USA TODAY International Edition
College parents speak out on safety
College football looks as disorganized as a botched fake punt.
More than 100 players have tested positive for COVID- 19, prompting several schools across the country to at least temporarily shut down voluntary workouts. Schools such as Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Illinois and Washington State have asked players to sign documents that are explicitly, or could be interpreted as, liability waivers before allowing them to join voluntary on- campus workouts. This has prompted Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., and Cory Booker, D- N. J., to introduce legislation that would make such waivers illegal. Parents are starting to speak up. Chris Hinton and Mya WhitmoreHinton, a husband- and- wife team from suburban Atlanta, have launched College Football Parents 24/ 7, a group that aims to give parents a voice “to address issues that deal with the well- being of our student athletes.”
The group has attracted more than 1,000 members since launching in May.
College Football Parents 24/ 7 is drafting a letter seeking information from the NCAA and athletic directors about COVID- 19 issues, including who will be responsible for the care of any
players who suffer long- term health problems from COVID- 19 contracted while playing football.
“That’s the beauty of the group, that as a unified, collective voice, we can ask that,” Chris Hinton said. “And it’s not one parent that a school can dismiss as being a wacky parent or a helicopter parent. This is over 1,000 parents who say, ‘ Yes, I want to know that.’ ”
The Hintons are not your ordinary college football parents.
Chris Hinton, 58, is a former offensive lineman who played for Northwestern University. He was the fourth overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft and a seventime Pro Bowler during his 13- year NFL career.
Mya Whitmore- Hinton, 50, was a standout basketball player at Northwestern who got her law degree at Notre Dame and is a former prosecutor. And they’ve raised some serious football players.
Their oldest son, Chris Jr., was a fivestar recruit who is now a sophomore defensive tackle at Michigan. Their younger son, Myles, was a five- star recruit who now is a freshman offensive lineman at Stanford. And it’s possible both of them could skip the upcoming season – provided there is a season – because of concerns related to COVID- 19.
“It’s been a part of many discussions that we’ve had, general discussions,” Chris Hinton Sr. said. “It’s something that we as a family aren’t afraid to do if it comes to that point.”
But they’re no longer speaking strictly as parents. They’re now operating as the president and vice president of College Football Parents 24/ 7 – and asking the NCAA to come up with uniform requirements for all schools to adhere to regarding COVID- 19.
“It’s exciting,” said Mya Hinton, who is the vice president of College Football Parents 24/ 7 while her husband is serving as the group’s president. “Chris and I have talked for several years about the need for parents, or just the NCAA, to have another set of eyes to look at what they’re doing. And COVID was kind of our tipping point to get everything started.”
During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D- Nev., said the NCAA and its Division I schools should develop a single national strategy regarding testing and other approaches for dealing with a return to sports amid the pandemic, and NCAA board of governors chair Michael Drake, who is now Ohio State’s president emeritus said: “This is under discussion actively on a daily basis, and we will talk about this later on in this week. I certainly support that. But this is a 50- state organization with 1,100 schools, and health policies tend to be guided locally.”
On Tuesday, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn referred to previously released association guidelines concerning what it terms “resocialization of college sport.” Those documents say “they remain subject to further revision as available data and information in this space continues to emerge and evolve.” One of the documents says a decision to follow the guidelines “is to be made at the individual school level, with the approval of institutional leadership, and in concert with applicable guidance from local and state public officials.”
College Football Parents 24/ 7 are now forming a parent advisory board that will represent each of the college football conferences and ultimately could take a position on whether to support playing football this fall. The Hintons said they don’t think a season can be played safely if the current rate of infection across the country does not decline.
“I’ll say this, a couple of months ago when things were just crazy, I didn’t think we would have a season, and right now in some states it’s spiking more than ever before,” Chris Hinton said. “So there’s nothing that’s happening in my view that makes me think that the chances of having a season have increased. There’s nothing I’ve seen.
“You’re not going to find two bigger fans of college football than myself and Mya. I mean, we love the sport. We don’t want to see the season canceled.”
But Chris Hinton said he thinks the challenges still might be insurmountable.
“When you start peeling back the onion on what a season would look like, then you really start questioning whether it’s going to be possible,” he said. “On something as basic as if a player tests positive, those who have come into contact with that player have to go into quarantine. That’s pretty standard, right? So I guarantee you any player that tests positive will have some kind of contact with their trainer, and he goes into quarantine for 14 days? How many stints ( of quarantine) is he going to do?
“Even coaches. Your position coach. I mean, come on. Somebody in the position tests positive. So is the position coach go into quarantine?”
For the record, the Hintons say, Michigan and Stanford have embraced their efforts with College Football Parents 24/ 7.
“And I don’t know if that would be the case with all schools,” Chris Hinton said. “The one thing we really want to stress is we’re not an organization built to oppose the NCAA or college sports or universities. We want to work with them to enhance what’s there because the parent perspective is one that can add to the process.”