Let the healing process begin.
At least that’s thinking about Wednesday’s release of Open Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to the Big Ten community. He offered a mea culpa for not communicating well amid the aftermath of the August 11 announcement by the Big Ten to postpone the 2020 season. Yet that decision – the timing of it, especially if the thought process is inexplicable in making it – still prevailed for some rings.
“We’ve all been pushing (to wait for a decision to play in 2020),” a Big Ten head coach told GoldandBlack.com. ‘If you have to, just slow down. Give us a chance to get started. Absolutely. It did not work out when the decision was made. ”
Was it a shock when the news was delivered last week amid a COVID-19 pandemic that Big Ten officials feel is too dangerous to play in 2020?
“Oh, yes,” said the head coach. “No question. Absolutely.”
Some may disagree with the idea that the Big Ten do not treat communication on this matter with aplomb.
“I was not woken up at all,” the head coach said. ‘We actually said to get things going and feel better about some things. And suddenly this happens. The first red flag was when they told us to only go back to helmets (August 8). We knew there was something wrong. ”
Purdue’s Jeff Brohm had also stated last week that he wished the Big Ten could have delayed the decision.
“In my opinion, when the SEC makes it on September 26, I thought we should do it too, because it would allow us more time …” Brohm said.
The Boilermaker coach jumped into action and wrote a detailed nine-page plan on how to execute spring and fall seasons in 2021.
The rancor about the Big Ten’s movement expanded beyond coaches. The parents of the Big Ten footballers in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Illinois and Michigan sent letters to the league office asking for a statement. Buckeye star quarterback Justin Fields began a petition pushing for the chance to play in 2020.
“Do I think things will change?” said Penn Frank’s James Franklin in a Zoom interview with reporters on Wednesday prior to the release of Warren’s letter. “I do not think we will return to a fall season. I do not think the petitions and the votes have been let go that we can return this autumn. I wish that was the case, but I do not see that happening.”
As Franklin predicted, none of the blowbacks mattered. Warren emphasized in his open letter that his decision “will not be re-examined.”
Now, the good news, the hopeful shooter butt: Reports have surfaced that a winter football season is in the works for the Big Ten. The report would start in early January and end in February and probably cover eight games.
It is hoped that the early start would encourage players to hang out and play, as the season would end soon enough to allow players between six and seven weeks to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft.
Who knows? The Big Ten has lost all its share of star quality through opt outs, with Purdue’s Rondale Moore, Penn State’s Micah Parsons and Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman – among others – already bout.
“While I appreciate the complexities and difficulties of this decision for the leaders of our conference, I am extremely frustrated because we have very few answers to communicate with our young men,” Franklin said.
Now the Big Ten will be sitting on the sidelines hoping to play in the spring of 2021 along with the other FBS leagues that have picked up on the 2020 season: Pac-12, Mountain West and MAC, which was the first FBS conference to bail.
“If we can just put things off here and get some things done and give us a chance to learn as we go,” the head coach said. ‘If the doctors say it’s not safe, we’ll put them off. That’s the right thing to do. ”
When the Big Ten made their announcement not to play in 2020 last Tuesday, a few Big Ten coaches were vocal with their displeasure. And no coach or school showed more fear than Scott Frost and Nebraska.
“It’s like everything else,” the head coach said. “If you have a staff or a team or organization, and you have your challenges and can have agreements behind closed doors. You have to hash it out.
‘If you go ahead and make a decision as a group, you support that. You do. And so it’s sad. There is a lot of frustration for many different reasons. You want to see everyone agree. You may not agree with it along the way, and your concerns will speak. But you want conferences to be united. “
While the Big Ten goes out this fall, the SEC, ACC and Big 12 continue to practice with hopes of playing. Doubt can be cast about the ability of that conference to start and then end a 2020 season, which includes 10 games for each league.
When students return to campuses across the nation, spikes of COVID-19 infections occur. After one week, North Carolina sent its students home to do distance learning after a COVID-19 outbreak. Despite all the students fleeing Chapel Hill, NC, the school says the footballers will continue to train for the season.
“That’s not my account,” Tar Heels coach Mack Brown told reporters Tuesday. ‘I’m been sitting on my plate a lot and that’s not one of them. I was told we were moving forward. And most (players) were still online. We still have our graduates studying after class … I do not think that yesterday affects us in any way. ”
Also this week, Notre Dame shut down person classes after just eight days amid COVID-19 problems.
“Crazy, crazy times,” the Big Ten head coach said. “That’s for sure.”
