‘We feel confident that we’re good to go.’ TCU AD talks football’s return amid COVID
The Big 12 is going forward with football this fall. At least for now.
The conference’s board of directors decided to proceed cautiously toward a fall season last week, something that has excited fans within the league. Teams continue to go through fall camp for a season that starts in less than a month.
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati has run the gamut of emotions the last few weeks, from dreading football being canceled to an eagerness of figuring out how to play this fall. As of this week, he sees the season getting underway with TCU hosting SMU on Sept. 12 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
“We feel really confident that we’re good to go for the first game against SMU,” Donati said. “I’d tell you that the things that keep us up at night is there’s a lot of people back on campus now and there’s obviously a lot more opportunity for community spread. So we’ve got to continue to make sure that we’re staying safe as a campus.
“We’re just starting to see those things are happening in other places across the country, so it gives you some pause for concern. But our protocols are working well. The team wants to play and seems very focused on making sure they all keep each other healthy and safe.”
Donati is alluding to the recent outbreaks at schools such as Notre Dame, Michigan State and North Carolina. Notre Dame, for instance, halted in-person classes for two weeks, while UNC has pivoted back to online-only classes.
TCU’s latest case count on Wednesday afternoon had the school with 29 cases among students, including 21 with direct on-campus impact.
Still, what happens if TCU finds itself in a similar situation as Notre Dame or UNC? How would that affect the football season? Would football go on as scheduled?
“I think it could,” Donati said. “I think it would depend on the circumstances. In a perfect world, we’d love to be in person. I think that’s how school is best taught. I think that’s how it is most effective and I think that makes for the best experience.
“We’d try to find ways to maybe not send anyone home for the entire semester, come back before that in the event you have to temporarily shut it down. It’s unclear what kind of effect that would have on athletics just because it would depend on the circumstances.”
Donati went on to say there is no timeline for when the Big 12 or individual schools would make the decision to stop going forward with the season. There’s no magic number of positive tests that triggers a postponement.
Instead, Donati said, “It would be if testing resources become scarce or the pandemic began to spiral out of control or if there are additional health risks or concerns that we’re not aware of as of today. I think any of those things could pop up overnight and give you pause to reconsider what you’re doing.”
For now, TCU and Donati feel comfortable going forward.
They have not had a player opt out of the season, although any student-athlete that chooses to do so would still have their scholarship honored. The school is also in a favorable position from a testing standpoint.
TCU already has one antigen testing machine that can read a COVID-19 test within 15 minutes. A second antigen testing machine for the athletic department is expected to arrive around Sept. 1.
“We have great testing capabilities right now,” Donati said. “We know that those things can change. Frankly, if you have a lot of spikes on campus, that could pull resources in another direction. As of now, we’ve got sufficient testing. I’m really pleased with our capabilities.”
Praise for Boschini
TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini is serving as chairman for the Big 12’s board of directors and was at the helm when the league voted to proceed with football last week.
Donati spoke highly of Boschini and his leadership within the conference, as well as at TCU. Donati says the board made the right decision, although he cautioned that it is still subject to change on a seemingly daily basis.
“Chancellor Boschini has just been an awesome leader through this entire pandemic,” Donati said. “The board showed tremendous leadership with him right there at the front to stop and pause and say, ‘OK, let’s talk with our doctors. Let’s look at this entire situation and determine where we’re at as far as the pandemic, what other health concerns do we have. Let’s take all of it and let’s make the smart choice for our student athletes.’ I think they got there. I commend them on it. I was really impressed by the leadership that we saw.
“But they all agree things can change and we may have to change course. For now, this is the best course of action.”
Home front
The game-day experience at TCU will have a different feel this season.
The school is prohibiting tailgating and allowing only 12,000 fans to attend each game at the 46,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium. When you factor in student tickets as well as tickets for player’s families, that leaves about 8,000 tickets for the season-ticket base.
TCU is going off its priority points system to award tickets to season-ticket holders and is trying to accommodate as many as possible this season.
“We have more demand than tickets we can distribute,” Donati said. “We’re trying to be as flexible as possible and as fair as possible. Obviously it’s not an ideal situation, but I commend our team for putting together a really fair and equitable plan for our fans and donors.”
