Decisions don’t get easier, just more complex

When we spoke Wednesday afternoon, Fran Rabinowitz didn’t know the CIAC Board of Control had voted 30 minutes earlier to continue with its fall plan for state high school athletics to begin Sept. 24.

Rabinowitz, the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, did know one thing: There had been no organized effort by CAPPS to force a postponement of football and the other fall sports until 2021.

When we spoke shortly before 6 p.m., Ledyard High athletic director Jim Buonocore, a member of the CIAC football committee that had voted Monday to push the season to 2021, also was sure of one thing.

“Presented with the same information, I would vote the same way again,” Buonocore said.

These are important matters to digest after a surprising — even shocking — series of events this week that told us much more about the political machinations of state high school athletics than COVID-19.

After the football committee vote Monday, most folks thought the CIAC would move everything to 2021. Many state associations already have. Every college in Connecticut has, too. The word was the superintendents were behind ending sports in the fall. The media, social media, that notion was everywhere.

“Not true, to the best of my knowledge,” Rabinowitz said, “and I know my group pretty well. There was not a consensus among all school districts and superintendents. Some were for it. Some were not.”

On July 31, the CIAC unveiled a specific, 11-page plan to resume sports on a regionalized basis Sept. 24. Reduced number of games, practice schedules, contact tracing protocols, hygiene practices, fan attendance, all of it.

And now only 12 days later, the assumption was it would be, ‘See ya in 2021.’

Surprise!

Fall sports are still on.

The coronavirus metrics hadn’t suddenly gotten worse. They remain low in our state. There was no abrupt decision to change the dynamics of school attendance. Work continues in districts across the state with in-school, online, and hybrid formats.

No, this exercise in suspense and intrigue was about the way individuals and individual sports view health, safety, and the best path for competition. Make no mistake, COVID-19 still will have the final word on what happens,

but COVID wasn’t voting Wednesday.

The cynic may see this as a power play by the football committee squashed by the Board of Control.

The optimist might see this as the process taking its healthy course.

Me? I still think playing football this September is too risky and moving to 2021 is the right move. This I will scream: Athletes wear your masks! Don’t be a dunce and party with outsiders! Make the best of this moment!

The CIAC has emphasized that the fall plan is fluid and in a perpetual state of evaluation. It emphasized COVID health metrics and data would be closely monitored. That’s all still true.

On Wednesday, CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini said the coaches, athletic directors, and superintendents on the Board of Control had the advantage to solicit opinions from the heads of state coaches, athletic directors, superintendents, and medical groups. In short, gather the most complete picture.

Lungarini said he thought it was a disadvantage for the football committee to have met first and if it had known all the other committees — soccer, girls swimming, field hockey, volleyball, and crosscountry — would vote to continue with the fall plan, the football committee might have decided otherwise.

The football committee voted 9-1 to play in 2021.

The Board of Control, according to Lungarini, voted 17-0 to play in the fall. What a stark difference. “With the information provided, we made the appropriate recommendations,” Buonocore said. “We were given info that the best chance to allow studentathletes to compete in football and to be able to complete the season first day to

last day was more likely to happen in the second semester of the school year.

“You weigh the percentages, playing a full schedule, possibly having a state tournament vs. a regional tournament, I think everyone is going to vote for a later date. In no way, shape or form do I feel our decision was a wrong one. It just wasn’t one that everyone agreed with and that’s OK.”

Now digest this: Since Monday, Buonocore said he has gotten positive feedback from football coaches and others active in the sport around the state. How positive?

“No one has contacted me saying we did not vote appropriately,” Buonocore said.

Dave Ruden of The Ruden Report tweeted that, according to a source, the Board of Control felt the football committee wanted to push back the season because it ensured the best chance to have a complete season and not for current health reasons. If you read that a certain way, it makes the football committee look like it had extremely selfish, potentially dangerous motives.

Buonocore’s rebuttal was concise and true. A full season is inherently tied to the student-athletes remaining healthy and safe during a pandemic. The chances of sports getting called off a few weeks after school starts or when an expected spike hits later in the auturm are real. That’s why the CIAC is looking at fall sports ending as early as Nov. 15.

“If anything we’ve learned, it’s be careful what source you talk to,” Lungarini said. “The football committee’s job is to look at football and not at anything else. They took the information presented to them and made the recommendation in the best interest of football and kids in football. The Board of Control has the responsibility of all sports and the bigger picture.

“I don’t think it’s a secret or there’s an ulterior motive to think your best chance at a full season is in the spring.”

Even though Lungarini has spent time saying he doesn’t see football being any riskier than basketball, everyone knows football is the first casualty if there is any COVID uptick. And if the season got underway and then called off midseason that’s it. Gone. No spring football.

There are no guarantees for January, either. Even if a vaccine is found in the next six months, it will take some time for millions of inoculations. The winter will be rough.

How the heck could they have indoor track? There are only a couple facilities around the state and the meets are gatherings of several schools.

You want to talk about a contagion? How about a high school basketball game with a gym packed with fans?

Football is one matter. Schools without artificial turf, how do you think it will be playing soccer on a rock pile with divots if they move soccer to March?

And what about all the three-sport athletes, especially in smaller schools?

There are a thousand questions no matter how the CIAC rules.

Swimming is looking at virtual meets, with a team turning in its times against another school’s times. Cross country is looking at limiting runners and spreading them out at the start. Although outdoor volleyball hasn’t been discussed like with Vermont, teams will stay on one side of the net throughout the match. Soccer teams staying apart on the sidelines and no shaking hands.

Lungarini insists it’s not fair to compare Connecticut colleges and high schools. With college, there are athletes and competitions from across state lines. With the CIAC this fall, it’s a tight region of competition for schools within a

few towns.

Lungarini also insists the CIAC fall plan, with its phased practices in conjunction with the school year opening, gives the schools a fuller picture of handling COVID before ever playing a game on Sept. 24.

And, yes, he keeps reminding us COVID-19 could force sports to end at a moment’s notice.

Save the athletes and their families who could fall sick, of course, the superintendents have the most to lose in this situation. They are responsible for school districts for all the students. With the CIAC testing, they are the ones ultimately responsible for the COVID-19 contact tracing and subsequent protocol. While the CIAC made it clear Wednesday it is recommending no fans in attendance, they are the ones ultimately responsible for the decisions made if students and parents can attend games as fans. Good grief, if that’s not a loaded pistol of the coronavirus, nothing is. You want to be the one who tells a legion of fired up students and parents, they’re not coming to the big game in town?

“We absolutely felt we should not be the decision makers in this, that this was really a health decision,” Rabinowitz said. “I didn’t survey our entire group, so I couldn’t give you an exact percentage. We did have a board meeting, more than 20 people, and we were not of one mind for or against.”

“The superintendents have been some of our closest collaborators,” Lungarini said. “We enjoy a great partnership. If you think the CIAC has a difficult job making these decisions — and we do — the superintendents certainly exceed ours. We understand not every one of them is going to agree with our decision and we accept that.”