Brian Kelly Believes Notre Dame Can Play Safely in the Fall
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and presumptive 2020 captain Daelin Hayes appeared on NBC’s Today show on Wednesday morning to discuss why they think Notre Dame and the ACC can play safely in the fall even as Big 10 and Pac 12 announced they were postponing football at least until the spring with the possibility of canceling altogether.
We haven’t had a lot of time this week to weigh in on the ongoing debate right now with regards to football this fall and the potential risks, but it is interesting to see Kelly be such a vocal proponent of continuing forward right now. Kelly also would not be as present right now in this debate without the blessing of the Notre Dame admin.
As Michael wrote earlier this week, Hayes has really assumed a leadership role as a 5th year senior so it’s relevant that Notre Dame had him join this appearance as well.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
I think the writing is on the wall at this point. The ACC, SEC and Big 12 will postpone to the spring. It may take a few days but it will happen. They won’t take the chance and take the incredibly bad press that would result if someone had a bad bout of Covid-19 or worse, die.
It’s over for this year.
The only bad thing is this could effect the next season as well. If they end up playing in the spring they may end up having to delay next season as well, just because spring football would kill spring practices. But probably by 2022 they should hopefully be back to normal. It’ll be worse for the NHL and NBA. The upcoming season will have to be delayed since they are still playing and since I seriously doubt either league will reduce the number of games due to money issues next season that will push off the following season. We may see ice hockey and basketball in the summer for years to come.
There will be serious consequences for lower tier college athletic programs as well. This will be a crushing blow to Olympic style sports. If you have a kid that wants to play tennis for instance it’s going to be very hard to find a scholarship because I believe you’re going to see wholesale program cancellations across the NCAA.