Lobos coming back?
Report: The Mountain West Conference is contemplating an October return for football
The Mountain West Conference appears oh, so close to returning to play football, which is what University of New Mexico first-year head coach Danny Gonzales wants.
Whether he will he get his wish from his own state is the bigger issue, and he isn’t commenting on that.
Mountain West university presidents moved up a scheduled Friday meeting to Thursday, and the league’s athletic directors are aiming for an Oct. 24 or Oct. 31 start for the football season, the Associated Press is reporting.
It is unclear whether the Mountain West presidents will vote Thursday on any proposals, but the league is close to an agreement that will provide its 12 schools with the capacity to perform daily COVID-19 antigen tests on its athletes, the source told the AP.
Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson told AP last week the league would not move forward on fall football without its schools’ having the ability to test daily.
The Mountain West postponed its fall sports season on Aug. 10, the day before the Big Ten and Pac-12 did the same. The Big Ten since has announced a return to football the weekend of Oct. 24. The conference plans to start testing its fall-sport athletes daily on Sept. 30.
The current public health order in New Mexico that prohibits gatherings now includes any “organized amateur contact sport,” which is what in theory remains in the way of UNM and New Mexico State football and basketball from practicing
right now in groups larger than 10.
Meanwhile, there is hope coming from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office.
“As the governor has discussed at recent public updates, the subject of spectator-less sports in the state is one that the administration may be able to address in coming weeks, assuming the trajectory of the state’s response to the virus does not head in the wrong direction,” Tripp Stelnicki, a Lujan Grisham spokesperson, said in an email.
Gonzales, meanwhile, would like the news from the MWC to come quickly.
“I hope the conference announces a possible return to play sooner than later,” said Gonzales, upon hearing about the MWC university presidents meeting on Thursday. “The sooner the better, just because I’m excited to play and I know our kids are excited. They’ve worked hard, but whatever they tell us, we’re going to do.”
Gonzales said the MWC head coaches have been meeting virtually or over the phone at least once a week since April. At the most recent meeting, the coaches “reiterated that (the MWC needs) to put a plan together to get us back on the field,” Gonzales said.
So just how will the Lobos play football, or even practice, when the state’s public health order restricts them from doing so?
Gonzales did not want to comment specifically about getting a possible green light or denial to practice and compete in New Mexico. He referred to a statement he issued on Saturday via Twitter.
“Our football team has been working extremely hard and has followed every guideline required of us,” said Gonzales, who played football for the Lobos and was a UNM assistant before working at San Diego State and Arizona State. “We are ready to compete. We are proud to represent this great University and this great State. I believe we can make it happen!”
UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez issued this statement on Tuesday: “We’re continuing to have active conversations with the Governor’s Office in relation to our plans, our testing and everything that encompasses the opportunity to move forward when the time comes.”
PLAY BALL: Gonzales and his coaching staff have done their best to be efficient within what they’re allowed to do and preparing the players. That can be helpful to a coach in his first year, but Gonzales would rather just play football.
“I think the only way you get good at something is to actually do it,” Gonzales said. “The lack of opportunity to play real football, whether it be in practice or it be in games, I think it definitely slows the process of developing a program . ... You have to play real football — when you tackle them to the ground — to get results. That’s what’s missing.”
JUST WEIRD: Instead of game-planning each day and preparing his players for actual games, Gonzales is watching college football on TV and it’s not totally comfortable.
“It’s weird to watch football games on Saturday and not be involved, I’ll tell you that,” Gonzales said. “It’s very weird. In the last 23 years of my life, every Saturday in the fall I’ve been involved with football other than a bye week. And on a bye week, you’re usually out recruiting. I’ve never spent more time watching football on TV in my life than I have in the past three weeks.”
Gonzales said he has watched both Syracuse games, both losses, from the opening kickoff to the final whistle (a rarity), because his friend and former (2008) UNM assistant Tony White is the defensive coordinator for the Orange.