By now, you know how decisive and polarizing the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season for 2020 is. Many players and coaches have come out to express outrage at the communication, lack of plan, and all-around confusion surrounding how things were handled. But most of all, many of the players at the bigger-ticketed teams are extremely upset that they won’t get to play in the fall after all the hard work that’s been put in.
And as a head coach at one of these programs, often being an advocate for kids you’ve been entrusted with by families is part of the job.
In the case of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Nebraska head man Scott Frost, they have been vocal about fighting their hardest to still find an avenue for their players to compete in the fall.
If anyone knows about being in this type of situation, it’s former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. So, what does he think of what Frost and Day are doing for their kids, and in some way, going against the Big Ten’s decision amid the coronavirus pandemic?
Meyer answered that very question while appearing with BTN’s Gerry DiNardo this past week.
“Well, I applaud them,” said Meyer. … “In my mind I didn’t work for the university, I don’t work for the president, I don’t work for the athletic director. I work for the parents and the families of the student-athletes.”
He then explained how the families entrust the head coach of the program they choose to go to bat for their kids at all costs.
“They (the parents) have to really believe deep in their heart, that coach is going to fight for them as hard as they can. Does that mean try everything possible to let people do what they dreamed of doing and they worked so hard to do? Absolutely it does.”
So count Meyer in the camp that is behind what Frost and Day are doing to try and fight as hard as they can for their kids to be able to realize their dream this fall. It may not end the way they want, but they aren’t going down without swinging.
You can listen to the rest of what Meyer says by clicking on the below and watching the full three-minute interview with DiNardo.
.@CoachUrbanMeyer's reaction to Ryan Day and Scott Frost's reaction?
"I applaud them."
The former @OhioStateFB coach explains to @gerrydinardo why fighting for your players is a coach's most important job. pic.twitter.com/B7colcLPVF
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 15, 2020
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