Cincinnati Bearcats football coach Luke Fickell believes players getting coronavirus is borderline unavoidable.
The Bearcats are gearing up for the 2020 football season as the AAC is pushing forward with playing during the coronavirus pandemic. With players being on campus with students, the man running the Bearcats is aware that it’s likely some players get sick. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Fickell said the following about players potentially getting coronavirus, according Cincinnati.com:
The biggest thing I can try to tell them is it’s going to happen. We understand that we’re going to have issues. We’re going to have cases. It doesn’t mean that guys are bad people because they get COVID. I could be the first one to get it. I’m going to have six kids that are in school and playing sports and they’re going to live in my home. The key is that we do the things that we’re supposed to do – whether it’s testing, whether it’s wearing our mask, whether it’s distancing – so that we don’t spread it.
What an incredibly reasonable and rational stance to have! Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone was this rational when talking about football during the coronavirus pandemic.
The reality of the situation is that having your entire squad stay free of coronavirus for the next four months is going to be very hard.
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Some players are going to get coronavirus. That’s just the reality of playing a sport during a coronavirus. A player getting sick doesn’t mean we shut everything down.
If a player tests positive, then you isolate them, let them heal and they can return once they kick the virus. Now, we do need to stress to players the importance of avoiding large gatherings, but a player getting sick isn’t a reason to panic.
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I appreciate the fact Fickell is able to look at the situation with a calm and collected mind. I wish members of sports media would do the same.