West Virginia athletics impacted by COVID-19

The Mountaineers had originally planned to continue spring football practice both before and after spring break, but now that will be put on halt until at least March 29 after an announcement from the Big 12 Conference from all of its member institutions.

That announcement also includes all other sports as well as on-campus and off-campus recruiting effectively putting a halt to sports in Morgantown and other league campuses. That mandate follows suit with ones already in place from the SEC, Big 10 and ACC which also have similar measures in place.

That also is in line with decisions from professional sports to suspend their seasons in wake of the growing concern over COVID-19.

So what will it mean for the Mountaineers?

Well, the basketball seasons for both the men’s and women’s teams are now over after the cancellations of the men’s and women’s conference and NCAA Tournaments as well as all other remaining winter and spring championships. That effectively puts a close to those sports.

As for football? Well, for now there won’t be any practices until at least March 29 which will cost the program four scheduled dates. That number would be higher but there already was spring break built into the calendar from March 15-22.

While four lost practices aren’t significant on the surface, it would be somewhat of an upset if that is all that is lost when the dust settles from the pandemic.

It remains to be seen if any spring practice will be held in Morgantown or if a possible extension could be granted but at this point the bigger focus is on preventing the spread of the virus.

Also significant for the football program is that because there will be no on-campus and off-campus recruiting allowed it essentially leads to a second dead period this spring.

Now other leagues and competitors are working under the same circumstances but the spring is often a hotbed for visitors in Morgantown and for now that will be put on hold as things proceed.

The Mountaineers currently sit with four commitments in the 2021 class and is involved with a number of high profile prospects that have visited multiple times at this stage.

The program has already hosted six junior day events since December which is significant when it comes to getting talented prospects on campus and exposing them to the program beforehand.

It’s a situation unlike many of us have ever seen, but the Mountaineers, as well as the rest of the college sports landscape, must learn to adjust on the fly in the face of more serious matters at hand.

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