Spring football in North Carolina? What we know about the future of high school sports
On Monday, N.C. High School Athletic Association commissioner Que Tucker told the Observer that she felt it would be difficult to start the 2020-21 high school sports season on time next month.
In a statewide news conference Wednesday, Tucker reiterated that point, but doubled-down on her hope that there will be high school sports played this fall, even if they are not played on time.
“At this point, we’re thinking Aug. 17 is when schools will begin in some way, shape or form,” Tucker said. “If we have an understanding from the Department of Health and Human Services that we would be able to move forward with those higher-risk sports — one of those obviously is football; one of those is soccer — then we could safely move forward with thinking we’re going to be able to play some games.”
Tucker said almost all plans hinge on what Gov. Roy Cooper decides about opening schools. That could force the NCHSAA to move the start of practice from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15 or even Sept. 1.
It would also help determine if those contact sports could be played this fall at all.
“I try to not draw lines in the sand,” Tucker said. “Here’s my thought: If it’s Oct. 1 and we get the go-ahead that our schools could play some sports, it would be incumbent upon us as a staff to put together something for our schools that those fall sports teams could play, even if it’s for a month, a month and a half and there are no playoffs ... even if they end in a conference championship. We’ve got everything on the table.”
Here’s what we know about the future of NC high school sports
▪ Could the NCHSAA move football to spring?
Tucker said she’s not heard from football coaches lobbying for spring football. She noted that, if seasons were to move, a decision would need to be made about which sports to change and it would require a proposal from NCHSAA staff to the Board of Directors.
“What do we do,” Tucker said, “if we bring spring sports on board to try to play in the fall and we shut them down again? Clearly there would have to be enough notice for us to flip sports. ... and that’s a buy-in that I think our membership would have to want to do. It’s one thing for football coaches to want to do this. But what do our softball coaches say? What are our baseball coaches saying?... I understand football coaches (may be) lobbying but that’s not going to be what tips the scale for me.”
▪ Tucker said she’s aware that high school athletes are playing travel sports on the weekends like 7-on-7 football, basketball, baseball and track. The VTO football recruiting camp is scheduled for Sunday at the Matthews Sportsplex and organizer Vince Jacobs said he expects 150 student-athletes to attend.
“I can’t control what mommas and daddies allow their children to do on the weekends or in the summer as it relates to outside activities,” Tucker said. “Yes, it’s concerning, especially if we’re not practicing the three Ws (masks, social distancing, hand washing). I’m concerned that then these young people may show up for their daily monitoring for a workout at school (with COVID). Hopefully we can catch that and they would not be allowed at a workout where they might spread that virus. That’s not something I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix, because I can’t.”
▪ Tucker said schools have reported four cases of COVID-19 since member schools were allowed to begin summer workouts June 15. Tucker told the Observer on Monday that only about 20 percent of the NCHSAA’s more than 400 member schools are participating. Tucker said the four cases were traced and determined to not have originated on campus.
“What we’re finding,” Tucker said, “is that, yes, there have been a few (cases) but they were not spread by virtue of being in the workout sessions, so that’s a good thing.”
▪ Tucker said the association, which is a non-profit 501c3 small business, received a PPP loan from the Federal Government. The Observer first broke this story Monday.
Tucker said the loan was close to $150,000 and said she anticipated it would be forgiven since it was used to pay salaries during the pandemic.
In March, the NCHSAA canceled spring sports and its 2020 basketball state championships due to the pandemic.
Tucker said the loss of revenue from spring sports could’ve led to layoffs without the PPP loan.
“We did that to help secure staff salaries so that we would not have to layoff anybody,” Tucker said “At the same time, it allowed us the opportunity to provide the same level of service that we wanted to be able to provide to our member schools.”
▪ Tucker said she’s heard talk about some parents hoping to receive an extra year of eligibility for their kids due to COVID-19. Current age requirements (players cannot turn 19 before Aug. 31 of their senior seasons) and semester eligibility rules would have to be worked around.
“Today,” Tucker said, “I don’t see that as a possibility because our rules say you have eight consecutive semesters of opportunity to participate in sports. Our board talked about that briefly during its April meeting. Of course, the situation was different than it is today. I do not know where our board would be on that. I’m not sure it would be something that would take hold.”
Tucker said other state commissioners have talked about reclassification but said there’s not of traction to allow student-athletes to reclassify.
“It would be something our board would have to address,” Tucker said, “and we’d have to throw that out to the membership to see what their feeling is to see if that’s something that would take hold and become a burning desire and a burning question.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 4:54 PM.
