Football in limbo
Highland coach Koulianos, Region I director for IFCA, says ‘helpless’ is best word to describe situation
Highland football coach Pete Koulianos sometimes feels like the walls are closing in.
Koulianos is the Region I director for the Indiana Football Coaches Association.
He is in daily contact with IFCA leaders, who are in contact with the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
Picture a man tapping his fingers repeatedly on a desk for days and days while waiting for some guidance from the IHSAA about whether there will be a 2020 football season.
And if there is a season, what it will look like and how long it will be.
But before those questions can be answered, other dominoes need to be arranged in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has to outline a strategy for a return to normalcy for schools and businesses.
That man tapping his fingers is Koulianos. He has no answers. No one does.
“It’s weird,” Koulianos said of trying to plan for football. “The best word you can use to describe it is ‘helpless.’ ”
Here are some facts regarding football.
The IFCA canceled the North/South All-Star Game scheduled for July 10.
Last week, the IHSAA waived the physical requirement for all high school athletes for the 2020-21 season. That presumably allows kids to start practice without the burden of having a physical completed, which saves time.
But it’s unlikely that any kind of football activity, were it to resume, would happen until at least July. Most schools participate in 7-on-7 football games in June.
Koulianos said Highland won’t have 7-on-7 in June.
“I assume June is out for sure (for everyone),” he said. “It’s possible something could happen in mid- to late July.”
No coach wants to give up on the idea of football in the fall.
Unfortunately, that dark shadow of a football-free 2020 lurks in the background of every football conversation.
Dr. Erica Kaufman West, an infectious disease specialist with Franciscan Health, said returning to play football in August will be difficult.
Kaufman West said there needs to be herd immunity.
That means 80% to 85% of the population needs to have developed immunity to COVID-19. Exposure to the virus is how people develop immunity.
Doctors and scientists don’t know how many people have developed immunity. According to Kaufman West, many carriers are asymptomatic, and their exposure hasn’t been recorded because they haven’t been tested.
The good news, she said, is antibody testing is available.
The bad news: It’s tricky to know how accurate those tests are initially and how long immunity lasts.
“Football is such a contact sport,” Kaufman West said. “Kids are helmet-to-helmet. They are spitting and sweating, and droplets are flying. It will be a difficult sell. I was an athlete. I can’t imagine what those kids are going through.”
And the coaches and schools too. Losing football will be disastrous for athletic budgets.
Indiana schools are required to support their athletic programs without taxpayer help. That means gate receipts from games, concessions and fundraisers foot the bill for all high school sports.
Football, followed by boys basketball and girls basketball, are typically the biggest moneymakers.
Koulianos already postponed his spring fundraiser.
“I can’t ask people to donate if they are out of a job,” he said.
Koulianos has heard all the scenarios.
Yes, football could start after Labor Day, with the state finals pushed back a week or two.
Yes, there could be some sort of an abbreviated season that possibly starts as late as October.
No, a season that starts in the winter isn’t realistic.
No, it’s not realistic to test players every week.
The speculation, however, is useless.
All Koulianos can do is keep tapping his fingers and hope for some good news.