NCAA OKs voluntary workouts starting June 1, but that’s not the Big 12’s target date
The NCAA will allow voluntary on-campus athletic activities in football and men’s and women’s basketball to resume on June 1, it said on Wednesday night.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean Big 12 schools will have student-athletes returning to campus on June 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the member schools will be subject to whatever date the league decides is best to lift its policy suspending all in-person activities through May 31.
Most Big 12 schools, a source said, point toward June 15 as the earliest date for conference schools to return to campus. July 1 may even be more realistic than June 1.
“We’ll decide as a conference what date feels appropriate and we’ll all potentially begin bringing back football student-athletes at that time to begin getting ready for voluntary workouts,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. “Some schools may choose to start at later dates depending on what their institutional leadership decides.”
Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley ranked as one of the most high-profile voices to dismiss the June 1 date last week.
“All this talk of schools wanting to bring players back on June 1 is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard,” Riley said. “We’ve got to be patient. We’ll get one good shot at it. Bring them back at the right time when we’re as prepared and know as much about this as we possibly can.”
The general belief is that football players will require at least six weeks to properly train and prepare for a season. That would include two weeks of lifting and conditioning followed by four weeks of fall camps.
For football season to start on time based on that timeline, players would have to be on campus by mid-July at the latest. For now, it’s still to be determined as to when athletes return to Big 12 campuses. The conference’s university presidents and chancellors will make the final decision.
“We encourage each school to use its discretion to make the best decisions possible for football and basketball student-athletes within the appropriate re-socialization framework,” said council chair M. Grace Calhoun, the athletic director at Penn. “Allowing for voluntary athletics activity acknowledges that reopening our campuses will be an individual decision but should be based on advice from medical experts.”
Even though the NCAA has approved June 1, it doesn’t appear the conference is inclined to go down that route so quickly. But signs are promising that a football season will be held.
All five states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and West Virginia) in which Big 12 schools are located are relaxing restrictions on gyms as part of slow reopening efforts.
But questions will linger throughout the summer months whether football season will start on time and whether fans will be in the stands.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 9:03 PM with the headline "NCAA OKs voluntary workouts starting June 1, but that’s not the Big 12’s target date."
