Boise State football team searching for answers after the fall season was called off
In a normal year at most college football programs, the offseason runs like clockwork. Workouts, team meetings and practice dictate the schedule, and the season opener is the finish line.
The problem for college athletics is that this is no normal year, thanks to COVID-19.
On Monday, the Mountain West became the second FBS conference to postpone all fall sports, following the Mid-American Conference’s lead. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 became the first Power 5 conferences to do the same on Tuesday.
Boise State football coach Bryan Harsin said Tuesday that it’s a tough pill to swallow, but he understands why the decision had to be made.
“A lot of it comes down at the end of the day to the physical and mental health and well-being of our student-athletes and everyone associated with the athletic program,” Harsin said during a conference call with reporters.
The Mountain West pulled the plug on the season just five days after announcing it would play an eight-game league schedule and give teams the option of scheduling two nonconference games.
Harsin said he got the news at around 3:30 p.m. on Monday and immediately met with his staff before sharing it with the team via a Zoom call.
“It’s not what we wanted to hear,” he said. “Not one guy on this staff or team wanted to hear that, but when you get information like this, you share it, be open and honest with it, and let everybody process it their own way.”
Players have been reacting on Twitter since the news broke, including sophomore running back George Holani, who tweeted: “I’m down to do whatever it takes to play. Been working too hard to let this season end.”
Harsin said Tuesday that he did believe it was possible to safely hold a fall season, but he added that a lot of questions had to be answered first.
“We do want to play. We just want to do it safely,” Harsin said. “We also know if we get started, we don’t want to stop.”
Chief among Harsin’s concerns over the approaching season were restrictions on large gatherings, which he said made properly preparing for football nearly impossible.
“You can’t keep everybody in groups. You can’t spread it out throughout the day,” he said. “You have to have your whole entire team out there. You’ve got to tackle, hit and block, and those things.”
Harsin said the plan was to begin fall camp on Aug. 21 in an effort to get 29 practices in before a season opener in late September — presumably a road to trip Marshall on Sept. 25.
Now like many programs around the country, the Broncos are left waiting for answers.
What now for Boise State?
After holding only a couple of spring practices before everything was shut down by the coronavirus in March, Harsin said the Broncos were on the field for a few team walk-throughs in July.
Outside of a two-week stretch when a COVID-19 outbreak shut the campus down, players have been working out since the voluntary period began in early June.
Harsin said the first thing he was going to do was give the players some time off, similar to the three weeks they usually get in May after spring ball ends.
“They need that time,” he said. “The body has to recover. Mentally, you have to recover from the work you’ve been doing.”
With classes slated to start Aug. 24, most players won’t get much of a vacation, though, which is just fine by their coach.
“If they’re going to work out and train, we want them to do it at Boise State,” Harsin said. “We have our protocols. ... I think our guys have taken this very seriously, as far as getting themselves ready to go each and every day.”
More decisions about restrictions on workouts and the possibility of a spring season are expected in the coming weeks. But Harsin said the Broncos won’t follow Nebraska’s lead and attempt to play despite the conference calling off the season.
“This is a Mountain West decision and we’re part of the Mountain West,” Harsin said.
Is a spring football season feasible?
A spring season seems like a possibility, and on Monday, the Mountain West left the door open for one, saying it was exploring rescheduling options. The league gave no specifics.
On Tuesday, Harsin seemed to think it was doable, but he said it won’t come without complications.
Assuming the season ran from February to May, there would be scheduling conflicts with men’s and women’s basketball, which would be playing at the same time, unless those seasons are also postponed. Boise State would also need to hold camp in January while classes are in session, which isn’t an issue in early August.
Additionally, the 2021 fall season might have to be adjusted.
In an effort to ensure that players have adequate time off, Harsin said he could see the start of the 2021 season getting pushed to September.
“The uncertainty is what is causing a lot of the issues,” he said. “There’s got to be time for recovery and for these guys to get themselves ready for another season.”
The shuttering of the fall season means that when the Broncos finally take the field again, it will have been more than a year since they last saw live action. Boise State’s last game was a 38-7 loss to Washington on Dec. 21, 2019, in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“Regardless if we’re playing right away, the culture of the football team, the chemistry of the football team, that still matters, and it’s important that continues to be developed,” Harsin said. “But the competition piece also has to be a big factor.”
Financial impact
Like athletic departments all over the country, Boise State is holding out hope for a spring season in an effort to stave off what could be crippling revenue losses.
“Like any other store or any other business, there’s going to be financial ramifications when things aren’t working the way they normally do,” Harsin said. “That’s just the reality.”
Without football to bolster the budget, Boise State stands to lose at least $20 million, even after getting out of financial obligations to nonconference opponents Florida State, Marshall, Georgia Southern and BYU.
During the 2019 fiscal year, the football team generated almost half of the department’s revenue. According to documents obtained through a public records request, the football Broncos brought in $24.7 million of the department’s $50.6 million.
Boise State has already taken steps to mitigate the financial toll. In April, the school announced that all employees making at least $40,000 a year — including coaches — were required to take furloughs. In July, the university disbanded its baseball and swim and dive programs, which athletic director Curt Apsey said would trim about $2.2 million off the budget.
If there’s no football, more cuts could be on the way.
“We have to be able to adjust, and we’re going to have to get creative and maybe find other ways to help in that area,” Harsin said.
Despite the ramifications, Harsin said the decision to postpone the fall season was made with something more important than money in mind.
“We all understand there’s a financial component to this, but at the end of the day, it still comes down to this amateur model we have for college athletics,” Harsin said. “This is about the experience. This is about the players.”
What about the seniors?
Harsin said players were disappointed Monday when he shared the news, but they mostly took it in stride. Telling the seniors their careers might be over was a different story.
He reached out to many of them just to check in Monday morning before the news of the season’s cancellation broke. He checked in again Tuesday and could tell they were still processing what was going to come of their final college season.
“When you’re a senior, you want that year to be perfect,” Harsin said. “I don’t want any one of these seniors to leave here without the opportunity to finish what they started. Their jobs aren’t done here.”
After canceling the spring sports season in March because of COVID-19, the NCAA granted schools the ability to offer those seniors an additional year of eligibility. Harsin said he wasn’t aware of any official conversations about that happening for fall athletes yet, but he thinks the NCAA will do the right thing.
“I think college athletics will take care of the players,” he said. “I don’t know how. For every program, it may be a little bit different. But at the end of the day, I think the opportunity to finish what you started is important.”
Boise State has 18 true and redshirt seniors and two graduate students on the roster.
