Until today, college football programs at the FBS level dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic by adjusting schedules and in some instances moving to conference-only play.
That changed on Wednesday with the University of Connecticut becoming the first FBS program to shutter its doors for the upcoming season.
Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall confirmed that fact to ESPN, and the school released a statement on their website. According to athletic director David Benedict: “After receiving guidance from state and public health officials and consulting with football student-athletes, we’ve decided that we will not compete on the gridiron this season. The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk.”
Edsall outlined that the athletes were consulted in making the decision: “We engaged and listened to the concerns of our football student-athletes and feel this is the best decision for their health, safety, and well-being. Our team is united in this approach and we will use this time to further player development within the program and gear ourselves to the 2021 season.”
The players themselves released a statement:
As a team we are in full support of the decision to not compete in 2020. We have many health concerns and not enough is known about the potential long term effects of contracting COVID-19. Additionally, we have not had the optimal time to train mentally & physically to be properly prepared to compete this season. We love this game and love competing. We came to campus in the beginning of July knowing there would be challenges presented by the pandemic but it is apparent to us now that these challenges are impossible to overcome.
This season was set to be an interesting one for the program, as UCONN was becoming an independent after spending the past 15 seasons as a member of the Big East/American Athletic Conference. There was already massive uncertainty in place over the team’s schedule as a result. Games against Illinois, Indiana, Maine and Mississippi have already been taken off the schedule by those schools’ respective conferences and contests against North Carolina and Virginia were no longer set in stone.
Instead, the Huskies become the first FBS program to look to the future and forgo playing during the pandemic.