Do the right thing

The MAAC has already canceled our fall sports season. We’ve already discussed that here, last week. Right now, our daily focus has been on how to proceed with fall training. Words matter. We will not be “practicing” in any sense – traditional, non-traditional, etc. No practice. We will be training. How, where, when … maybe even IF … those are questions with which we are currently grappling. But the big issue – having a season – that’s already been decided, thankfully. We are not pleased, and yes it sucks, but we understand. It’s the right and proper course of action.

Now. What’s the rest of college sports waiting for? Am I the only one that sees the obvious here? We can’t have fall sports in colleges and universities in 2020. As painful it is to say and write those words, it becomes more and more obvious each day. And not just because an entire Major League Baseball team (Miami Marlins) was nearly wiped out by Covid. What about the recent outbreak at Rutgers University with their football team? What about the reports out of Colorado State saying the coaches are not wearing masks and discouraging players from reporting Covid symptoms? (Side note: I started writing this post on Wednesday, and further fact checking says these reports may not be completely accurate … but still). What about college coaches clamping down hard on players who have the audacity to band together and wonder what the hell we are doing here? (Side note: That has happened).

People. Hey! We’re supposed to be ROLE MODELS here. I know, that’s a cliché, and probably not even true anymore in professional sports. But in college sports, at least at our humble mid-major (whatever that means) level, you’re darn right it’s true. Maybe at the FBS level, which mirrors professional sports in so many ways, the rules are different. But here’s something different: The FBS players are NOT professionals. They don’t get paid (nor do I think they should, but that’s another story). They don’t have a union to back them (again, don’t think we need to go down that road, either).

But wait. We’re straying off topic here. Let’s get right back to it: What the hell are we DOING here? For the past few months, we have been hoping, trying to find a way to play college sports, to run a cross country season. The calendar kept flipping pages, and it became apparent that it wouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen. Why is it taking so long for the rest of us in college sports to come to this conclusion? OK, now I’m looking and sounding naïve. What’s it about? It’s about money, of course. No football games means no cash flow. That’s obvious. College football stadiums pack in more humanity than pro football in the United States (think the “Big House,” Autzen Stadium, Death Valley, etc.). College football Saturdays are as much a cultural experience as sporting events. No big cross country meets in Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, etc., means hotels won’t fill up, big team orders with Panera won’t happen, on and on. Hey, I’m a college coach. No college sports kind of rocks my professional stability. No cash flow in the FBS -- and more importantly in the college basketball season and March Madness -- will rock our world in ways we really don’t want to fathom at this time. But doing the right thing is about doing the right thing, isn’t it?

As I said, I began writing this post on Wednesday morning. It’s Thursday morning as I complete it. Since I started writing this, D2 and D3 effectively shut down fall sports, yesterday. The drumbeat is getting louder for D1 to do the same, but the decision-makers at the NCAA seem hesitant to make this firm decision and are definitely not hesitant to pass the buck in terms of making these difficult decisions – to each individual division in the NCAA, to individual conferences, and so on. I know this is a complicated situation with a lot at stake – probably a lot more than I am even aware. So, I hesitate to completely chastise the decision-makers for their indecision. Hard choices with difficult consequences, some of which will trickle down to us here. But from where I sit, the writing is on the wall, and it says: No fall sports. I’d love to take the eraser to the whiteboard where that is written down as an option. But life’s not fair and the world is mean. There’s no joy in making any difficult decision, or in choosing not to make a difficult decision. How do we safely play college sports this fall? Most of us have already figured it out: We don’t.