MHSAA Moves Football to the Spring.

Written Friday August 14th at 5:00 PM
Updated Saturday August 15th at 1:30 PM

The MHSAA has made their decision.

The MHSAA Representative Council according to a press release announced that Football will be moved from Fall to Spring because of the sport's higher risk of spread of the coronavirus.

The league also decided to keep volleyball and boys soccer in the fall. They are expected to get additional guidance on Wednesday surrounding those two sports.

The decision affects 34,000 players along with their coaches and families.

Football was deemed a high risk sport because of their physical contact with other players. The decision was made based on consultation with state health officials and after surveying the schools progress it was made to move it to spring.

"No one is willing to take the risk of COVID being passed on because of a high risk sport. Decisions have to be made on our other sports as well but none of those carry the same close, consistent, and face to face contact as football" said MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl in a press release.

"At the end of the day, we did everything we could to find a path forward for football this fall but while continuing to connect with the Governor's office, state health department officials, our member schools personnel, and the council, there's just too much uncertainty and too many unknowns to play football this fall" Uyl concluded.

"As your coach preaches E+R O. Know that we all share in the disappointment that you have but we will look forward to the spring. We are so proud of how you have performed in the last six weeks. You have done all we have asked you to do. We will all try and see the big picture, do our part, support one another, and handle this together. The Dragons Football teams will have their day. Stay strong" said Lake Orion Athletic Director Chris Bell on Twitter to his football program.

"I respect the MHSAA for what they decided. It took a lot of guts. They had the kids best interest in their mind but also the grandparents that comes to games and coaches too. We almost lost a guy like Tony (Adams coach Tony Patritto) so if you look at the picture it's a good thing" said Clarkston coach Kurt Richardson to the Detroit News.

There could be several big names that might not play spring football in Garrett Dellinger (Clarkston), Rocco Splinder (Clarkston), Blake Kosin (Clarkston), and Donovan Edwards (West Bloomfield) as they are expected to graduate and enroll early.

The MHSAA announced on July 17th that the seasons would go on as normal but they did say that they could move volleyball, football, and boys soccer to the spring if things were deemed unsafe but they decided to go with sending football to the spring.

Volleyball and swimming and diving are indoor sports and most of Michigan is in Phase Four under Governor Gretchen Whitmer's Safe Start plan. A decision there is expected next week when those teams are allowed to be back indoors.

Uyl noted that with football moving to the spring, the league will work to limit the overlap between the traditional spring sports and football. Details for the spring football season will be announced in a couple of months. "While this is tremendously disappointing we will do everything possible to provide the best possible experience in the spring while adding football into the calendar" Uyl concluded.

Thoughts.

I'm having a hard time figuring out of this, knowing the pain especially the football players are going through to see their seasons moved to the spring. I know some of them might not play in the spring. I hope that the MHSAA and other athletic departments doesn't force people (students and coaches) to choose between their respective spring sport and football. It wouldn't be right.

I get there are people who could lay blame on Whitmer and medical experts but Whitmer gave Uyl the authority to decide the fate of fall sports however there were conversations between her office and Uyl. Some people could also blame the league that they should have made the decision sooner.

It will be interesting to see what happens and how things play out.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

MHSAA Press Release
https://www.mhsaa.com/News/Press-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9189/MHSAA-Announces-Football-to-Move-to-Spring-Season-for-2020-21