Hopefulness and positivity for some sort of college football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic was the theme of Stanford coach David Shaw, Southern California coach Clay Helton and new Washington State coach Nick Rolovich’s Monday Zoom session with media members.

“In my mind, I’m planning on playing Utah State game one,” Rolovich said. “I’m optimistic about going with the 12 (games) we got.”

Helton was not quite as expectant as Rolovich but was hopeful a season could be played in some form.

“We’re all optimistic as coaches,” Helton said. “I think we're half glass full people, and we're optimistic about a season. We don't know what that timing is of a start date and we don't know the structure but we've been talking about, all different scenarios, about the opportunity maybe to starting on time. The opportunity maybe it's pushed back. The opportunity maybe it's more of an abbreviated conference schedule. What does the playoff look like? All those discussions are being had not only in (the) conference meeting with the head coaches but the commissioners and the NCAA to put together the best structure we can for a season.

“I think at the end of the day, what I've taken away from coaches is, I think we're all going to have tremendous gratitude, whatever that structure is, to be able to play the game that we love and to feel fortunate enough that if we're in that scenario that this virus and this crisis has been put a little bit further behind us.”

The Pac-12 spring meetings between coaches and other conference officials were naturally not held in-person this year due to the coronavirus. Discussions were focused around suggestions on how and when to play football in the conference this season.

Shaw said the meetings were productive due to the reverence the Pac-12 coaches have for one another.

“What I love about our conference, honestly, is our engagement,” Shaw explained. “Our guys can talk to each other. There's a lot of mutual respect. There's a lot of guys coming from a lot of different angles and things that I come in thinking one way and then Clay (Helton) brings something up and I’m like oh, I didn't even think of it that way. Chip Kelly brings hey, think about this way and so I think we've got a really great group of guys that first of all love the sport and want the sport to be played at a high level and there’s a lot of mutual respect to say that guys if we can all find a way to get back let's all contribute to a way to get back at some point in time.

“So, I think our meetings have been very productive. And I think we've all given and we've all learned a lot. I think we're in a good position right now to handle whatever happens as far as national and local governments say. And all of our own individual schools but I think our conversations have been really, really good. We’ve got a lot of bright guys with a lot of great ideas and hopefully, we put ourselves in a position to handle whatever comes our way.”

The optimism shared by Helton, Shaw, and Rolovich comes just a few days after NCAA president Mark Emmert made a rather grim statement regarding the status of NCAA fall athletics, not just football, being played during the 2020-21 academic year.

Emmert said there would need to be a widespread re-opening of campuses for in-person classes for NCAA fall sports to begin.

"All of the commissioners and every president that I've talked to is in clear agreement,” Emmert said Friday in an interview posted to the official NCAA twitter account. “If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus," Emmert stated. "That doesn't mean (a university) has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. ... If a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple."

Shaw did not necessarily agree with Emmert’s comments and stated that Emmert is not the only one making the decisions.

“I think where we are is the definition of a fluid situation,” Shaw commented. “I think every state as (Rolovich) mentioned earlier, is going to be different. Every campus is going to be different. And I think that's a great sentiment. But I don't know that that's going to rule the day when it's all said and done. I think the president of the United States is going to have a weigh-in, I think every state governor is going to have a weigh-in. I think every president, provost, chancellor is going to have a weigh-in.

“There may be a scenario to where campuses are partially open. And if we can bring back athletes and bring back a section of the student body that may not be exactly what Mr. Emmert was talking about but that may be good for a certain university. If they feel they're comfortable and ready to resume part of their normal activities and still field teams for fall sports, not just football, then I think that's going to be acceptable so we'll see.”

As for any sort of timeline on a decision on the season, Helton said something should be decided by the beginning of July or so.

“We'll find out probably six-to-eight weeks from now what a clear picture is of that start date, that structure, how the end of the season is, that relationship with the NFL and how it plays into that and to their timeline and calendar,” Helton said. “But right now, there is a lot of unknown, but the discussions in the meetings are happening weekly.”

Shaw said the availability of rapid-fire testing is the key to getting the season going.

“We have to have processes that we are vetted by our medical professionals and then we have to have contingency plans,” Shaw explained. “So, we start with what makes the most sense, what's the best way to do what we're going to do. If you have a completely open campus, that's one thing. If you have a partially open campus, what can you do with your students and your student-athletes? How can we get them back in the weight room? What's the process of bringing people back together? What's the quarantine look like? What does the testing look like?

“Many of us believe that the testing is going to be different two months from now than it is now. The rapid diagnostic testing is something that's got to be vital to us reincorporating people back into one small area. If someone does test positive, we’ve got to find out quickly and isolate them very quickly.”

With players away from facilities and coaches not able to coach football outside of some scheme implementation, Rolovich said the current times have led to less of a focus on football and more on building relationships with his players through Zoom calls, something highly important for Rolovich since this is his first year at the helm of the Cougars after the departure of Mike Leach to Mississippi State.

“It’s really allowed us to focus on those personal relationships,” Rolovich said. “We can’t do a lot of football stuff. We could install some but it gives real-time to concentrate on getting to know who our guys are and let them figure out who we are as people. And I think it’s been productive. And just excited to get on the field when we can.”

Rolovich said another constructive outcome coming out of these tough times are his players being able to spend more time with their families. He stressed the importance of family and said he was planning on giving his players extra time with their families this offseason even before the pandemic shut down team facilities.

“I actually think the positives of this because these guys don't get a lot of time away from the building with their family,” Rolovich stated. “We were going to try to find a way to get them a few more weeks with their families and we got a little bit more than we talked about. But I think it's given them a good opportunity to reset see why they're really doing it.”

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