Sterk talks championship cancelations, practice postponement
In the latest of a series of dramatic moves across college sports this week, the SEC announced Friday that it would suspend all athletics activity, including practices and team gatherings, until at least April 15 due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Missouri athletics director Jim Sterk met with local media Friday afternoon to discuss the decision and answer questions about the future of Missouri’s athletics programs after an unprecedented few days.
Jim Sterk: “I'll be pretty quick, but you’ve probably seen today the SEC announced that all athletic activities including competitions, extending that through April 15, as far as suspending those, and then also activities including team and individual gatherings, practices, meetings, those kinds of things have been on hold. I joked about I'm not going to meet with you every day, but we are, as far as the ADs, will be on a daily call just to catch up on things and where things are, trying to just share information, trying to be most effective that way, and in the end just do the best we can, trying not to prevent this virus to continue to grow. We don't want to be the ones that are spreading that, and so that's at the core of what we are trying to do. In the release it also talks about our medical (facilities) and dining halls and those kinds of things will be open. But it'll be limited to that and won't include physical activities.”
Question: Can you give us an idea of what that discussion was like on the call between the AD’s this morning?
Sterk: “Just a continuation of yesterday, of where things were evolving and more cases developing. I think in Florida there's more cases that have popped up, and and I think continuing to go down the road of what we can do to keep our student athletes safe and the public safe as well.”
Can spring football practices and the spring game be rescheduled if that ban is lifted?
“I think that that's all up for debate and and discussion of what are the next steps? You know, people are already talking about getting the eligibility of our student athletes that are in spring sports back and those kinds of things, and I think that's all on a master list of things that are going to be decided at some point in time. But right now, we're dealing with the here and now, and we'll continue to do that, and then those decisions will be made later.”
I saw earlier today that seniors who lost this season will be granted another year of eligibility. Is that accurate?
“That’s just speculation.”
So what did you make of the NCAA’s statement today on that matter?
“Just that it's up for discussion. I think the devil’s in the details of how you go about trying to do something like that, and I think that'll be something that'll be decided at a later date.”
Have you had any conversations about the Mizzou event staff and the Levy restaurant staff?
“With our facility staff, they've already moved into a role, a mode of what can we do to really get ahead and and work on projects? Cleaning, we've been fogging our football locker room and disinfecting and doing things like that already. We'll continue to look at those kinds of things and what we can do to be proactive, both on the preventative side, but then also being proactive on on what things we need to get done and gives us an opportunity to work on things maybe we didn't have time for.”
It seemed like last night the whole sports world kind of shut down, but Mizzou football was still ready to practice this afternoon. What kind of led it to take so long to decide to cancel practice?
"Just continued discussions of what we felt was appropriate at the time. The University was still open, we were doing things to prevent the spread of virus, and actually, having our student-athletes (here), you know, some would say it's a safer environment than going different places. And so we'll work with each of our coaches. The student-athletes will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to stay here or not, and we’ll be able to feed them, give them medical care and academic support. So that's going to be a case-by-case basis. It won't be something that the coaches are going to dictate that this team stays or this team goes.”
Any more clarity on whether or not the baseball or softball teams will still have their postseason bans next year?
“No. We’ve asked the question, and I think it’ll be answered at an appropriate time. Right now there’s sequencing and immediate things that need to be decided, but I think it is appropriate that, as we look in the penalty, it's for the 2020 season. So that's what we think should happen, and I would say that's appropriate.”
Are there people in the UM System that are experts on this that you’re relying on? Or are you going by the CDC, or what?
“The university and I think the SEC and the NCAA are taking guidelines from the CDC and health officials. Those are the ones that we feel have the best ability to decide what's appropriate and what's not appropriate.”
Were you at all surprised, you and the other SEC AD’s, that the NCAA just canceled all the spring championships?
“Yes.”
And the SEC has not canceled the regular season. Is there a chance that the regular season could still be played?
“There’s a chance. I think they're all suspended until April 15, and then over that period of time we'll decide what is appropriate or not.”
What do you think the trickle down effect would be if the seniors get another year of eligibility? Have you thought about what that would look like?
