A group of four college athletic directors held a town hall to at least get the discussion started around when college football could take to the field, but uncertainty ruled the day.
The town hall, hosted by LEAD1, included athletic directors from Virginia Tech (Whit Babcock), the University of Texas at San Antonio (Lisa Campos), New Mexico (Eddie Nunez) and North Carolina State (Boo Corrigan).
All four agreed that players would need at least six weeks to properly prepare for a season. For the season to start on time, activities would need to commence by July 15.
“You really have to hope all the conference commissioners really come together … so there’s some sort of uniformity with how we return to activity and play,” Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork told 247Sports last month.
Unfortunately, 247Sports says that’s not happening at present, as the outlet reports that many administrators they’ve talked to report that the NCAA has dropped the ball on uniting its wide base.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last week that conferences may make their own decisions on when and whether to play football. Meanwhile, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said his conference is at least six weeks from making any decisions.
Some suggest a college football czar might be the answer.
“You've got presidents, chancellors and commissioners,” a Power Five administrator told 247Sports last week. “What's the next thing you can do to steer this in one direction? Maybe there needs to be a czar. I feel like if there was more effective leadership in Indianapolis, it would work better. But that's another conversation.”
Unfortunately, there are many unknowns right now and the future largely rests on containing the coronavirus.
“That’s the reality that’s setting in for some people,” Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard told 247Sports last month. “I think we’ve worked in an industry where those, quite frankly, who yell the loudest get what they want. Just because you yell and say you want to have practice June 1 that may not be viable. You don’t get to decide that.I think there are going to be people that think they wielded a lot of power that don’t wield as much as they thought they did.”
