Towson is 1st in CAA to opt out of spring season
When — or if — the Colonial Athletic Association kicks off the spring 2021 football season, it will proceed without Towson.
The university announced Monday that it would sit out the six-game campaign, marking the first time in history that the program will not play football. The school, which has participated in football every year since1969, listed the risk of long-term injuries as a reason for opting out.
In a 106-second video the school attached to its release and later posted on YouTube, football coach Rob Ambrose said the coaches sought the opinions of those who would play a pivotal role in whether the Tigers would embark on a spring season after the fall campaign was suspended by the corona virus pandemic– the players.
“The first thing we did was, we took a step back once we knew there was going to be a plan for this and instead of evaluating the plan – because we’re not the ones that play – we asked the kids,” he said. “We listened, and it was amazing how aware, how broadminded, how forward-thinking, and how intelligent our kids really, really are. We surveyed the guys, and way more
than half of the team — almost 75% of the team — did not want to trade a full season next year for a six-game, who-knows season this spring.”
Ambrose said the players reminded him and the coaching staff of a spate of season-ending injuries that took a toll on last year’s team that went 7-5 overall and 4-4 in the CAA, missing out on a chance to compete in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.
“Theysaid, ‘Coach, do you realize thatwe lost six knees last fall in the first three games?’ Six guys that were starters, heavy contributors,” he said. “I still give the players and staff a lot credit for being able to rally and cover up those guys up and find a way to win. But now, if that happens in the spring — let’s put it this way, all those guys that got hurt, they could have been ready to play this fall— if thatwere to happen in the spring, those guys would lose that year and they’ll never get it back, and nobody wants to take a chance — at least nobody with experience — on giving up a full season of opportunity for something that one of the kids said, ‘Coach, the year doesn’t count against our eligibility anyway. Why are we trying to make it count?’ After listening to the kids, I couldn’t come up with a good reason whywe should do this.”
The NCAA Division I board of directors has voted to grant an extra year of eligibility for student-athletes in fall, spring and winter sports seasons because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Another unspoken factor is that the NFL draft usually takes place in April. A spring football season would conflict with that development and force players to make decisions about their academic and professional careers.
CAA commissioner Joe D’Antonio said the league “is100% supportive” of Towson’s decision.
Towson is the first university to skip the CAA season, but it is not the first FCS school to opt out. Abilene Christian, Campbell, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Houston Baptist, Old Dominion, Sacramento State and Stephen F. Austin have said they will sit out potential spring football seasons in 2021.
The move represents another potential economic hit to the athletic department after Towson lost the $325,000 that Maryland had agreed to pay to play a football game in College Park this season when the Big-Ten postponed its fall sports season and returned with a conference-only schedule. In June, the Tigers athletic department asked every sport and every unit within the department to slice 25% from their operating budgets.