As athletes return to campus amid pandemic, plans differ on how to keep them safe
Before college athletic departments can take their first steps toward returning to normalcy following a quiet spring of canceled games and tournaments, they must first figure out how to safely return their student-athletes to campus amid the conoravirus pandemic.
That is no easy task.
As college football players begin to trickle back to campuses across the region for the scheduled start of voluntary workouts, few schools can agree on an umbrella procedure for testing athletes or easing them back into team activities. Nor is there a set plan for allowing fans to watch them play games inside stadiums next season.
There is no manual for athletic directors to consult in this situation. For now, uncertainty reigns.
“It’s hard to pinpoint anything because things are moving so fast,” said Matt Thomason, Kansas State associate AD for student-athlete health, wellness and performance. “Nobody has done this before. It’s 100% different from our normal process. We had an idea yesterday and that idea has already changed. That’s the hard part. Nobody knows how this will play out.”
Athletic departments everywhere are grappling with the best possible way to safely return their student-athletes to voluntary workouts this summer and then eventually practices and games. Many of their methods will be different until kickoff arrives in September.
Let’s start with testing
One thing everyone seems to agree on is there needs to be some level of COVID-19 testing before athlets can work out with their teammates and strength coaches in the close confines of a weight room.
At Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State, the plan is to test every student-athlete for the coronavirus before they are allowed to begin summer workouts. Those tests will come most quickly at Mizzou, where the Tigers began testing on Thursday before voluntary football workouts begin on Monday, the first day allowed by the Southeastern Conference.
Teams in the Big 12 are allowed to begin running and lifting together one week later on June 15. That’s the day both KU and K-State plan to get back to business. The only known Big 12 team that plans to wait longer than that is Oklahoma, which won’t begin its football workouts until July 1 because of a preference from head coach Lincoln Riley.
The Tigers originally planned only to test athletes who showed coronavirus symptoms or were returning to Columbia from high-exposure areas such as New York or foreign countries, but they changed course this week and opted to cast a wider net.
At Kansas State, safety protocols have already begun. Whenever a football coach or other athletic department employee arrives for work at their on-campus offices, they have to check in at a centralized location and undergo screening that includes a temperature check and a questionnaire. Anyone showing symptoms is turned away. Those given the OK to enter are encouraged to wear a mask and follow social distancing.
The Wildcats will continue those procedures with their student-athletes, but they will also require them to undergo both a coronavirus test and an antibodies test before they are allowed to use team facilities. KU athletic director Jeff Long said the Jayhawks will also administer both tests, per a recommendation from Kansas Team Health.
“Their guidance has been to test everybody,” Long said earlier this week, “and that’s what we’re going to do.”
At K-State, testing will take place at the on-campus Lafene Health Center at $90 per test. Other schools are also planning to test at their on-campus medical centers with projected costs ranging between $60 and $100 per test.
Schools outside the Big 12 and SEC have also chosen to test all of their student-athletes upon their return to campus. That’s the plan at Missouri State and UMKC, as well as Division II William Jewell College. Schools are expected to cover the cost of coronavirus tests. Missouri State athletic director Kyle Moats has budgeted as much as $40,000 for the tests.
But at least one area school is taking a more relaxed approach to coronavirus testing. Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright says the Shockers won’t blanket test when athletes return to campus. Instead, they will be required to fill out detailed questionnaires and monitored daily to determine if they need testing or should be quarantined.
Wichita State athletes who remained in town were allowed to begin using university facilities for voluntarily workouts this week on a limited basis to comply with local safety guidelines.
Positive response
Football players will serve as the first wave of student-athletes that return to organized workouts, but they will be far from the last.
In the SEC, sports such as football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball can all start on June 8. Then it’ll be cross country, soccer and volleyball — all fall sports — starting June 15. The winter sports, gymnastics, wrestling, and swimming and diving start up June 22. Lastly, the spring sports in baseball, softball, track and field, golf, and tennis are expected to return July 6.
In the Big 12, volleyball, soccer and cross country can start on July 1, basketball on July 6 and all other sports on July 15.
Long said some athletes would report as soon as next week at KU. Much of the football team is already on campus at Missouri. And several K-State athletes opted to either remain in Manhattan after sports were canceled or have returned early on their own.
Any K-State athlete who lives in an off-campus apartment was allowed to remain in town if they chose to. On-campus accommodations have been made for any freshman who requires them.
To that end, the Wildcats are hoping to keep their football players during workouts by designating roommates as lifting partners in the weight room. Riley County currently allows gatherings of fewer than 50 people, so that will be the limit inside K-State’s weight room. Equipment has been spread out to accommodate social distancing and cleaning supplies will be placed at every workout area. Players will also be provided with lightweight, moisture-resistant masks as they exercise.
There is currently no plan in place for more complex football workouts that require a ball, as voluntary workouts will be limited to lifting and running in the short term. It is unknown when football practices will begin, but there is momentum building toward a six-week training camp before the start of the season.
As for what the workouts will look like at Missouri, football coach Eliah Drinkwitz said they’ll be abiding by local and Centers for Disease Control guidelines. He said the plan is for groups of 20 to be working out while staying six feet apart. They plan to check for temperatures or symptoms whenever players enter the facilities.
