MIAA decision on fall sports looming
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – The MIAA’s athletic directors met on Thursday to discuss possibilities for a fall sports season after the NCAA canceled championship events for Division 2.
Emporia State Athletic Director Kent Weiser said, “No, no I do not” when asked if he thought the MIAA would push forward with the fall sports season.
“Every single one of us are praying to God that the vaccine is going to be available right after Christmas or turn of the new year and so everyone will be back to normal and then everybody will turn the page,” added Washburn volleyball coach Chris Herron.
The NCAA canceling championship events was a crushing blow for Washburn and Emporia State.
“Disappointed but at the same time I saw it coming,” said Herron. “There’s just so many conferences that have voted to push their sports back.”
“You could understand that was kind of coming down the pipe maybe, but you’re still holding out hope,” added Washburn football coach Craig Schurig.
The MIAA’s Athletic Directors met Thursday after the NCAA canceled fall championships to discuss what it means for fall sports and there are still more questions than answers.
“There was not a plan that came out of that meeting. I think there was a lot more frustration expressed about things that are happening,” said Washburn Athletic Director Loren Ferré.
“We’re all confused and we’ve lived confused because the NCAA didn’t tell us what the plan was going to be so then our commissioners from our conferences were confused because they didn’t know what to tell us, so then our ADs are confused because they don’t know what the commissioners are going to tell them,” said Herron.
Many Division 2 schools would have trouble meeting the NCAA’s new coronavirus mitigation testing protocols because of the financial commitment they require.
“That’s going to be the challenge for us and for everyone,” said Weiser.
Weiser says it’s also an ethical dilemma for schools.
“The nasal testing supplies are not still readily available and so a lot of places don’t want you testing asymptomatic people,” Weiser told KSNT Sports.
The hardest thing right now is everyone is playing the waiting game.
“That’s probably the most frustrating part is trying to figure out what we’re going to do this fall and moving forward with our student-athletes. Every time you make a plan you have to change it,” said Ferré.