Pac-12 Football: David Shaw Questions Mark Emmert's Edict on Needing Students on Campus to Play Games
Stanford football coach David Shaw on Monday provided a contrary opinion to what NCAA president Mark Emmert said a few days ago, when Emmert stated that games could not be played until campuses are reopened with all students on site.
"I think that's a great sentiment," Shaw said, "but I don't know that that's going to carry the day when it's all said and done."
Shaw noted that every state is going to be different and every campus is going to be different. Furthermore, the President of the United States, state governors and university presidents and chancellors will have something to say on the issue. Shaw suggested that a partial reopening of a campus may be considered "acceptable" to have intercollegiate sports competition.
Here is the audio of what Shaw said in that regard:
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But that was certainly not the only issue discussed by Shaw, USC coach Clay Helton and Washington State coach Nick Rolovich during a Pac-12 video webinar.
Click here for the entire webinar video.
Here are the other points of interest:
---Helton twice noted that he expects to have an idea about the start and structure of the 2020 season "within six to eight weeks." That would put that decision in early-to-mid-July. By then we should know what's going to happen.
---The coaches acknowledged that there have been discussions about playing a conference-only schedule, which, in Cal's case, would mean the loss of three nonconference games early in the season. It also brought up the possibility of adding some games against Pac-12 opponents not currently on the Bears' 2020 schedule.
---All three coaches agreed that the postseason bowl and national playoff structure may be modified depending what the regular season looks like.
"There's been a lot of discussion, for this year, do we expand the playoff because we aren't really going to know how to whittle this thing down to four [teams]," Shaw said
"The structure of the regular season will dictate the postseason," Helton said.
Here is the audio of the coaches' discussion on that subject:
---The coaches' main concern when the regular-season structure is determined is the amount of preparation time players and teams will have.
"Making sure we give them enough time to get them physially ready for the season," Rolovich said.
Helton noted the amount of prepartion time before training camp begins is critical.
"To get your kids in physical, functional football shape prior to a training camp, so you don't have soft-tissue injuries, so you don't have joint injuries," he said. "To prepare them, whether it's walk-throughs, strength and conditioning, OTAs, whatever you want to call it--those weeks that it's going to take to get them in functional football shape prior to going to a training camp that's very fast and very physical."
Here is audio of that discussion:
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---The coaches agreed that it's possible games will be played without spectators in the stands, and Rolovich noted at least that would eliminate the need for a silent snap count.
---Finally, Helton said that the "grand celebration" will be when fans are allowed in the stadium and things are back to normal. That assumes there will be a time when things get back to normal.
