I coached football for a quarter-century, but I never encountered such a difficult situation as the coaches and players who are doing so now. PIAA says it is “moving forward,” but who knows with a sport like football?

Will Laurel Highlands football be as exciting as in previous years?

Photo: The Altoona Mirror

… "our philosophy is to get whatever we can and as much as we can in 

for every student-athlete in the state so they can participate"

While I have not coached football for decades, I still remember those years fondly. Some great seasons, six championships, five undefeated, and woefully, two winless seasons. 

Still, even with the few bad seasons, I loved it. Working with young people to teach them a work ethic and sportsmanship and teamwork — could not be anything better. 

I then spent 25 in journalism with a good part including sports, so that is a good half-century. 

Now, however, coaches have a greater concern as they attempt to prepare for their seasons. The fear among players and coaches, “Will we have a season at all?”

The only time when I ran into that was once when we had a threat of a teacher’s strike and the union was insisting that even if we picketed during the day, and even though they had negotiated no raises for us, we had to quit coaching. That was a bad experience. 

However, even then, things were not too bad. The guys could hold the weight training, and we went through plays and pass routes and other timing drills through the summer, and because of that, we were ready for the fall. 

Pennsylvania says it is “moving forward” with fall sports

According to reports from the PIAA last week in a virtual news conference, the schools in Pennsylvania want to do everything they can to ensure that the athletes have the opportunity to participate in the fall 2020 season,

“With the climate we have now, we don’t feel we have to [make a change], but if other information comes forward, we will look at it,” PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi said in a virtual press conference after the PIAA board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. “There are a lot of things we’re willing to do, but you heard loud and clear from our board that our philosophy is to get whatever we can and as much as we can in for every student-athlete in the state so they can participate.

“We want kids to be kids and get the experience of playing athletics,” Lombardi added. “We’re going to do whatever we can while working through the framework provided from the governor’s office, the department of health and department of education to do that.”

Keith Groller, “PIAA: Fall sports still slated to start on 

time,” The Morning Call, July 15, 2020

Board is emphatic about competing

While the PIAA understands the dangers of the coronavirus, and since major parts of the state have not had major outbreaks, though some upticks have occurred, the administrators who are on the PIAA Board of Control emphasized that they wanted to take the chances that the virus will not return,

Lombardi made it clear that the PIAA wants sports to be played this fall despite challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. So at this time, the biggest threat to that happening would be a shutdown order from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, he said.

“You heard loud and clear from the board, we want to grab as much as we can,” Lombardi said. “We want to get kids moving. We want kids to be kids. We want them to do what they want to do. It’s important for us to be advocates for them.

“We would hope that the governor’s office, the Department of Health and the Department of Ed would look very close at the whole school environment so that we don’t shut down without giving everybody full consideration.”

Chris Harlan, “PIAA moving forward with fall sports as 

scheduled,” Tribune-Review, July 15, 2020

Lombardi denigrates PSAC, probably by accident

In the process, Lombardi talked about the fall sports that include cross country, soccer, and golf for both boys and girls, and tennis, field hockey, and volleyball for girls. 

However, the dangerous sport in the era of Covid, and the one that many fans look forward to, is football. And while colleges are struggling right now to keep football alive, Lombardi is fully cognizant of the challenge of that sport for high schools, 

“As everybody knows, the elephant in the room is football and we all understand that,” Lombardi said. “We’re going to give our darned-best efforts to get something in.”

Chris Harlan, Tribune-Review, July 15, 2020

Two college conferences, the Ivy League and the Patriot League, have announced that they would play their fall sports in the spring, if possible. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference [PSAC], which fields sports for 18 colleges and universities on the Div. II level, has also done the same, but Lombardi does not want to follow them or other states, either,

“We’re not following Maryland and we certainly are not following New Jersey,” Lombardi said. “I say that a little tongue-in-cheek, but those state associations are doing what their membership wants. That’s what they want. Our folks don’t want that. Our folks have told our board members they want as much as you possibly can give us. 

We don’t want to be the PSAC, the big five, or the ACC, the NAIA, or the [junior colleges], or Maryland, Virginia, New Mexico. We want to do what’s best for our kids in Pennsylvania with the best current information we have.”

Keith Groller, The Morning Call, July 15, 2020

That was somewhat of a slap at the PSAC, though he probably did not intend it that way,

Lombardi said the PIAA took note of colleges altering their fall sports plans, including an announcement earlier Wednesday by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. However, those moves shouldn’t influence PIAA decisions, Lombardi said, noting that college athletics face concerns high schools do not.

“We are different than college athletics,” Lombardi said.

Chris Harlan, Tribune-Review, July 15, 2020

Conclusion

I do not envy the high school coaches today. This is a logistical and emotional nightmare. I have some grand-nephews who are looking forward to their football seasons here in Minnesota, and some grand-nephews and a grand-niece looking forward to cross country in Wisconsin. 

I would love to see them have an opportunity to compete, but one possibility for the football competition that I will deal with later is having games without fans, like Major League Baseball is having starting this week. 

That would be a bummer if necessary, but if it means having a chance to play or not having a chance to play, the athletes would no doubt choose the latter. 

However, for parents and administrators and insurance companies, the logistics of having a massive Covid-19 outbreak is a nightmare. Most young kids do not contract the virus as readily as older people do, but the fear is that if they do, they can carry it to parents, siblings, grandparents, and others who may be more susceptible to it than they are. 

In short, I feel their pain, but wish that I did not.