Tag: Oklahoma sports

Big 12 Conference suspends all organized team activities, cancels spring sports seasons

The final touches on the spring season have been put to rest. The Big 12 Conference has shut things down until March 29 and beyond.

The final touches on the spring college sports season have been put to rest.

The Big 12 Conference canceled the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday afternoon. They suspended regular season competition for everyone, on-and-off campus recruiting and out-of-season practices later Thursday afternoon. Now?

Everything is shut down through March 29 and all spring sports seasons for its 10 member league have been canceled.

“Due to the on-going developments related to COVID-19 the Big 12 Conference announces that all organized team activities whether organized or voluntary, including team and individual practices, meetings, and other organized gatherings, have been suspended until March 29 and will be re-evaluated at that time,” the Big 12 announced in a release on Friday evening.  “In addition, all conference and non-conference competitions are cancelled through the end of the academic year, including spring sports that compete beyond the academic year.”

This will be the end of Oklahoma baseball’s promising season. The end of Patty Gasso’s late-season reign on college softball. The end of Oklahoma men’s golf’s run to another NCAA Championship.

What has not been decided is the potential for spring football to return. The Big 12 Conference have not decided whether to cancel it all completely, which includes spring games.

The University of Oklahoma has moved to online only classes for the two weeks after spring break. It has not been determined what Oklahoma football is going to do once the March 29 date of the end of the suspension of activities is over.

Sooners Wire will post updates as more information becomes available.

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OU spokesperson confirms Oklahoma baseball team will fly back from California on Friday

The last Oklahoma Athletics’ team out on the road is coming home. Oklahoma’s baseball team is scheduled to come back to Oklahoma on Friday.

The last Oklahoma Athletics’ team out on the road is coming home.

Oklahoma’s baseball team stayed overnight in Dallas-Fort Worth on Tuesday night after a 3-0 win over Dallas Baptist before flying out to California on Wednesday for a four-game series against Cal Poly set for Thursday through Sunday. That trip was cut short, with the Big West Conference indefinitely suspending competitions on Thursday afternoon.

The plot twist in the Sooners travels came on Thursday, when Baylor’s baseball team, who played at Cal Poly over last weekend, had to be self-quarantined after coming home from the trip due to coronavirus concerns.

As of 12:27 p.m. CT, the Oklahoma baseball team was set to take a charter flight home from California. A source close to the situation told Sooners Wire that the Sooners will not use the same airport Baylor did on its way to play Cal Poly. Oklahoma baseball is also flying out of San Luis Obispo, where Cal Poly is located, and won’t even enter the airport there, per the same source.

Oklahoma’s season is cut short due to the impact the coronavirus has had on sports at all levels. The Sooners climbed as high as No. 9 in this week’s polls and had the look of a team that could compete for a spot in Omaha, Nebraska, at the College World Series.

Sooners Wire will continue to post updates on how the coronavirus is impacting Oklahoma athletics.

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Oklahoma football has ceased on, off-campus recruiting with new NCAA mandated dead period

No more eyeballs for the time being or something like that. Oklahoma football has ceased on-and-off campus recruiting with new dead period.

No more eyeballs for the time being or something like that.

Earlier on Friday, the NCAA established a new NCAA recruiting dead period that extends through “at least” April 15 and will reevaluate the situation then. The current recruiting period is a quiet period* through April 14 before the in-person spring evaluation period from April 15 through May 30.

Oklahoma football has responded, with Annie Hanson, the assistant athletic director and recruiting strategy, administrative engagement for the program, announcing that the Sooners have ceased on-and-off campus recruiting through the end of the dead period.

Hanson reminds everyone that they can still contact recruits via texting or direct messages on Twitter until the dead period is over. The Oklahoma Athletics’ compliance department has also tweeted out its response to the new NCAA mandated dead period.

Oklahoma football, in the craziest way possible, actually benefits from this. The Sooners hosted three, five-star recruits from the 2021 recruiting class for unofficial visits over the last week in No. 1 quarterback Caleb Williams, No. 1 running back Camar Wheaton and No. 1 offensive guard Bryce Foster before the sports world was shut down. The Sooners are putting themselves in a situation to bring in a haul of elite recruits for the 2021 class.

Sooners Wire will continue to post updates on how the coronavirus is impacting Oklahoma athletics.

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*According to the NCAA’s bylaws for the 2019-20 recruiting calendar, a quiet period is that period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution’s campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during the quiet period.

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