The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
• Coaches react to Big Ten halt
Shock waves were sent across Ohio and the nation Aug. 11 after the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences postponed fall sports for 2020.
That means no Ohio State football — a staple in Columbus and across the state — will take place this fall. Both conferences hope to play football in the spring of 2021.
Shortly after the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences announced their decisions, the ACC and SEC reaffirmed their plans to have fall sports. The Big 12 is the only Power 5 conference that didn’t release an update on Aug. 11 pertaining to fall sports.
“It’s unfortunate,” Avon Lake coach Matt Kostelnik said. “The idea that football provides structure for kids and we keep an eye on our kids. For the most part, we know what our kids are doing. At the (college) level, they can control a little bit more than we can. We just have to stay positive and hope for the best.”
The decisions from the Big Ten and Pac-12 immediately brought two questions to Olmsted Falls coach Tom DeLuca.
“How is our state going to handle seeing those highprofile conferences switching to the spring, and are we going to follow suit? Those (questions) were a part of my first reaction,” DeLuca said. “How are we going to interpret those as a state of Ohio? Are they going to choose to delay, postpone or cancel altogether our season, or are we moving forward?”
Despite major college football programs shutting down, high school football teams across Northeast Ohio will continue to practice and prepare for their fall seasons until told otherwise.
DeLuca’s Bulldogs and Kostelnik’s Shoremen will hit the practice field Aug. 12 along with numerous other Ohio high school football teams while also knowing countless college football teams won’t be taking the field.
“We have blinders on, to be honest with you,” DeLuca
said. “It sits in the back of your mind, but for us and our kids, I know our kids are excited to go to practice. Coaches are excited and (we are) breaking down film, making our adjustments, putting together practice plans and all of those things. We’re just going to take it (one day at a time). That’s all we can do.”
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted sent out a pair of tweets the past couple of days in support of extracurricular activities and sports. Kostelnik feels the tweets are encouraging and is hoping his players will be able to take the field Aug. 28.
“The lieutenant governor sent out a tweet that seems pretty positive,” Kostelnik said. “They are trying not to let what colleges and the professionals do affect their decision making with our kids. Ideally, we keep plugging along and we have practice tomorrow, so that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Despite rumors swirling about what’s going to happen with high school sports, Kostelnik works every day to make sure his team stays focused.
“We know we have tomorrow to practice as of right now,” Kostelnik said. “I tell the kids to take it dayby-day, and don’t let what’s going around us beat you up. Just keep your mind focused and keep your mind working toward the task at hand. Control what you can control, and we can’t control what the Big Ten does, what the Pac-12 does. We can control how we approach things tomorrow morning at practice.”