“Obviously this is an unknown and there’s going to be different things that come up,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve tried to plan for every contingency. Whatever happens, we will work through it. The best thing we got going is we got MU Health 800 yards away.”
K-State men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber said he will monitor how the football workouts go and adjust his plans accordingly.
The Wildcats were supposed to spend part of their summer in Europe playing a string of exhibition games against foreign competition, but that trip was postponed a year. Some of his players are already in town. Many will return closer to July 6. Some, such as Kaosi Ezeagu (Canada) and Seryee Lewis and DaJuan Gordon (Chicago), will need to report early to quarantine for two weeks because they live in high-exposure areas.
Plans could change if there is an outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests on campus.
In the past week, both Iowa State and Oklahoma State have announced positive coronavirus tests within their athletic departments. Three Cowboys football players tested positive this week, reportedly delaying the arrival of incoming freshmen for summer workouts. At Iowa State, quarantine procedures have begun.
“This certainly is not a great surprise,” Iowa State AD Jaimie Pollard said in a statement. “We believe our plan to isolate infected individuals, continually communicate and educate our student-athletes and staff on proper hygiene, ongoing efforts to thoroughly sanitize our facilities, and implement other strategies as necessary, will allow us to ultimately be successful in mitigating the impact of the virus.”
When games were canceled last March, there was fear that a single positive COVID-19 test would shut down an entire team for at least two weeks, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as football looks to resume.
Thomason, who is in charge of safety protocol at K-State, said isolating infected individuals immediately (for between 10 and 14 days) and tracing those they have been in contact with after learning of a positive test should allow their teammates and coaches to get back to work as scheduled.
“The likelihood of having a major issue off a positive test isn’t great right now,” he said, “because we will have the testing information before they start working out together.”
Planning ahead
Schools that are waiting until July and August to bring students back to campus will watch the football powers and learn from their experiences.
William Jewell College will be testing all students, faculty and staff as they return to campus for the fall semester, director of athletics Tom Eisenhauer told The Star. Athletes will receive additional health screenings that will be conducted more frequently as well.
The Division II school plans to start in-person classes on Aug. 26. Students can begin moving in the weekend of Aug. 22, but football players will be allowed to move in starting Aug. 8 before practices start on Aug. 10. The rest of the fall sports athletes will be allowed to move in on Aug. 15 and start practicing Aug. 17. The move-in and practice dates for the athletes are the same as they were prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Eisenhauer said.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City is bringing back all of its nearly 300 athletes in three waves as part of its campus repopulation plan starting in July. All athletes will be tested as they arrive by the university’s sports medicine professionals and team doctors, who are affiliates of Truman Medical Center.
Kansas City, similar to Missouri State, sent out a questionnaire asking if its athletes had been in contact with anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or if they had experienced symptoms themselves. Once the athletes arrive, they will remain on campus for a “shelter in place” plan in order to limit the spread and potential exposure to the coronavirus.
Men’s basketball will be the first Roos team to arrive on campus in July. Athletic director Brandon Martin said coaches will wear masks and gloves during practices. One athlete will be allowed per court along with one coach. All equipment, including basketballs and ball racks, will be scrubbed after each workout.
While discussions are ongoing about how the fall seasons will actually look, Martin said collaboration between UMKC administration, the Summit League, the NCAA and the University of Missouri system will continue. As a part of the campus repopulation plan, UMKC plans to start in-person classes in August but will “make changes to steps, timelines and requirements in the plan as needed” according to CDC guidelines.
What about the fans?
As college sports return, the biggest unknown of all might not involve a single player or coach but instead the crowd of fans that usually watch them on the gridiron each fall.
Iowa State has announced tentative plans to limit fans its football stadium to 30,000, which is roughly 50% of capacity. But few other schools have said anything definitive on the topic.
Kansas is exploring several models for football games at Booth Memorial Stadium and basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse. Long has said those models range from about 33% capacity to a completely full arena. K-State is also evaluating several options, but will ultimately comply with state and county regulations for mass gatherings in September.
Missouri is currently working on how to allocate season tickets in the event of reduced capacity at Memorial Stadium.
Wichita State is hopeful to play basketball in front of at least 5,000 fans at Koch Arena next season.
“We plan and hope to, but we also will have to follow all of the state, county and city guidelines as well,” Boatright said. “I think during this time we have to plan like everything is still going to go on and then be ready to make adjustments after that.”
The thought of more than 10,000 fans packed into Koch Arena seems unlikely if coronavirus cases pick up, but could there be a scenario where WSU allows a limited number of fans into games?
“We have definitely had conversations, but we’re not at a point yet where we feel like we have to make a decision on those,” Boatright said. “I think departments everywhere in the country are having these same conversations. We’re meeting regularly with our staff on Zoom and those conversations are ongoing. I feel like the uncertainty is getting a little clearer. It feels like there’s a little more positive synergy, but we’re just not at a point where we can make a call on that yet.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "As athletes return to campus amid pandemic, plans differ on how to keep them safe."