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There was some added optimism this past week to the idea that there could be football in The Big House on fall Saturdays.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh told Mike Tirico on the NBCSN program Lunch Talk Live that he doesn’t subscribe to the ‘all or none’ strategy when it comes to having athletics if college courses remain online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s creative ways, I believe,” Harbaugh said. “The governor of Colorado, I was listening to some of his comments, they made a lot of sense. ‘Those who want to be on campus or come to school can come to school. And those who still want to do online can be online.’ That’d probably help for social distancing on campuses, in the classrooms. Some of his creativity of not having kids not all get out of class at the same time or eat in the cafeteria — I like the creativity of it. And there’s ways, if you let people think, you can come up with the right answers.
“Like he said, ‘No excuses.’ We’re gonna educate these kids, we’re gonna educated them online or some in the school. That kind of plan made a lot of sense to me.
“To relate that to college, it doesn’t have to be all or none to me. You could have a percentage – what’s the best percentage to have on campus? Those doing extracurricular activities or theater or sports, I think that percentage could be on campus. 25%. But those zero or one-hundred, I don’t think that make a lot of sense.”
However, it’s not exactly up to him, and the man who will decide all of that for the University of Michigan? Well, he’s not in agreement.
Dr. Mark Schlissel is actually an immunologist by trade, and he spoke to the Wall Street Journal this week about the subject, and where he stands on the idea of football returning if the students don’t return to campus.
And, in process, threw some cold water on the idea that remote learning and football would co-exist this fall.
“We really have to think about how to reorient our lives to coexist with this pandemic,” he said, adding that he expects advancements in medical treatments to come before a vaccine.
In regard to football, something of a religion in Ann Arbor, athletes would need to return to campus well before other students to begin practice. Though some other schools are planning to bring football players back for voluntary training as early as June 1, Michigan hasn’t announced any such plans for its athletes. Dr. Schlissel said the team and associated staff could be tested regularly, if or when they do return.
“If there is no on-campus instruction then there won’t be intercollegiate athletics, at least for Michigan,” said Dr. Schlissel, adding he had “some degree of doubt as to whether there will be college athletics [anywhere], at least in the fall.”
And even if the Wolverines come back and play, they might do so in a much quieter stadium. Michigan Stadium, known as the Big House, is the largest outdoor stadium in the country with a capacity of 107,601.
“I can’t imagine a way to do that safely,” Dr. Schlissel said.
Schissel wouldn’t be the only impediment, anyhow.
While the NCAA announced it was lifting the moratorium on student-athletes in terms of voluntary on-campus activities as of June 1, some programs are able to take advantage — such as Ohio State, which returns its football players to campus on June 8. But the state of Michigan is under continued ‘safer-at-home’ edicts, as Gov. Whitmer extended the executive order from a May 28 expiration to June 12 on Friday.
According to a Michigan football team spokesperson, for the players to be able to return, first the governor would have to lift the shelter-in-place provision, then the restrictions on gyms. Finally, the university would have to formally allow parts of the school to open and the athletic department would then have to allow student-athletes to be able to work out in school gyms once again.
There looks to be a path to return, but at the moment, at least in Ann Arbor, it’s quite some ways away.