Georgia football HC Kirby Smart talks the 2020 college football season and the possibility of playing in empty stadiums due to coronavirus.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, whether or not we will have a 2020 college football season is a mystery right now.
Different coaches and analysts have given their opinions on the matter.
Kirk Herbstreit said he’d be shocked if we had a season. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney seems completely unbothered by what’s going on and is fully preparing to play in 2020.
South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp has a different outlook on things.
On SiriusXM with Peter Burns and Chris Doering, Muschamp pointed to July 13th as an ideal date to get these players back to campus and into shape.
Here’s Muschamp’s full quote:
“I looked last night, coach (Ray) Tanner and I were just talking – if we are able to come back, which is a huge if – July 13 would probably be a decent date,” Muschamp said. “You’ve got four weeks and you’re into August and you don’t open until September 5 and you’ve got four weeks of practice, so I think those are just some things we just threw around, just trying to figure out.
“When it’s safe to do those things, great. If it’s not, then we’ll continue to do what they’re doing right now.”
As for Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart, he’s been asked the same question on a number of occasions. However, when answering the questions from beat writers and Paul Finebaum, he gave a classic Kirby answer — not too much info, but also not much info.
Then again, how much can Kirby really tell us? He does not know when this thing is ending, nor will he know how long it’ll take for people to be comfortable leaving their homes again. There’s only so much he can say.
He opened up a little bit more about it when remotely interviewed by the SEC Network’s Laura Rutledge the other day. Rutledge asked Smart what his thoughts were on Muschamp’s comment.
Remember, Smart and Muschamp go way back and have been friends for 20 years.
“I would argue that’s speculative,” Smart said of Muschamp’s comments. “I understand Will and I have shared and talked ideas as well as most of the SEC coaches. We’re kind of in that same fraternity together and we all talk.”
“Everybody has their opinions, but ultimately I don’t know as coaches if our opinion will ever come near outweighing our athletic trainers and the medical staff and safety and well-being of the players. I certainly think that our players are young, they’re very resilient, they can get ready in a quick turnaround.”
“A lot of us as coaches got to be smart about what that turnaround may be. Whether that’s July 13, whether that’s in August, there’s a lot of football season’s been played where guys didn’t get time leading in to prepare maybe as much as they have. As long as it’s equal then we’re all going to be on the same footing. We’ve got to get by with what they give us.”
Recently on the Finebaum Show, Smart said that in the meantime, we need to practice social distancing and follow the guidelines from the CDC. If we do that, Smart said everything else will take care of itself.
There’s also the possibility of playing the 2020 college football season in empty stadiums.
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We’ve voiced our opinions on that matter, and Smart seemed to have a similar stance. It’s just not college football without the fans.
“I think that’s tough,” Smart said. “I think it’s really tough. If it happened as a one-off or as a one-time special scenario, which we saw happen a little bit early on in basketball and we thought it might be that way. But to look at that as a long-term or even season answer, I just think that’s tough. Not that we play just for the fans, but we certainly are there to entertain. It certainly affects the kids and the performance. Like you mention, if the safety of the fans is at risk, we’re going to feel the same way about the players.”
