‘Whatever they tell us.’ Coaches’ influence wanes amid pandemic, NCAA rules upheaval.
The altered reality created by the coronavirus pandemic and NCAA governance in flux results in many unknowns in college athletics. That came through on a teleconference Tuesday. Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield could not say when — or if — the 2020 season will begin. Also the likelihood of fans attending games has not been determined.
NCAA reform granting players the right to profit off their names, images and likenesses figures to roil recruiting, he said. So does the idea — tabled for now — of players being able to transfer one time without having to sit out a season.
With so many changes and rumors of changes in the air, something Satterfield said stood in jarring contrast. He was talking about prospects forced to make “virtual” recruiting visits during the six weeks or so of self-quarantining and social distancing. These paint-by-number “visits” limit human interaction.
“Sometimes you run out of things to talk about … ,” Satterfield said. “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ because there really hasn’t been a whole lot of change during the whole period of time.”
Otherwise, the U of L coach described college sports as one continuous improvisation rather than the Bill Murray movie about reliving the same day again and again.
When asked about there being a 2020 football season, Satterfield said, “We feel like we’re coming back and playing. The whole gist of this is we don’t know when.”
Whenever the season begins, Satterfield said he would like teams to have six weeks to prepare. But coaches, who want to personify authority, have little influence in the decision making.
“We’re kind of at the mercy of what everybody’s telling us,” the U of L coach said of leaders in government and schools. “And whatever they tell us, we want to have a plan for that.”
As for fans attending games, Satterfield said he believed the more the merrier.
“It’s hard to envision football without these people in the stands,” he said. “I think if you did a poll and asked people would you rather have football with nobody or no football at all, I think they’d rather have football.”
As for recruiting, Satterfield suggested that “virtual” campus visits can make arrival for the fall semester more jarring. More recruits might decommit upon getting a fuller sense of what they’re getting themselves into.
“I think we’ll see a little bit more of that this year once they’re able to go out and visit,” he said. “It still comes down to relationships. … We’re going to recruit those guys and build that relationship to where they don’t want to leave.”
Satterfield called the personal connection with recruits a strength of his coaches and support staff.
“It’s kind of hard to get that through a computer screen,” he said.
When asked to assess where Louisville stands in recruiting going into the 2020 season, Satterfield prefaced his answer with a reference to how the pandemic has alerted the pace of the process.
“We’ve had a lot of time to think,” he said. “You feel like we’re way behind. But in reality, we’re not. … We’re ahead of the game right now.”
Looking to the future, the key words seemed to be “right now.” The U of L coach said the NCAA’s consideration of allowing players more freedom to transfer could make any assessment of recruiting preliminary.
“If you’re able to transfer and be eligible immediately, don’t you think tampering is going to get involved with that?” he said. “... We know that’s going to happen. We don’t want that to happen. And there’s hardly any way to monitor that.”
As for players profiting off name, image and likeness, Satterfield said he could see future recruiting pitches involving coaches negotiating with agents.
“It’s whoever is going to be most willing to provide that kind of — I’m going to call it — ‘momentary money,’” he said.
Satterfield lamented this change.
“I’m more of a purist when it comes to collegiate sports,” he said. “I like the part of amateurism. When we open that can of worms, the amateurism part of it is really gone away.
“I’m all for giving as much as we can give our student-athletes. But if it’s going to come down to now we’re having to put packages together as far as how much money these guys can make, we’re not even talking of the education piece. And that’s what we’re in the business for. You know, they’re called student-athletes.”
The coronavirus shutdown robbed all students due to graduate this spring the customary pomp and circumstance. Satterfield said his program plans to improvise.
“We’ll have a big party for those guys when we get back,” he said, “and really anoint them.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
