Tag: Joe Castiglione

Oklahoma football says spring game is not canceled, won’t take place on April 18

A little confusion has been straightened out. Oklahoma’s spring game has not been canceled, but in a waiting period during pandemic.

A little confusion has been straightened out.

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione went on an Oklahoma City radio station Wednesday afternoon for a segment with columnist Berry Tramel (The Oklahoman). At the tail end of the interview, Tramel asked Castiglione about the upcoming spring game in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Oklahoma spring game is scheduled for April 18 at 5 p.m. CT. At least it was.

“Basically we’re saying the reality—there’s just not anyway we are going to have it,” Castiglione said. “It’s hard to even say when and if we’ll be able to return to any type of practice in the next 30 to 45 days.”

Castiglione backed off his strong, impromptu statement on the game in a later released statement from Oklahoma football. The spring game has not been fully canceled, but in a waiting period.

“We’ve been receiving a lot of questions about whether the spring game will be held on April 18, or even at all,” he said in a press release. “The fact of the matter is it would be virtually impossible to hold the game on the originally scheduled date since we’re not sure when or if we’ll be able to return to practice. So in talking with Coach (Lincoln) Riley, we feel at the very least it’s appropriate to announce that the game and associated activities will not occur on April 18.

“Given all of the unknowns we’re facing, it’s impossible to determine right now when or if the game will be rescheduled. We will continue to communicate updates as information becomes available.”

This is still an expected blow to Lincoln Riley, who has made the spring game weekend a priority recruiting even for upcoming recruiting classes. Baker Mayfield was set to have his Heisman Trophy statue unveiled in the stadium during the game.

The Big 12 Conference has yet to cancel spring football practices and games for its 10 member league. The ACC and SEC have already canceled spring practices and games entirely for their respective conferences.

According to multiple reports after Castiglione’s radio segment, the expectation is that Oklahoma’s spring game will not take place.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione says Oklahoma spring game is canceled

The coronavirus impact has essentially ended the 2019-20 calendar sports year for Oklahoma. OU’s spring game has been canceled.

The coronavirus impact has essentially ended the 2019-20 calendar sports year for Oklahoma.

After the Big 12 canceled the spring sports season due to the pandemic, football spring games remained up in the air. According to Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman, Big 12 conference athletic directors were scheduled to talk about the cancelation of spring football at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Nothing had been announced yet from the conference, but Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione was on air with Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman on 98.1 the Sports Animal in Oklahoma City when he decided to pull the plug.

Castiglione broke it unexpectedly during the segment while talking to Tramel.

“We’ll probably … I guess I’m announcing it right now,” he said. “Basically we’re saying the reality. There’s just not anyway we are going to have it. It’s hard to even say when and if we’ll be able to return to any type of practice in the next 30 to 45 days.”

The Sooners spring game was scheduled for April 18 at 5 p.m. CT. Oklahoma was set to unveil its Baker Mayfield’s Heisman Trophy statue inside the stadium during the game. The weekend of the spring game is also one of Lincoln Riley’s biggest recruiting opportunities with everything that comes with the spring game weekend.

Oklahoma’s athletic director went into his thinking behind it.

“I can just tell ya that while we have come out and announced the spring game, the date being April 18, being canceled, I don’t see any way that’s going to happen. I really don’t,” Castiglione said. “We’re sitting here looking at it from two different ways—one, obviously people are canceling all kinds of events for the next thirty or more days. So there’s one reason. The other reason is related to practice. I can’t sit here and tell you any team that is going to get back and have a normal practice. They just can’t do that. So to sit here and think that we’re going to have a spring game and not be able to even say when we’re going to return to practice is silly.

As SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey pointed out, this may not mean the end to football practice, although the likelihood of that happening also doesn’t seem too realistic.

The Big 12 conference has yet to announce a league-wide cancelation of spring football or spring games yet.

Matt Ravis of 98.1 The Sports Animal contributed to this report.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]