Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Big Ten poised to cancel season
Penn State’s Franklin joins others in pleas to stay optimistic
The coaches of the three biggest brand names in Big Ten football pleaded their cases Monday for the conference to play football this fall, even though reports persisted that it appears unlikely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Penn State’s James Franklin, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh all issued statements in support of their players and the Big Ten going on with football in the fall.
“I love our players and believe it is my responsibility to help them chase their dreams, both collectively and individually,”
Franklin wrote on Twitter. “I am willing to fight with them and for our program!”
Day said during an interview on ESPN2 that he hopes the Big Ten delays the season and doesn’t cancel it.
“I would say we cannot cancel the season right now,” he said. “We have to (at the most) postpone it and allow us a little bit of time to keep re-evaluating everything that is going on.”
Harbaugh said on social media that he’s advocating for the football season to be played because of how strong Michigan’s testing results have been. According to Harbaugh, the Wolverines have had only 11 positive tests out of 893 and none in the last 353.
“It is proven that the conduct, discipline and structure within our program have led to these stellar results,” he wrote. “We respect the challenge that the virus has presented, however, we will not cower from it.”
Earlier Monday, multiple media outlets reported that the Big Ten had voted not to play the conference’s football season in 2020.
National sports talk show host Dan Patrick said Monday morning that sources told him that Big Ten presidents voted 12-2 Sunday night not to play this year. Iowa and Nebraska were in favor of playing this fall. The Detroit Free Press confirmed that report and said a formal announcement could come as early as Tuesday.
But later in the day, a Big Ten spokesman told several other outlets that the presidents and chancellors had not voted on whether or not to have the season this fall. Big Ten athletic directors were expected to meet Monday night.
It was unclear whether the conference plans to play football in the spring or if other sports would be played in the fall.
Elsewhere, Atlantic Coast Conference athletic directors reportedly met and decided to move forward with the football season in an attempt to play. Pac-12 presidents and chancellors were scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote on whether to scrap that conference’s fall football season.
The Mountain West Conference reportedly planned to cancel its fall football season and move it to the spring. The Sun Belt Conference, on the other hand, reportedly plans to play sports in the fall.
The Big Ten news came just days after the conference announced a revised conference football schedule.
Before the reports surfaced, Penn State players and parents joined many others in pleading that the Big Ten and other conferences not cancel the season.
Nittany Lions tight end Pat Freiermuth’s mother, Dianne, wrote a letter as president of the Penn State Football Parents Association and said Monday that she and other parents trust the football and medical staff.
“I’m 100% confident in them,” Dianne Freiermuth said from her home in Massachusetts.
“Obviously there’s a risk being in State College, but there’s also a risk being at home. To be honest with you, we talked about that as a family last night.
“Patrick is probably safer than his two siblings and my husband and myself. He’s being tested regularly. He’s being monitored. We’re 100% confident in his safety.”
Players from the Big Ten and the other four major conferences responded by putting out a statement saying they want to have a season this fall and made four requests, including forming a players organization. They combined the hashtags, #WeAreUnited and #WeWantToPlay.
“(We want) to establish universal mandated health and safety procedures and protocols to protect college athletes against COVID-19,” the statement read. “Use our voices to establish open communication and trust between players and officials; (and) ultimately create a College Football Players Association.”
Dianne Freiermuth, a high school teacher, said that she was compelled to write the letter because she and other parents wanted to show their support for the players, coaches, staff and athletic department at Penn State.
“People need to know that they’re doing this the right way,” she said. “For all the time and all the money and all the effort they’ve put into it, we feel it’s a safe environment for our boys to play in.
“If you can do it the right way and you have the right protocols in place, then you should at least try to play.”
Freiermuth said she and other parents have been satisfied with the transparency from Penn State regarding the health and safety of their sons.