Mendenhall looks forward to players’ return to campus
Staying up until the wee hours pondering workout plans is an expected part of the routine for Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall. He has a stack of nearly 20 books to be read, most dealing with common themes of leadership, coaching and performance.
Managing the work flow of players and learning new methods to achieve that end are essential in his world, but there’s a stark reality during the coronavirus pandemic. While the NCAA has granted college football and basketball coaches permission to have players begin voluntary workouts June 1 on campuses, the matter is out of
Mendenhall’s hands until U.Va.’s campus reopens.
His sphere of influence is compromised.
“The biggest question I think right now that each state is wrestling with,” Mendenhall said, “that each institution is wrestling with, and relying on the medical community to help us: is it appropriate to come back yet?”
For the time being, he’s relying on players on their own to make the best out of workouts given to them by coaches while anxiously awaiting information from the state of Virginia and U.Va.’s leadership to determine when those players can actually return to campus.
As eager as he is to get
answers regarding when his players can return, exactly what resumption of team activities on campus will look like is unclear.
Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer, recommended last Friday a phased return to football activities that would include not sharing a ball for the first two phases — a total of four weeks. That’s a baffling proposition for Mendenhall.
“I don’t know how you play football without sharing a ball,” Mendenhall said. “That’s just one small little component of the game and what practice might look like, and so the passing game is pretty hard when you can’t deliver the ball to anyone else.”
Mendenhall said he has between six and 10 players in Charlottesville at the moment. When players are permitted to return to campus for voluntary workouts, safe housing options will have to be ready, and the McCue Center will have to be properly prepared to promote safe resumption of workouts during the pandemic.
“There’s a number of options, and based on protocols, that’ll have a lot to do with it,” said Mendenhall of the housing situation, adding it has yet to be resolved at U.Va. “Most states and institutions, when athletes are coming back, there’s a quarantine period. So, there’ll have to be housing for a quarantine period, and then possibly more permanent housing, and that housing might remain in place for the entire season.
“There are so many variables (in discussions involving preparing the McCue Center) and so many different time frames. Literally, I’m on meetings almost every day, and I haven’t found any consistency yet from one day to the next. It changes so fast, and new dynamics and new problems come up.”
Another issue that has plagued Mendenhall is the fact some states are reopening campuses faster than others, which will provide greater and additional workout opportunities for some programs. He’s advocating for a universal number of practices available before every team’s first game in order to establish some equality.
As far as when those first games will actually take place, he’s staying as optimistic as the uncertain future will allow.
“I think football will start in the fall,” Mendenhall said. “It’s too soon to tell whether it will start on time and what it will look like. The way that I think about it simply is, football supports and enhances humanity. … When it’s safe and when it’s appropriate and when all can benefit, I’m for playing the game.”