Thursday’s Zoom session with Pac-12 football coaches struck a similar chord as previous days with Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin and Cal coach Justin Wilcox staying positive on the prospects of a college football season despite the coronavirus pandemic continuing to rage on.
However, one difference in Thursday’s session was a question the coaches were asked toward the end of the session. The question was how the coaches would feel if there was a college football season during the 2020-21 academic year that started after Jan. 1.
Sumlin said talks have been had about starting the season after Jan. 1 but he said there would be issues with eligibility if the season were to begin after the new year.
“I'll be honest with you … we've had the discussions,” Sumlin said. I think, again, it's all about player safety. What's best for them. “I think … after Jan. 1 you get into some other issues, right? You get into some eligibility issues. You get into classes starting for the next semester. Some guys you may have been able to graduate. Some incoming people. And let's be honest … if the NFL doesn't change what they're doing … you got some guys that might be affected by the combine or by the draft. And then, what does that say for next season? What does that say for players that are coming back to your program? And if that season starts then are you trying to put 24 games in a 12-month calendar?
"So it's not as easy as that. And just looking at a January schedule that goes through that and impacts on a lot of different things and in particular, the spring and the next fall. Everybody’s got different opinions about it but ultimately, guys want to play football. The players want to play. The coaches want to coach. And we want the safest model yet and if that’s the model so be it but it’s going to affect things for the next year more so than people are talking about right now."
Wilcox felt the same as Sumlin about the prospects of a season starting after Jan. 1, 2021. He said there are many roadblocks with starting a season later than planned.
“I'll echo what Kevin said,” Wilcox stated. “It's an incredibly complex model and there have been discussions about that as I mentioned before. We've talked about really everything out there, to a degree. Some more in-depth than others but the late start has been discussed. And there are a lot of logistical issues with it. But ultimately, if that's what's best for college football, then we would be on board but I think there would take a lot of planning, a lot of logistical work to get that done, and ultimately we don't know yet.
"We're still gathering information and if that's what it was then that's the way it’s going to go and we'll figure it out at that point. But I think we've spent more time with our normal schedule and then from there, what are the modified schedules that could happen if need be?”
The other new topic of discussion in the Zoom meeting was whether or not the coaches would be willing to play a shortened schedule of around eight games if this season is delayed to October. This would allow for the season to finish around the time it usually does in early January.
Cristobal said his goal would play a full season rather than eight games.
“If everyone was held to the same standard and had the same regimen structure, I would always be in favor of playing 12 football games,” Cristobal said.
Sumlin agreed with Cristobal, saying he would like to see the maximum amount of games possible played this season.
“I think we all want to play as much as we can play … ,” Sumlin said. “But just like everything else, you just brought up (an) example of different states opening at different times. There are a lot of different things that can happen between now and in the fall and so it's really kind of hard right now to say hey, what would you prefer based on where things are at this point? So yeah, and the alignment with all the other conferences … for the (College Football Playoff). What is everybody doing? Is everybody on the same page? What does the non-conference schedule look like for everyone?
"We've got a number of models but I don't think there's a guy, player, or coach, right now that not only wants to play football but wants to play as much football as they possibly can in a safe manner.”
The final tidbit of new information coming in the Thursday Zoom session came from Wilcox. With California being an epicenter for COVID-19 cases, Wilcox said Cal has discussed holding training camp at a different location than its usual home at California Memorial Stadium where the Golden Bears play their home games.
“We’ve discussed different ones,” Wilcox explained. “But I’m probably going to leave it there. We have discussed the idea of that if it becomes necessary. It hasn’t been determined if that’s going to be necessary. Again, this is all planning and modeling so we could sit here and talk through an exponential number of scenarios. … We have talked about that and if it was a necessity in order for us to prepare to play, then that would be something that we would consider.”
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