In Gene Smith’s mind, there was no question about the decision that had to be made.
With the novel coronavirus beginning to spread throughout the United States, Ohio State’s athletic director felt the only responsible decision to make was the one that the NCAA made on Thursday, which was to cancel all championship events for the remainder of the academic year, including the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The Big Ten soon followed suit by announcing that all winter and spring sports competitions for conference school would be canceled for the remainder of the academic year, bringing an abrupt end to many teams’ seasons.
“I was ready Monday, and the reality is I’ve just seen so much, and understood that if you look at any pandemic, any situation like this in our past, if you look at what happened in China and other countries, we needed to put in measures to litigate the growth of the virus,” Smith said Friday on a teleconference with Ohio State reporters. “And if we continued behaviors, these people and the groupings that we were putting them in, it would only continue to provide the virus an opportunity to spread. And so, it’s just common sense to me that we needed to do something sooner rather than later.”
It still wasn’t easy for Smith to accept the reality that those decisions had to be made, though, because he knew how painful those decisions would be for the student-athletes, especially the seniors who might never have another opportunity to participate in college sports again.
“That was hard. That’s the knot. That’s the gut. That’s the thing that’s the hardest part of all this. And that’s where you get yourself trapped constantly in that process with making that decision,” said Smith, who was in communication with NCAA leaders, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and other Big Ten athletic directors as those decisions were made. “Even into Wednesday and Thursday into the conversations, you still go back to that. Because you have the faces. I have (senior men’s basketball player) Andre Wesson’s face. I know what he’s gone through. I have (senior men’s tennis player) Kyle Seelig’s face in tennis. I have all that. So you’re going through the process, having these conversations, and those faces pop up constantly. But you got to think about what’s right in our society, what’s right for the people that we serve. And we got to think beyond that.”
The Big Ten put even more restrictions in place on Friday, when it announced that all organized team activities would be suspended through at least April 6. Ohio State took those restrictions a step further on Friday, announcing that all athletic facilities will be closed through April 6 and that student-athletes, who are expected to clear out their lockers by 5 p.m. Monday, have been encouraged to stay home until athletic activities resume.
Smith, who personally thought organized team activities should be suspended for the remainder of the spring but said he supports the decision to re-evaluate in a few weeks, said Ohio State was not required by the Big Ten to close its athletic facilities but felt that was the proper decision to discourage student-athletes from congregating at the facilities for voluntary group workouts, which could increase the spread of COVID-19 if any student-athlete contracts it.
“We felt that if we kept all of our facilities open, then naturally, activities would occur. And we felt like we needed to send a message that, like the institution wants us to, is go home. We’re emptying out the dorms. And you just draw a parallel there. The institution is asking students in the dorms … to leave the dorms,” Smith said. “So the reality is, we just felt we needed to make sure we didn’t encourage any voluntary group activities.”
“That was hard. That’s the knot. That’s the gut. That’s the thing that’s the hardest part of all this. And that’s where you get yourself trapped constantly in that process with making that decision.”– Gene Smith on student-athletes' seasons coming to an abrupt end
Smith said Friday that no members of Ohio State’s athletic department have been tested for COVID-19 or are suspected to have the coronavirus, but if any potential cases arise, those student-athletes or employees would receive care from the Wexner Medical Center, not specifically from athletics doctors or trainers. Smith said Ohio State has “disease-bombed” the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in an effort to kill any germs around the football team’s facility, and they’ll do the same with their other athletic facilities, as well.
Until the Big Ten allows organized team activities to begin again, though, Smith wants Ohio State student-athletes to remain away from those facilities. He recognizes that some of those athletes will likely get together elsewhere for workouts on their own, but said those workouts cannot be arranged by Ohio State coaches or staff.
Ohio State will still be continuing to provide other resources to student-athletes. Ohio State’s sports psychology and academic support offices will remain open, and Ohio State will continue to provide mental health services, academic advisory and tutoring to student-athletes as they transition to finishing their classes online for the rest of the semester. Most of those services will now be provided remotely, but student-athletes will still have the opportunity to come in for in-person sessions if they wish to do so.
Training rooms will not be open, but athletic trainers will work with student-athletes to coordinate rehabilitation and treatment options at alternative locations.
As for athletic department employees, Smith said they have encouraged some employees to consider taking vacation time now instead of in the summer, but that all full-time and daily staffers will continue to have to work to do and will be paid at their usual rates. He said Ohio State is still working through how to compensate part-time student employees and vendors who were scheduled to work athletic events this spring, but “that’s on our agenda.”
Smith also acknowledged Friday that the lack of sporting events at Ohio State this spring, including the spring game, will have a negative impact on the athletic department’s finances. He said the university hadn’t yet quantified that potential impact, though, because it wasn’t a part of the Big Ten’s decision process in choosing to cancel sporting events for the remainder of the year.
“We’ve recognized the cancellations of events, and keep in mind, most people tend to forget that we have significant rental income with our facilities, so we’ve had a lot of cancellation of events outside of athletic events that will have a financial impact,” Smith said. “But we haven’t quantified that. What we decided early on was consistent with the institution and the president’s cabinet. First and foremost, our values, and our values did not include that as an important item.”
While Ohio State can find ways to make up for lost revenue and to support its student-athletes even while they’re unable to compete, the one thing Smith and his staff cannot do is replace the experiences that the coronavirus outbreak has taken away from them. Smith said that was “disheartening and extremely painful,” even though he believes the decisions to cancel competitions were necessary.
The NCAA did announce on Friday, though, that it is working toward giving spring sports athletes additional eligibility while it is still considering whether to do the same for winter sports athletes. Smith said he is “definitely” in support of spring sport athletes receiving additional eligibility and that while he hasn’t yet looked into whether winter sport athletes should receive additional eligibility, he anticipates he’ll support that too “just off the top of my head.” He also said, though, that there are still many questions on that front that need to be answered.
“We need to do what’s right for the student-athlete,” Smith said. “So looking at financial aid, roster sizes, all those type of things, time of year. Your spring sports, it’s not a two-semester sport, it’s a one-semester sport. Some of them were a third into their season, halfway through their season. What does that mean? Financial impact on the institution of scholarship exceptions. Even your freshmen who’ve redshirted, what does that mean to them?
“We have not talked about that as a team. But I’m glad that the NCAA Coordination Committee, from the Division I Council, is taking this on to try and get ahead of it because student-athletes need to know, one way or the other, and then coaches need to be a part of that process so that they can ultimately plan relative to recruiting and roster management.”
