ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit corrected the record regarding statements he made during a radio interview about the possibility of the college football season being lost due to the coronavirus in a conference call Monday morning.
Herbstreit said his comments, coming as the coronavirus shuttered college and pro sports, were misconstrued.
"It was the day baseball was supposed to start � Opening Day � and we were kind of just reminiscing that it was sad because we didn't have baseball," he said of an interview with a colleague. "I was like 'hey, man we may not even have football,' so I was kind of thinking out loud at that point."
He acknowledges now that sports, and college sports in particular, are currently contending with the great unknown with data and guidance changing rapidly.
Herbstreit said that he's talked to college football decision makers and they've discussed contingency plans that will come into play based on information from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, individual state governors and President Donald Trump.
Those plans could include starting the season as late as March and playing into June, an outcome that could ultimately affect whether college's star players would want to play, he said.
"It proves, I think, how willing the administrators are with the NCAA, the conference commissioner, the (athletic directors) and presidents are to have a college football season," he said. "They're listening to everything they can if it comes to that extreme to be able to potentially have a 2020 season. I think a lot of this is a feeling-out process and we're just going to wait to see and what the data shows."
Some of those associated with college football were itching to return to the athletic calendar in July. In comments, for which he later offered an apology, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy suggested his players get back to work on the normal schedule � sequestering those who may test positive for the coronavirus � so his state's economy can get back on track.
Herbstreit warned that college sports, like every aspect of society, should proceed with caution with the goal being to ensure the health of student-athletes and fans alike.
"That's something they have to think about and obviously avoid. I'm not making any predictions, I really wasn't that night," he said. "I was just trying to explain how real this pandemic is."
Still, Herbstreit can't completely wrap his head around the prospect of college football in the spring.
"Can you imagine that? How bizarre would that be? Spring is basically when we get baseball back and I watch the (Cincinnati) Reds," he said, "and I watch college baseball. I'm a baseball junkie, but it just goes to show you how far we are willing to go to get our football. I think it would be weird."
He is also a realist.
"But this is desperate measures in uncharted waters," he said. "We're in a world we're trying to adjust every day to in being quarantined ... if we have to push it back, then so be it. That's what has to happen."
