Stanford, SJSU to return to campus
Santa Clara County officials give the OK to practice at home
Stanford and San Jose State’s football teams got the clearance Tuesday that they have been seeking to return to their respective campuses to prepare for the 2020 football season.
Public health officials announced Tuesday that Santa Clara County moved into the orange, or moderate, tier in the state’s risk reduction order to pave the way for regular football practices. The county had placed strict guidelines on activities such as football to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
San Jose State plans to return home today after more than a week of training at Humboldt State.
Stanford said it will begin on-campus practices today after starting fall training camp at Woodside High in San Mateo County last Friday.
In the East Bay, Cal had been cleared since Friday by Berkeley to practice with a group of 75 people, the state public health department guideline that also allows for contact drills.
“We’re ecstatic,” San Jose State coach Brent Brennan said. “We’ve been up here for 10 days now. All these players, coaches and trainers have been displaced. It’s just another chapter of the crazy COVID story.”
Brennan said the Spartans would return by bus after morning practice and then take Thursday off to settle in and attend virtual classes. San Jose State plans to practice Friday on campus in preparation for the season opener, a 7:30 p.m.
home game Oct. 24 against Air Force.
Stanford is scheduled to open the season Nov. 7 at Oregon. The Cardinal plays host to Colorado on Nov. 14.
“It’s been a process, our student- athletes understand it, that it’s not just for the county’s health but for their individual health for us to follow these guidelines and the best way to get to play the sport that we love,” Cardinal coach David Shaw said Tuesday.
Santa Clara County counsel James Williams said Tuesday that public health officials will monitor the teams’ activities.
“We’ve made it very clear the authorization to proceed is contingent on careful, thorough and complete adherence to those protocols,” he said.
Williams added that the guidelines of wearing masks, getting PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, testing and staying in small groups will not eliminate the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.
“We have seen across the country a lot of outbreaks at college campuses,” he said. “It is something that will need to be carefully adhered to by our colleges and that is our expectation.”
Officials at both schools pledged to strictly follow the guidelines laid out by the county and the state.
Stanford’s Shaw said the school also has a backup plan should Santa Clara County fall back into the red tier that would lead to restrictions on activities, including full football practice.
“That’s as much as anything that we’ve learned. Push for your plan and have at least three fallback plans on the back burner,” he said. “We know we have Woodside and other places as well that could house us during the season.”
Stanford and San Jose State would have to adjust their home schedules should the state place Santa
Clara County back into the red tier, or substantial risk category.
County health officer Dr. Sara Cody said Tuesday that Santa Clara is the state’s largest county to move into the moderate tier after reaching requirements for average daily cases and positivity rates, among other measurements.
San Jose State officials said no one among the 141 players, coaches and staff in Humboldt had tested positive for the novel coronavirus during the stay. It cost the school’s athletic department from $100,000 to $150,000 to relocate to Arcata, 320 miles from San Jose.
Brennan said the experience of grinding through a challenging training camp has created a strong brotherhood that he hopes will carry over into the Mountain West Conference games this year.
“The previous six or seven months we were apart,” Brennan said. “Even when we were on campus with cohorts it was hard to get everybody together.”
Brennan said the Spartans have a head start on adhering to Santa Clara County’s directive after remaining in a bubble at Humboldt State.
“You wake up in the morning, brush your teeth and fill out your covid checklist,” he said. “That’s just what you do.”
But Brennan added everyone needs to be even more diligent upon returning home, saying San Jose State has to make sure it gets it “exactly right” when following the county guidelines.
“Everyone has done such a great job in this unique time,” he said. “We don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. It’s going to require discipline from everyone who touches your program.”
Williams asked the public in a video news conference to report violations to public health officials. But that might be difficult because Stanford and San Jose State practices are closed to the public.