After a bit of unsettling developments over the past couple of days, Notre Dame sideline boss Brian Kelly is here to offer some hope. Such as it is.
Earlier Wednesday, Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly made an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. Suffice to say, Kelly was asked about whether the upcoming college football season will be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The coach’s response? He’s optimistic a 2020 campaign will take place. Just how it’s structured, though, remains to be seen.
“Well, I think we’re gonna play,” Kelly stated. “I don’t have definitive, 100%, but, obviously, things are trending that way, we’re moving in that direction, we want to play in the fall. Look, at the end of the day, those decisions are going to be made by our president and board of trustees, not the football coach at Notre Dame. So let’s get that straight.
“But, we’re moving in that direction. We’re preparing for those eventualities. I think from that perspective I can say that we are prepared and we know that there’s going to be challenges. There’s probably going to be some setbacks as well. As long as we’re all aware of what those are and how to deal with them, I think we’re ready to play football in the fall.
Notre Dame is scheduled to open the 2020 college football season Aug. 29 against Navy. In Ireland. Back in January, Kelly confirmed that talks were already underway regarding the possibility of the game being moved from Dublin to the United States. Tat’s seemingly a matter of when it’s officially announced, not if.
Regardless of when the season actually kicks off, it will look much different inside stadiums across the country. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, no fan of fan-less games, acknowledged that the Fighting Irish’s football home won’t be at capacity for the foreseeable future.
We haven’t gotten to the question of how big that audience is. We won’t be at capacity; we’ll be at something less than that. We’ll be very careful about maintaining social distance, how the facility works, how you enter it, how you exit it - all things to be determined, but we’re working hard on them. ...
“My view throughout has been if we think it’s safe for students to be on the field playing football, it should be safe for the students to be in the stands watching football. So we’ll build off that base of the other students. Faculty and staff will be a priority for us, to give them an opportunity, and then our fans.”
Swarbrick has also previously stated it’s possible Notre Dame football players will return to campus before the rest of the students. Provided in-person teaching is approved, of course.