Timeline of how the coronavirus has effected Oklahoma athletics and football offseason

The coronavirus has struck the United States and it has trickled down all the way to effecting Oklahoma athletics. 

The coronavirus has struck the United States and it has trickled down all the way to effecting Oklahoma athletics.

Conferences began to take initiative on the chance of community spread by limiting fan attendance on Wednesday for Thursdays games and beyond. Then, the NBA suspended the entire season after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus—in Oklahoma City, nevertheless.

That became a catalyst on Thursday as the conferences with tournaments over the weekend began cancelling the entirety of the tournaments. Oklahoma’s baseball series was canceled and the Big 12 and Oklahoma eventually cracked down on their own.

Here is the timeline of the impacts the coronavirus has had on the Sooners’ athletic programs and spring football.

MONDAY AND TUESDAY, MARCH 9-10

  • PRESS CONFERENCE, POST PRACTICE
    • Lincoln Riley discusses early discussions about the evolving coronavirus situation with the University of Oklahoma, how the football program was spreading awareness to its players and how the Sooners were monitoring it.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11

  • 3:31 P.M. CT: NCAA ANNOUNCES NO FANS WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE AT GAMES
    • Oklahoma has been considered a lock for the NCAA Tournament after its win at TCU last Saturday.
  • 5:47 P.M. CT: BIG 12 CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES BIG 12 TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD WITHOUT FANS
    • Oklahoma was scheduled to play West Virginia at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday night in Kansas City.
  • 8:27 P.M. CT: UTAH JAZZ PLAYER RUDY GOBERT TEST POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS
    • The NBA suspended the season, starting a catalyst of every major sports entity and event to be cancelled. Even worse, Rudy Gobert was 20 miles north in Oklahoma City as the Jazz were scheduled to play the Thunder. He passed the coronavirus over to Donovan Mitchell, who conducted a private workout in Oklahoma City suburb, Del City, at Del City high school with fans in attendance and getting pictures with the star player.

THURSDAY, MARCH 12

  • 11:15 A.M. CT: BIG 12 CONFERENCE CANCELS MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
    • After playing the first-round games on Wednesday night of the men’s conference tournament, the Big 12 Conference joined every other major conference with a conference tournament this weekend in cancelling the event. The Big 12 also cancelled the women’s tournament that was also set to be played in Kansas City. Oklahoma men were the 3-seed and scheduled to play 6-seed West Virginia. The women were set to play in the 8-9 seed game against Oklahoma State.
  • 11:24 A.M. CT: OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL CANCELS MEDIA AVAILABILITIES FOR THURSDAY
    • The media was going to be able to view the first 20 minutes of practice and conduct post-practice interviews. Both events were canceled.
  • 1:16 P.M. CT: BIG WEST INDEFINITELY SUSPENDS COMPETITION, CANCELLING OKLAHOMA-CAL POLY BASEBALL SERIES
    • Oklahoma baseball stayed in Dallas-Fort Worth on Tuesday night before flying out to California on Wednesday for a four-game series with Cal Poly starting on Thursday. The Sooners’ series was canceled before the first pitch of game one.
  • 3:16 P.M CT: NCAA CANCELS REMAINING SPRING AND WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS
    • This includes all of the remaining winter sports—men’s basketball, men’s gymnastics, women’s gymnastics, wrestling—and all of the spring sports—baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s tennis, rowing. The Oklahoma men’s golf team is ranked as one of the best in the country and the baseball team had the look of one competing for the College World Series.

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