Miami Hurricanes will follow government and campus leadership to determine protocol
In an interview on the Paul Feinbaum Show May 1, Miami Hurricanes athletic director Blake James stated his athletic department will follow the lead of government officials and campus leadership to determine the environment for attending sporting events.
Miami Hurricanes athletic director Blake James and football head coach Manny Diaz have taken a cautious approach when asked what their expectations are for the season. In the unprecedented times of Covid-19 that is the right approach. James told the Paul Feinbaum Show they are following governmental and campus leadership.
James appeared on the Feinbaum Show last Friday to discuss the Miami Hurricanes athletic department viewpoint on the season and how they are coping amid Covid-19. James acknowledged some people will not be ready to attend sporting events for the foreseeable future.
James then discussed the power sports has in uniting communities during tough times. In the heart of the Hurricane zone, Miami fans know too well about adversity threatening football games. Sports become a secondary but key element to unite communities. The future is completely unknown currently.
The college football season is just under four months away. James discussed with Feinbaum the possibility of training camp being pushed up about a week from early August to late July to begin the season. Miami lost 11 spring practices and their spring game when collegiate athletics were shut down in March.
Many college football programs did not conduct any spring practices. The Miami football program was fortunate to hold four spring practices in early March before the shutdown. With new coaches at offensive coordinator, wide receivers and offensive line, the time lost would have been invaluable.
New offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee stated he was grateful for the time that they were able to work with the players in March and the team is adapting. Offensive line coach Garin Justice has to work with what was one of the worst offensive lines in college football in 2019. Justice is also adapting.
"“There’ll be some people that will not be comfortable going into a stadium for some time, but there will be people that want to get back out [and enjoy] college football, college sports, that camaraderie of the community around their team.We’ll follow the lead of government officials and our leadership on campus on doing what we have to do to create the right environment from a safety [standpoint]…If we don’t have fans in the stands that’ll be the way it’ll be.”"
James discussed with Feinbaum that the University of Miami because of their emergency response team for Hurricanes and the fact that University President Julio Frenk worked for the World Health Organization as an expert in pandemics was in the unique position of being semi-prepared for the current state of the sports world.
James late acknowledged that it wasn’t an experience that anyone had gone through but that the Miami Hurricanes athletic department was able to draw on the protocols that have been used during Hurricanes to get their students to safety. James has been in regular communication with other ACC athletic directors twice per week.
The ACC ADs have been looking at modeling on campus for budgetary impacts and how the fall sports season might look. Feinbaum asked about what the fiscal outlook appears to be and how Miami will prepare. James told Feinbaum he has turned in five different budgets with four different models for the season.
James and his staff have worked on models ranging from no football season at all to games without fans. James relied on the conservative approach by also stating that there could be a scenario that has not been thought of yet. James told Feinbaum that it is hard to know how attendance at games will occur.
James stated that ultimately the environment has to be one that is safe for football fans from a social distancing perspective. The Miami Hurricanes athletic department is working with their partners, Hard Rock Stadium and the Miami Dolphins on how games will commence. James mentioned the ACC’s six-week plan to train for 2020.