Louisville football coach laments sport’s lack of leadership amid COVID-19 pandemic
The will-they-or-won’t-they uncertainty enveloping the playing of a college football season in 2020 reached an emotional level at Louisville on Monday.
“We had players this morning crying in our meeting,” Coach Scott Satterfield said on a teleconference. “They’re crying because they want to play.”
Satterfield suggested his players shed tears of frustration. Optimism about playing shares a car with pessimism on this roller coaster of a preseason set in motion by the coronavirus pandemic. This came to a head after what the coach called “a great practice” on Saturday. Then U of L and the rest of the college athletics world learned that the MId-American Conference had announced its teams would not play football this year.
“All of a sudden now, it’s a Debbie Downer,” Satterfield said of the MAC’s decision.
Louisville’s coach sounded frustrated, if not annoyed by the ups and downs. It probably did not help his mood that reports circulated Monday that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will not play football in 2020. Connecticut, which is an independent, has already canceled its season.
“Some of the leadership in some of these leagues and conferences, to me, is lacking . . . ,” Satterfield said. “When we set a plan that we’re moving forward with, then let’s stick to it till we don’t need to stick to it anymore. So, that’s the frustrating part.
“And we’re playing with these 18- to 22-year-olds’ minds by (how) some of these leagues are doing this thing, this yo-yo. That’s not leadership.”
Satterfield lamented how college football has had months to develop a plan for how to proceed. Yet, the sport seems to continue to grope in the dark as the start of a season approaches.
“It’s a lack of leadership,” he said. “Plenty of time to put a plan together. When you put your plan together, you work your plan. You plan your work and work your plan.”
Louisville has done that by following protocols on medical testing, social distancing and other by-now familiar precautions advised for limiting the chances of a COVID-19 outbreak, Satterfield said.
“The easiest thing to do is shut this thing down,” he added.
Louisville’s league, the Atlantic Coast Conference, plans to play football, Satterfield said. He added that he had been told that as recently as Monday morning. U of L is scheduled to play West Virginia in its opening game on Sept. 12.
But Satterfield acknowledged that the ACC’s plan could change.
“What we understand is the ACC is moving forward,” he said. “We’re relying on our medical group. . . . What they’re projecting to us is that we’re moving forward with everything. So, that’s where we are today.
“We know how things change, and how fluid it is. We’d love to get something definitive just for the mental sake. But that’s where we are.”
Satterfield said the continuing uncertainty creates “anguish” for players who are following safety protocols in hopes of playing a football season.
“They have purpose in their lives right now . . . ,” the U of L coach said. “They’re practicing. They’re meeting. They’re running. They’re lifting. It gives them purpose.”
And if there’s no college football season?
“What’s going to be their purpose at that point?” Satterfield said. “These guys have been playing football most of their lives. And we’re in the fall. In the fall, we play football. That’s what we do. What are our guys going to do at that point?”
Satterfield said he had not thought about an idea floated to play the season next spring. Of course, that would mean the 2021 season would follow a few months later.
“I really don’t want to go down that road unless we have to go down that road,” he said.
But sticking to such a plan would bring a measure of certainty.
“To keep pushing it down the road, to me, that’s just not the way we need to be going,” Satterfield said.
