Mountain West wants teams vaccinated for COVID-19. Here’s what happens if they aren’t
The Mountain West is stopping short of requiring its member schools in all sports to vaccinate players and coaches against COVID-19, but the conference is going to make life difficult for those that don’t.
Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said Wednesday at media days that the conference’s health and safety advisory committee is recommending that all players and coaches get vaccinated. Those who don’t will have to go through many of the same protocols that were in place last season.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you will be tested on a weekly basis, you will have to go through contact tracing and it will probably be at an institutional expense,” Thompson told the Idaho Statesman. “There will be consequences.”
Last season, football players and coaches were tested as often as three times a week, and Thompson said the Mountain West spent a little more than $4 million last year on testing alone. The conference also imposed roster limits, requiring teams to have 53 players available and a minimum number of players at certain positions to play a game.
Boise State wasn’t able to play two of its scheduled games last season because of the virus. The Broncos’ home game against San Jose State was scrapped just hours before kickoff, and a road game at UNLV was canceled because of a spike in positive cases.
Thompson said the protocols the conference will put in place this year are still evolving, but there will not be roster limits this season and games that aren’t able to be played will not be made up and will be considered forfeits instead.
“You’re expected to be healthy and ready to play,” Thompson said. “It may not be all 85 scholarship players, but you only have 11 on the field at a time.”
Programs can likely avoid any of that by making sure everyone gets vaccinated, and Thompson said the Mountain West is trending in the right direction. About 90% of the players on seven of the conference’s 12 football teams have already been vaccinated, he said.
Utah State head coach Blake Anderson said more than 60% of his team has been vaccinated, and both New Mexico coach Danny Gonzalez and Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said their teams’ vaccination rates are closer to 80%. Bohl said he’s been motivating his players to get vaccinated “with a foot up their butt.”
Boise State football coach Andy Avalos wouldn’t comment on the Broncos’ vaccination rates Wednesday, saying only that the team has some work to do in that area.
“As much as we wish we were out of COVID, a lot of that is still going to be present in terms of protocols, so we can maximize our opportunities to play games,” Avalos said. “If we don’t choose to get vaccinated then we’re going to have to live with some protocols. If we’re not diligent, we will lose opportunities to compete.
Thompson said the toughest thing about last season was the unknown. The Mountain West initially postponed the 2020 football season before announcing it would play a shortened season that began in late October. He said the easiest way to ensure that doesn’t happen again is for everyone to get vaccinated.
“The kids were coming in every day, looking at their coach and asking if they’re going to have a season or not,” Thompson said. “Their patience and commitment was rewarded with a season, and that’s what’s most important. We played, and we want to make sure all of our member schools get to play again this year.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 1:13 PM.
