SALT LAKE CITY — California’s Justin Wilcox acknowledged that the Pac-12 has talked about various scenarios when it comes to the college football season and the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been in these meetings where we’ve modeled, geez, I don’t know if we can count them — hours and hours and hours and hours of modeling different seasons and what they would look like based on when the start time would be,” Wilcox said in Thursday’s Pac-12 football coaches webinar.
“We are always in action in gaining information and there’s going to be a time that we’re going to be able to come back and get together.” — California football coach Justin Wilcox
While expressing hope that everyone in college football works in concert to make things as normal as can be, Wilcox noted the need to still get more information on the matter.
“We are always in action in gaining information and there’s going to be a time that we’re going to be able to come back and get together,” he said, adding that they’re fully intent on playing this season.
Wilcox praised Cal Chancellor Carol Christ and Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton for their work on modeling different structures in a situation that seems to change almost on a daily basis.
Oregon’s Mario Cristobal and Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin also participated in the Zoom conference with the media. As was the case with the previous three sessions, the ongoing shutdown and its impact was a central topic.
“The team that handles this kind of stuff the best is probably going to have the best chance to have a successful season,” said Cristobal, who added a determination to deal with whatever happens and to make no excuses.
Constant change has become as commonplace as speculation. Sumlin, however, does see a bottom line.
“For us, there’s a lot of questions. I think the big thing has been communication with players and their families — just about where we are in being honest,” he said. “Sometimes being honest about ‘you don’t know’ is OK, just to settle some people down.”
While the state of Arizona has made some decisions on opening things up, Sumlin cited the importance of a preparedness level on and off campus.
“Our first and foremost concern is what are we going to do for the safety of our student-athletes,” he said.
The complete webinars can be seen at pac-12.com.