“Yeah, we have. And it's a complicated decision. It's not just deciding that these student athletes can come, then there's going to be repercussions on the size of your squad, what you're able to do as far as the number of scholarships, all of those things would have to be decided before a carte blanche decision like that is made.”
No recruiting until April 15, which is the day the basketball signing period opens; do you meet with individual staffs to explain the recruiting restrictions or do they do that on their own?
“So what we did to try to be efficient, I had it in the conference room when the SEC was making decisions, I had our sports supervisors there as well, so we immediately met afterwards and then they communicated with the head coaches and with their staffs and student athletes. So we tried to be as quick as possible because we knew it was going to go fast.”
What has the conference done to educate student-athletes on how to take care of themselves?
“We’ve circulated best practices as far as, you know, continue to wash your hands and stay out of crowds and those kinds of things, but we're just passing on what the health officials are recommending.”
What difficulties does the suspension and potentially cancelation of spring practices pose to a first-year coach?
“You'd have to ask him, but I know he was anxious to get his offense implemented and all of those kinds of things. But what what we tried to assure him today is, you know, you're not going to lose that practice. At some point in time, in my mind, you'll be able to make up those days to make up for any last over the next few weeks.”
Do you have a timeline for when you expect things to be back online?
“No, I think that's up to what happens with the disease and the control of the disease. We're in a pandemic and a national emergency right now. I think we have to monitor the situation and then make decisions.”
Since there's so many unknowns, has there been any initial talks about what if these things expand into August or September?
“Haven’t gotten that far.”
How did the athletes find out?
“Through their coaches.”
This is secondary to any health concerns, but as far as you guys losing any home games this spring, would it be a major revenue hit?
“No.”
Chief financial officer Tim Hickman: “The majority of our revenue comes from football and men's basketball, which are completed. And NCAA and conference revenue — which most of the postseason stuff is insured — actually I think they anticipate a lot of the insurance will cover a lot of that."
Sterk: “And the SEC does have insurance on those events as well.”
How many athletes will stay and how many will leave campus?
“No, we don’t know that question. I know our food service folks want to know. The coaches will have their meetings and then they're supposed to report back to us on Monday what they think, or what's happening, where people will go. Because we also want to track where student athletes are going, and we're recommending avoiding any hotspots, if you will, and obviously traveling overseas, even to Puerto Rico, you know, those kinds of things. So we're trying to understand where everyone's at and know what we're dealing with.”
With spring break a little over a week away are you recommending certain practices for them for spring break, or certain places they should or shouldn’t visit?
“Yeah, you’d love to quarantine them and not have them go anywhere, but we were not limiting that.”
Are you requiring athletes to tell you where they’re going?
“The coaches are asking those questions, so they understand where they're going. Like, for instance, football, just give a call when you made it where you're going and give a call when you're coming back. It’s not a mandate, but the coaches are going to ask those questions.”
How much of the decisions that you all make in athletics relate to what the university itself is doing?
“I’ve been in conversations with Chancellor (Alexander) Cartwright, and just, he was part of the board that approved the decisions today and yesterday, so we're in close communication that way. We're waiting, I think there's there still some decisions I think the University on how long (classes will be online). Is it March 30? Are they going to extend it further? Those are questions I think that will hopefully be answered in the near future, obviously before everyone goes on spring break.”
Jim, is it important for fair competition that at some point this is all mandated from the national level?
“Yeah, I think there already is as far as the number of practice spring practices that you have, and so how that folds into what is developed later I think has to come into play. And I think that would only be appropriate. But at some point, there may have to be compromises based on what factors were thrown at us. But definitely there'll be a competitive side of this as well.”
What are some of the pros, in your discussions, of picking back up and trying to have some type of a season for spring sports?
“Well, I guess if it’s only a week, I would say no. But if it can be substantial enough, then I would say yeah, then it's worth salvaging. But if it's not, and if a student athlete can get a year back. You know, a senior or something — or actually, all of them. They may consider something like that. So I don't know at what point you decide that it's not going to happen. But already the championships, the NCAA has taken away those championships, so if I was to guess, that's probably where things are headed.”