West Virginia AD Lyons optimistic football season could start on time
When will college football resume? That’s the million-dollar question.
That last part can be taken quite literally considering that college football is by far the biggest source of revenue for colleges across the nation.
But for now, nobody has that concrete answer but West Virginia Director of Athletics Shane Lyons has chosen to be ever the eternal optimist when looking at the issue.
“I’m moving forward, I’m going to be the optimist and say were going to play football in August,” he said on a video teleconference with members of the media.
That optimism isn’t unfounded either as Lyons has relied on the word of medical professionals who have looked at patterns in other countries where the COVID-19 pandemic had previously swept through.
The virus is expected to spike in the coming weeks and then it would take around three months for things to settle in and return to normal it if follows the same trajectory in the United States.
Lyons has talked to other athletic directors that share the same sentiments of optimism.
It goes without saying that nothing right now is set in stone and plans are subject to change
“Right now, based on the medical experts and the information I’m receiving, come August, we’re going to be playing football. If a month from now I get different information, I’ll adapt and adjust and start looking at that,” Lyons said.
The past several weeks had been designated toward handling of the student athletes and the pandemic policy which has suspended all activities until at least May 31 outside of two-hours per week designated for virtual sessions for film study and other items.
With that now in place, the focus has now been designated to determining what the pre-season schedule will look like whether that is returning in June or beyond. What would a pre-season look like and how does it change the acclimation period to ensure the health and safety of the student athletes?
One suggestion has been looking at helmet only OTA-type sessions to get equal footing but for now determining how things could unfold is next to impossible.
Much of that will depend on how the information changes in the next two weeks to month and moving forward. Obviously football is tied to the start of school as well and the health of all involved so answering those questions will only come as time passes.
That doesn’t even take into account more complex matters such as what it would look like for the general public being in the stands and ticket sales. Currently all discussions on ticket sale or donation refunds have been put on halt until at least May to see how the landscape shakes out in the coming weeks.
“It’s still very early on right now to project what that is going to look like,” Lyons said.
But given the situation across the country, the possibility of the return of college football on-time would be an uplifting factor even if would require some changes. Now we wait.
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