high.

Has Towson sent people to the NBA before?
You know, it’s funny you say that. A couple have played before, mostly recently—he’s still in there—Gary Neal. We had a special player my last two years I was here by the name of Jerrelle Benimon. He was played of the year in the conference the last two years. He is right on the cusp. He’s in the D-league, the NBA Development League right now. But he might be signing something. He’s close, he’s really close. He’s playing great. So not that often, but if Jerrelle can make it we’d actually have two guys from Towson in the NBA. That’d be pretty cool.

What made you want to come down to Towson in the first place?
I worked as a Division I assistant [coach] in a lot of places. I got a big break going to Pittsburgh a few years ago. We had a really good year. I thought I’d be there a while. We were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and this opportunity came up here. And everyone who was kind of a mentor close to me told me not to do it. We’d had, like, the nation’s third-longest losing streak as far as consecutive under-.500 seasons and all that good stuff.

But I just looked at the situation: great academics, a beautiful area to live, we had a new arena coming. In my mind, I thought the opposite: Why can’t we get good here? And I’m one of those guys who likes to kind of build something. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I mean that in a good way! I’m on my fourth year here and hopefully I’m fortunate to get to coach here for a long time.

How long is your original contract?
My original was for six. I think I’m signed right now to 2020, 2021, something like that. I’ve got a good marriage at home and a good marriage here with Towson.

So going back to the tournament. What’s it like to be in it? Is it a whirlwind?
Oh, no question. We could be playing three or four games in a weekend. You’re in the bunker. It’s quick turnover. You just survive and advance, pretty much. That’s what makes it cool for people to come to the games. It’s literally guys playing for their life, their dream to get to the big dance.