Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy suggested early last month that his players could return to campus May 1, an idea he later apologized for, and LSU’s football coaches returned to the office last Monday.
The SEC’s 14 presidents soon will vote about whether to bring back players as soon as June 1.
College football is back? Or almost back?
Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley wants to slam the brakes on that notion, wondering what the rush is.
During a conference call with reporters Thursday, Riley made it clear he believes there will be a college football season. But he makes a convincing argument for patience, refusing to mince words by calling the idea of a June 1 return to campus as “one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.”
“Every day early that we bring them in is a day we could have gotten better,” Riley said, via Jason Kersey of TheAthletic.com. “It’s a day we could have learned more about the virus. It’s a day PPE maybe gets better. It’s a day closer to a vaccine. It’s a day that our testing equipment and testing capabilities get better. And it’s just not worth it. So we’ve got to be patient. We get one shot at this, and we’ve got to do it right.”
Readily available and efficient diagnostic testing will be needed for any sport to return. Riley said OU expects to have testing stations, with a negative result required before anyone can enter the building.
He adds that full team meetings indoors, which would force players into close contact, are unlikely.
“I do believe if we do it right and don’t get ahead of ourselves that we will be able to play a season,” Riley said. “Whether that’s this fall, whether it’s in the spring, whether it’s a combination, whether it’s a short schedule, a full schedule, I don’t know. I know all those options are on the table, and we’re going to have to have an open mind, and we’re probably going to have to make some adjustments along the way. But I have a high, high confidence that we are going to play football this year.”
The sport must figure out how to balance the college with the football and the student with the athlete as it seeks to play during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rushing to get back on campus by taking a business-as-usual approach seems imprudent.
“I think everybody’s got to have a very open mind about this,” Riley said. “We’re not the NFL. There are some huge, huge differences in us being able to put on a successful season versus a professional league. We’re not the NBA. We don’t just have 15 players. This is a totally different deal.”
