Baylor pauses its football activities, citing COVID-19 issues
Baylor paused its football activities on Thursday, as the school cited COVID-19 issues within the program.
“At this time and in the interest of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff, we have temporarily suspended all football-related activities. Their health and wellness will always be our top priority,” Baylor athletic director Mack B. Rhoades said. “We are taking all possible precautions and our focus remains playing the scheduled game with Oklahoma State at McLane Stadium on October 17.”
The school hopes the self-described “precautionary measure” will allow for further evaluation of recent positive tests and the completion of close contact tracing.
Baylor (1-1) is off this week. The Bears defeated Kansas in the season opener two weeks and fell at West Virginia last week.
Baylor wasn’t the only Big 12 program with COVID-19 news on Thursday. Kansas revealed that its football coach Les Miles had tested positive for COVID-19.
Baylor and TCU were the only Big 12 schools that were not able to play a home non-conference game before the start of conference play due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Baylor had its game against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 12 postponed after La. Tech had a COVID-19 outbreak among its players. Then Baylor called off a Sept. 19 game against Houston, citing Baylor failing to meet the Big 12’s minimum threshold to play (53 players with at least seven offensive linemen, four interior defensive linemen and one quarterback).
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 4:36 PM.
