Buffs head coach Tad Boyle looks on with anger and frustration as the seconds tick by during the second half of play. March 11, 2020 (Casey Paul / CU Independent)
University of Colorado Buffaloes head coaches and Athletic Director Rick George share a similar disappointment with the Pac-12�s recent verdict�suspending athletic competition through 2020.�
Colorado football, whose revenue exceeded $43 million in 2019, will be absent this fall along with women�s soccer and volleyball and men�s and women�s cross country. CU�s winter sports of men�s and women�s basketball and fall/spring sports of women�s tennis and men�s and women�s golf have also been postponed until 2021.�
�I�m incredibly disappointed for our student-athletes who won�t be able to participate this fall,� George said. �…The first priority is that we look at the health and safety of the student-athlete. It was a difficult decision, but it was the right decision.�
Colorado football will now have to wait a little longer to begin the Karl Dorrell era. Dorrell, who was hired in February to be CU�s 3rd head coach in as many seasons, didn’t hold a single spring practice due to COVID-19 and was set to begin preseason camp on August 17.�
�There was a level of disappointment when I spoke with the team yesterday afternoon,� Dorrell said. �I would say it affected not only the team, but it affects our coaches… I’ve been coaching every fall for 33 years straight and this will be a fall of no competition.�
Dorrell may still still remain busy this fall as George hinted at the possibility of �spring ball in the fall.� The proposal may become more feasible as CU athletes have had zero positive COVID-19 tests in the past three weeks. Dorrell said he was �very proud� of his team�s ability to follow coronavirus safety measures.�
Although Dorrell was a proponent of play this fall, he understood why the eventual postponement was made.�
�I think it’s a good decision just because I know what the issues are and really when it’s all said and done, you want to do what’s best for student athletes,� Dorrell said. �You really want to do what’s best for them health-wise, (including) long-term health. I think those are those are the things that were really important to me as we went through this.�
CU men�s basketball coach Tad Boyle was a bit more blunt with his thoughts on the Pac-12�s resolution. His t-shirt worthy reaction �shock and disbelief� trailed little admiration towards the conference. Much to Boyle�s dismay, Pac-12 basketball coaches were given no input on the decision.�
Boyle added that he believed each sport should have been looked at individually and with basketball being mostly a winter sport, he said the decision was premature.�
�If we’re truly, truly committed to our student athletes, I think we have to look at each sport, any season, a little differently,� Boyle said. �The (NCAA) rulebook makes different rules for different sports and different calendars for different sports. I don’t know why basketball was put into this.�
JR Payne leads the CU women�s basketball team and she “echoed” Boyle�s thoughts.�
�We didn�t really have until maybe the day before, we heard some rumors and chatter about it, but we hadn�t heard anything from the Pac-12 that this might include us,� Payne said. �We had been plugging along best we can as if things were pretty normal for basketball, as normal as it can be in these current times. I was surprised and we have to create a new plan.��
CU volleyball head coach Jesse Mahoney said that although volleyball sees reduced physical contact compared to other sports, the danger of traveling for games was another hurdle. Likewise,�Mahoney said a potential full spring season would be �more meaningful� to his players than an abbreviated fall campaign.
The next step for most CU sports is creating a blueprint for the fall. For women�s soccer, head coach Danny Sanchez said he is awaiting guidance from the Pac-12 on what practice can look like.�
�Obviously we can’t play in competitions which is disappointing, but we could still get a lot of work done until that Thanksgiving time,� Sanchez said. �I think we’re still waiting for a little bit of guidance from that end but I think they�re (players) are just ready to go.�
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Jack Carlough at�jack.carlough@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @Jack_Carlough.
