West Virginia head coach Neal Brown remains hopeful and cautiously optimistic about playing football this fall.

Now, Brown concedes that if that does occur it could look different than the normal college football Saturday we’ve all become accustomed to but he is hopeful the games will be played.

The Big 12 Conference as a whole has not focused on getting too far out in the future, instead taking a wait and see approach with how things adjust under the current ever-changing climate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everything we’ve done in our league right now is focused on that May 31 date,” Brown said.

That is the date that the league has set to suspend all sports activities outside of eight hours per week which are dedicated to virtual team and positional meetings. The football oversight committee, which Mountaineers athletic director Shane Lyons is a member, has been charged with trying to sort out what a return to play would look like and the general consensus would be a six-week window.

For now, it’s unclear when that could begin but it would allow for teams to focus on strength and conditioning in order to gradually increase football work over that period.

Brown isn’t sure when that could begin, because it’s just not known at this time, but what he wants to do is to at least have a plan in place in order to be able to hit the ground running if that is approved.

That means that West Virginia coaches have been planning first week-by-week, then to that May 31 date and now through the end of June on how to attack things if football was to resume as well as what could happen in the meantime with things at essentially a standstill.

“What does that look like? What are our expectations for our players as far as schematics, fundamentals and all of that? We’re just kind of building into it. We’re planned out through the end of June right now and if we need to adjust we will,” Brown said.

The same is being done with the optional workouts being done by players which can’t be monitored or mandated by coaching staffs at this time.

“Those workouts build up to a potential return in July on time and lead into a season starting on time because that’s the direction we’re under right now so we’re planning for that,” Brown said.

But while that is important the main focus for now remains on the health and wellness of the individual players by creating and maintaining routines for them. That means building a schedule around rest, academic progress, their nutrition, meetings, accountability and football and skill work that cannot currently be monitored by the coaches.

Academics have been at the forefront with classes set to end and finals set for next week, with tutoring sessions and advisors still maintaining their roles helping players.

As part of this process as well, Brown has been charged with gauging a temperature for his team to see how they are doing from a personal standpoint to help them deal with the current surroundings.

“We try to do the best we can given the circumstances,” he said.

But before the expectations are set for the game of football itself, Brown just wants his team to continue to win in the area of operating the program remotely.

That means all players remaining healthy, staying safe, growing relationships, excelling academically and maintaining from physical aspect so players can hit the ground running when it does come back.

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