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1/ Enjoyed my conversation yesterday w/ @ScottyGZone and @johnhans1280 on @ZoneSportsNet, the leading sports talk station in Salt Lake City, home to the @BigSkyConf. We discussed the pandemic and its impact on athletics and our universities. Listen here:
https://1280thezone.com/big-sky-commissioner-tom-wistrcill-believes-the-next-4-weeks-might-be-the-most-important-weeks-in-college-sports-history/">https://1280thezone.com/big-sky-c...
https://1280thezone.com/big-sky-commissioner-tom-wistrcill-believes-the-next-4-weeks-might-be-the-most-important-weeks-in-college-sports-history/">https://1280thezone.com/big-sky-c...
2/ Entering the holiday weekend, I want to share more thoughts about this. There’s never been a more pivotal and challenging time for higher education in my 27 year career in college athletics. I don’t think we can overstate the importance of the coming weeks to our enterprise.
3/ Lots of recent in-depth conversation on this, including recent podcasts from @BruceFeldmanCFB + @slmandel, @Andy_Staples, + @ByPatForde- @DanWetzel- @PeteThamel; columns from @wilnerhotline & @gregrachac among others. @CraigHaley, @SamHerderFCS & @BrianMacWriter have chimed in.
5/ And so that is the (multi-)million-dollar question facing athletics: Can we have sports safely this fall? But, really, I’d argue that it’s a billion-dollar question about higher education: How can we open our campuses in a safe manner?
16/ I’ll be with my family, and I’ll be sure to take a moment to remember that “Freedom Isn’t Free” – it’s dependent on people like my brother, Andy, who retired last year after a 20 year career in the Air Force. Thanks to him and all like him who serve for all of us!
4/ First, let’s recognize that health and safety must, must be paramount. We all want to watch games this fall – trust me, no one wants to see @BigSkyFB, @BigSkyVB, @BigSky_Soccer, and Cross Country in action more than me. But it must be done safely.
6/ Fortunately, we have really smart people working on this. The leadership from our institutions has risen to the challenge of trying to answer these questions. This dynamic landscape, where we learn exponentially more than we knew a week ago, is challenging to say the least.
7/ Our Health & Safety Committee is comprised of a physician or athletic trainer from all 13 @BigSkyFB schools. They meet weekly to create and analyze protocols being to be employed this fall. The trainers also convene weekly to review what they are each seeing on their campuses.
8/ One of the most interesting dynamics is that our schools are located in 8 different states, each having its own rules and regulations from local cities, counties, and health boards. So everyone’s coming at this from a somewhat different place, literally and figuratively.
9/ It’s also why it was important for the @BigSkyConf to provide latitude to our individual schools about when to return to campus for voluntary workouts this summer. Some started weeks ago, some are just getting people back on campus.
10/ What I do know, though, is all of us can do our part to help. Have you seen the #FacemaskForFallSports campaign? Please contribute to this cause by wearing a face mask whenever you go in public. It’s an easy way to do your part to defeat the coronavirus.
