Ryan Day, Rutgers President Give Thoughts on Big Ten Football

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — As the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force continues to look at ways the league can return to football, prominent members within the conference have spoken out this week.

First it was Ohio State coach Ryan Day who put out a statement on Twitter.

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— Ryan Day (@ryandaytime) September 10, 2020

Day wrote, “While I understand the Big Ten Conference’s decision to postpone the football season because of the health and safety considerations, the communication of information from the Big Ten following the decision has been disappointing and often unclear. However, we still have an opportunity to give our young men what they have worked so hard for: a chance to safely compete for a national championship this fall…

“I couldn’t possibly be prouder of how this team, our medical personnel, athletic director and president have stayed together and managed through this extremely difficult time with so many unanswered questions. The Big Ten medical subcommittee has done an excellent job of creative a safe pathway toward returning to play in mid-October…

“These young men and their parents have asked so many questions that I do not have the answer to, but the one that hurts the most is ‘why can these other teams and players play and we can’t?’ Duke is playing Notre Dame, and Clemson is playing Wake Forest this weekend…

“Our players want to know: why can’t they play?”

Then there was Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway, who is one of the few presidents that voted on the decision who has spoken out about things. Nebraska president Ted Carter was another earlier this week.

One week ago, President Donald Trump had a phone conversation with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren to talk about the Big Ten returning to action. Holloway said, "it's just cheap politics."

"I want that person to be paying attention to matters of national security and national importance," Holloway told NJ Advance Media. "This does not rise to that level — not for a half-second. And even if it was a president that I was completely in love with that was doing this, I'd still think it would be cheap politics."

As rumors swirl that the Big Ten could be pushing for a mid-October or November start time for football, Holloway expressed his concerns.

"If I'm wrong because I was erring on the side of safety, I don't have a problem with that," Holloway said. "I don't think I'm wrong, though. I just don't think it. And if I had to put money down, we're going to see some radical changes within a month — no later than October. I'm really worried about what we're heading toward, on just college campuses in general, not just sports. It's deeply concerning."

As Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this week, a vote for a plan to resume Big Ten football could come as early as this weekend or early next week.

According to Big Ten bylaws, at least nine of the 14 Big Ten presidents and chancellors would need to vote to approve the resumption of competition.

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