Ohio State’s Athletic Director Gene Smith was asked about student athletes potentially returning to play sports in the middle of a pandemic, and he actually gave a really insightful answer.
The NCAA has banned all spring athletics because of coronavirus and hasn’t made a determination on what’s going to happen with fall sports — including NCAA football.
Smith was asked for his thoughts on the NCAA’s upcoming decision on fall sports, and he just didn’t seem to be very comfortable with the idea of players returning to play in empty stadiums when non-athletes aren’t even allowed to step foot back on campus because of coronavirus.
“I struggle with that concept…When I first heard that, I said, ‘OK, that could work.’ But I figured if we don’t have fans in the stands, we’ve determined it’s not safe for them in a gathering environment. So why would it be safe for the players?”
This makes a lot of sense, right? If normal students shouldn’t return to campus because of the virus, neither should student athletes. Seems pretty cut and dry.
But Smith’s answer might come as a surprise to some people when taken in context with the some of the other statements from some of college football’s other most powerful names.
Just a couple of days ago, Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy argued that football players needed to come back and play to “run money through the state of Oklahoma.” Before that, Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said he had “zero doubt” that college football would start on time. Why? Because, according to Swinney, America sent people to the moon so OF COURSE football will start on time.
So, yeah, it’s pretty refreshing to hear Smith say that, at the very least, he struggles with the concept of forcing student athletes to play sports in the middle of a global pandemic.
Hopefully the NCAA has as much sense as Smith does here.
