Will the Big Ten Reconsider? Unlikely, Penn State's Athletic Director Says
Public campaigns initiated by football parents and a popular petition started by Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields are important but unlikely to change the Big Ten's decision, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said Monday.
During a video call with reporters, Barbour said that she did not expect university presidents and Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to reconsider the decision to postpone fall sports in the wake of public reaction against the move.
"The presidents and chancellors made their decision based on science, based on the information from medical experts and based on concerns and uncertainty in a number of different categories," Barbour said. "I don’t see that changing. But I also appreciate the passion of our parents and our student-athletes and I appreciate where both their hearts and their heads are."
Since the Big Ten announced its decision Aug. 12, parents groups from several programs, including Penn State, have written letters to Warren and university presidents seeking answers and asking them to reconsider. In its letter, the group of Penn State parents asked Warren and Penn State President Eric Barron to reinstate the schedule that was released Aug. 5.
In an interview last week, Dianne Freiermuth, president of the Penn State Football Parents Association, said that players and parents remained "in limbo" about their futures. And during an interview with Pittsburgh radio station 93.7 The Fan's Chris Mueller and Andrew Fillipponi, parent Carlton Wade said he sought answers as well.
"We don't know anything; they didn't tell us anything," said Wade, whose son Lamont is a senior safety on the team. "There was no communication toward us. We asked coach [James] Franklin and he really didn't know. So that was the main thing, that we have nothing for our kids. Our kids are just there doing nothing."
A Change.org petition started by Fields entitled "#WeWantToPlay" asked the Big Ten to "immediately reinstate the 2020 football season." By Monday night it had more than 260,000 signatures.
Barbour said she had not spoken to parents of athletes, leaving that to the teams' coaches. She has spoken with multiple fall sports athletes, whose responses consisted primarily of, "Wait, what happened here?"
"Any one of us can disagree with the decision itself, but we can't disagree that it was made with health and safety in mind," Barbour said. "... It makes it really difficult, particularly on an age group of young men and young women, 18 to 23 years old, who are focused and have been so focused singularly on playing for the last five months, This is really difficult, and I totally get it."
Barbour said that, before the Big Ten announced its decision, Warren conducted calls with student-athletes from each program. Though the calls did not specifically address whether the conference should postpone the fall season, Barbour said they did give athletes a chance to be heard.
"I wouldn’t say that the voices were not heard at all," Barbour said. "... Absolutely I'm a proponent of hearing students."
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