`We need to learn our lessons now'
Riley says education of players paramount if football will be played
NORMAN—When OU football coach Lincoln Riley settled in to watch his daughter's softball game Thursday night, he had a mask on his face.
Riley wore the mask to set an example — both inside and outside the program — of the things that need to be done in order to have a college football season this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need to learn our lessons now and the better we can do that the better we're gonna be as a team, so we're educating them (players), we're talking to them a lot,” Riley said Friday during a Zoom conference with reporters.
“Then, listen, we're living that ourselves. That's the same thing. We're not going to restaurants. We're not doing these things right now. … Part of it for us is educating, part of it also, as coaches, that we're living it and providing the right example.”
The So one rs opened up their facilities Wednesday for small-group workouts among football players. That day, they released testing data that had seven positive tests among the 111 players tested — with seven more cases that existed prior to testing — and two positive tests among the 72 staff members tested.
That wasn't unexpected, especially as the number of active cases nationally has surged recently and the Sooners were one of the final major college programs in the country to have their players report back.
“We're kind of a microcosm of the whole country right now,” Riley said. “We certainly weren't expecting zero.
I would say there' s some confidence — I don't know if comfort's the right word in this situation, but I feel good about our plan and I'm glad we were able to vet a lot of different (things) before we got those guys here.”
Riley said the So one rs learned from programs that have returned in the last few weeks.
“There's not one part of this program, not one thing we do on any given day that's not affected by this pandemic,” Riley said. “We've been able to have a lot of conversations with our peers.”
Those include ways to make sure the virus isn't spread when players are together for workouts.
“Some of it is small as into the details of what kind of mask do you wear, how do you get 'em in and out of the facility,” Riley said. “Some of it's got a more functional (element) on the protocol side of it. We've learned a little bit of everything, and it's been helpful.”
But while those two hours players are workout out together — in groups of 10 or fewer — are important, making sure players are doing the right things in the other 22 hours of the day are more critical, as they can be exposed to people who haven't been tested or who aren't taking the proper precautions.
While lessons will continue to be learned, the wiggle room to make adjustments to ensure the season can start — and finish — on time is closing.
“I think to think you can control that is probably a little far-fetched, maybe a little arrogant,” Riley said. “Our deal is trying to educate and trying to make sure they understand the repercussions of their actions, and understand that the definition of that has changed.
“In everything you do, you've gotta first think about, `Am I exposing myself, my family members, my teammates( and) potentially jeopardizing all this?'
“It's changed our whole way of thought.”