AD Veatch: Scheduling ‘much more difficult in this environment’
Scheduling is a complex, timeconsuming endeavor under normal circumstances.
Add uncertainty to the mix, and it becomes a more severe headache. That's where most college athletics administrators find themselves, even as states begin to ease restrictions from COVID-19.
“Scheduling in itself in a normal environment is remarkably more complicated than what most people think,” Memphis athletics director Laird Veatch said.
As schools look at concessions they can make to protect players, coaches and fans, while also easing strained budgets — like more regionally based games — scheduling has gotten more difficult. Football programs make agreements for nonconference games years in advance.
Memphis' nonconference schedule is booked through 2022. The Tigers have one nonconference opening in 2023. Last week, Memphis and Arkansas State agreed to a fourgame series that includes a game in Jonesboro on Sept. 8, 2029.
“What makes it challenging, more than anything else, is that everybody — all the other schools — are also very much in a time of uncertainty as well,” Veatch said. “It just makes it really difficult to get real traction on those (scheduling) conversations. To identify them and have buy-in and get things coordinated and everybody together on the same page, no question — it's much more difficult in this environment.”
Veatch said one trip the men's basketball team has scheduled for 202021 is in doubt. The Tigers are set to travel to Nassau, Bahamas, from Nov. 25-27 to participate in the annual Battle 4 Atlantis.
“That is among the many things that is still uncertain at this point,” Veatch said. “It hasn't been canceled yet. Like most of those kinds of things that are that far off, we still have some time. So, no cancellation. But it certainly falls in the category of ‘uncertain.'”
Memphis has announced a phased plan to allow players, coaches and limited athletics department staff to return to campus. The Tigers football program makes up the first phase — which Veatch has labeled Phase Zero — and it is set to begin June 6 and will not include workouts. If things run smoothly, Veatch said, Phase 1 is set to begin June 15, at which time the men's and women's basketball programs will be allowed to return to campus.
“They'll go through that same kind of process we'll have football go through,” he said. “The rest of our fall sports will essentially return at the end of June, beginning of July.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.