One Week Into the COVID-19 Pandemic and Where is Oklahoma State and College Sports?

We spoke with the top two officials with Oklahoma State athletics and after a week of meeting internally and externally, it is still anybodies guess when college sports will resume on the Stillwater campus or anywhere else.

Oklahoma State University athletics

STILLWATER -- The weather in Oklahoma on this Friday, March 20 is kind of what you expect out of March. You know roaring like a lion, as the wind guests up in the 30's. The win chill is in the 40s, but O'Brate Stadium was going to open it's doors tonight as Oklahoma State hosted TCU in the Big 12 opener. It was going to be grand. Another vision of athletic director and Vice-President of athletics at Oklahoma State University Mike Holder.

"That is a consequence of this national tragedy and just add that to the list," Holder said of the one-time schedule opening of the new stadium on March 20 and now the voluntary, but necessary isolating of everybody with the COVID-19 pandemic. "Cecil (O'Brate) is 91 and he and his wife, Francis, had been looking forward to this for a long time. We were going to have (President) George Bush here. I think everyone that had an opportunity to see the stadium when they picked their seats were looking forward to seeing what it looked like and felt like with people in it."

The game nearly sold out on season tickets, but what was left took less than 10 minutes to go when those tickets went on sale on March 2.

A message to our loyal & true from @joshhollidayosu #GoPokes #okstate #MakeItHappen pic.twitter.com/2026egvNVy

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) March 20, 2020

"The demand was crazy and we were going to put as many people in there as the fire marshal would allow," added Holder. "The demand was so great we could have put 20,000 people in there."

O'Brate Stadium sits on the corner of Washington and McElroy empty and lonely as most of the people in this country isolate themselves, work at home, keep themselves entertained at home, and hope that the coronavirus stays away from them and their families. 

We know that this is spring break week and we know that Oklahoma State and all of the other Big 12 institutions, as well as most Division I colleges across the country are in some state of scaling down activity. Oklahoma State has not closed it's campus, but will be online classes only the rest of the spring semester. The NCAA and Big 12 have put a total shutdown for now to all competition, practices, gathering, conditioning, and recruiting.

The competition and practices for the rest of the spring semester. The gathering, conditioning, and recruiting for at least another month. 

"I've never seen anything like it and I hope that I never see anything like it again," Oklahoma State Deputy Athletic Director Chad Weiberg said. "We've had great coordination and great communication across campus and I have a greater appreciation for (President) Burns Hargis and his team and the difficult decisions that they are having to make. There is no manual for this and I think they are doing a great job under difficult circumstances."

Weiberg was referencing the OSU President and his staff at Whitehurst Hall on campus. Some people may think athletics makes the rules, but it is "Whitehurst" (the term OSU folks use to refer to the academic administration at Oklahoma State that sets policy. Although, all indications are the communication between various groups on campus have been excellent.

"Campus is encouraging all students to go home or stay home, if they have somewhere else, alternative living arrangements to go there," Weiberg said of the campus not being closed. "Athletics is staying with that and encouraging our students to do that. Now if they don't have a viable option then we will take care of them living here. We'll make the best of it. It's a matter of us providing the best services that we can while they're here."

There are going to be plenty of student-athletes on campus and Weiberg said the athletic department has made plans for that.

"Our trainers will stay in contact with our student-athletes that are here, and for that matter, probably our student-athletes that are anywhere else, in communicating if they have any questions about symptoms or anything else they may be experiencing," he said of the coronavirus.

The facilities are closed like the weight rooms, locker rooms, workout venues, and even the academic center.

"We will provide rehab for our athletes that are doing that and for prescriptions through us," Weiberg continued in our discussion with him. "Dr. (Val Gene) Iven will be available for that. We want to keep helping our students as we have been through this and be there to answer their questions."

Along with Chad Weiberg, Pokes Report also spoke with Mike Holder this week as well as communicating with other administrators in Oklahoma State athletics. We know they have been involved in a multitude of meetings, on campus, by teleconference, by various meeting apps they use. There was a Big 12 teleconference with athletic directors on Friday afternoon.

When the time comes, we’ll be ready. pic.twitter.com/m8jSLbKmam

— Oklahoma State Athletics (@OSUAthletics) March 14, 2020

"My concern is about the athletes," said Holder. "Especially the spring sports that were just starting up and all of the hopes and dreams in those seasons. Coaches get plenty of opportunities to get their teams into national championship events. Athletes only get four-years to do that and one year of that is 25 percent of time as a college athlete."

"A lot of the discussion has been about the national topic of allowing the student-athletes in the spring sports that have lost their season, having another year of eligibility, as well as a little conversation about the winter sports athletes that lost their postseason," Weiberg said of the meetings. "There continues to be conversation with how we are dealing with things right now, in this moment. The changing landscape that seems to be changing hourly. There is also conversation on what the future might look like as we come out of this."

Oh yeah, coming out of this situation, that will eventually happen. Until it does, making best use of time is something that a member of the athletic facilities team, and also the color voice of Oklahoma State baseball, Matt "Chief" Davis told me that the OSU is doing.

"This allows us to get into the stadium and into the facilities and get everything scrubbed down, deep cleaned, everything fixed up and shined up," Davis said of an opportunity that is usually pnly possible for about a month in the summer. "Then you hope everyday that we find something to stop this and that none of this leaks into football season." 

Yes, football season, the next college sports season on the schedule that hasn't been postponed or cancelled. There is soccer season too.  

"We have to hope that we can get this behind us for lots of reasons before we get to football season," Weiberg said thinking of the position Oklahoma State could be in. "If we can and I think we will, we are doing the right things to do this. We are looking forward to having one of the first football games anywhere in the country. You know we host Oregon State University on Thursday. Sept. 3 and we look at that as an opportunity for not just Oklahoma State, for college football, but for the entire country to celebrate getting past the current crisis that we are in." 

"I have my fingers crossed that we can get back to, maybe not normal, but to a point where we can have crowds again and we can play our football games," Holder also stated. "You know get back to some form of normalcy. I know this if we don't, then financially things are going to get pretty dire for college athletics. And not just the Oklahoma States, but I'm talking about the behemoths out there that have really never had to say no to anything."

Well, not exactly true, because right now just about all of college athletics is having to say no to everything. Hopefully, yes will be back soon.