LSU AD: Spring sports are over, focus on student-athletes
Published 6:00 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2020
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Officially, the Southeastern Conference has halted all sports until the middle of April.
Realistically, said LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, this school year’s college sports calendar is over.
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The immediate focus, he said via a teleconference with reporters on Monday, is taking care of LSU’s student-athetes.
“The focus going forward,” he said, “is what we do for our fall sports … it is how do we get up and prepare and get up there for our fall sports.
“That is in flux and that is being discussed both at the NCAA and SEC level.”
He said that spring sports were “in our rearview mirror.”
There had been speculation that, even though the NCAA has already canceled championships in all remaining sports, that SEC baseball and softball among others might resume their seasons in some form.
“You can rest assured it will be canceled,” Woodward said of those sports, “and they (SEC office) have an announcement probably tomorrow (Tuesday).”
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Resuming spring football practice, which LSU had just started, is still up in the air, he said, but he all but eliminated any possibility of playing the spring football game.
The SEC ban on athletic activities, including practice, as of now extends to April 15, which Woodward said was a moving target.
“Use common sense,” Woodward said in regards to a spring football game. “We’re not going to be practicing until April 15 (at the earliest, if at all) and it (the game) is scheduled for April 18. Do you see us playing a game? The answer here again is no. You will see some formal clarifications coming from the conference office.”
LSU has encouraged all of its student-athletes to return to their homes if possible. But Woodward said approximately 120 remained on campus as of now, a number he expects to continue to dwindle.
“We’re taking counts and trying to see how we take care of them and obviously we will,” Woodward said. “It’s a moving number and I think it will continue to go down.
“Our essential needs for these student-athletes will be taken care of,” Woodward said, “whether that’s food, feeding them in the cafeteria or in the near future going brown bag, a to-go bag. We’ll have our training room open so they can get medical care. And for now, we’re going to have our academic center open, but I’m sure that is changing even as we’re talking.”
Meanwhile, coaches can still recruit new athletes for campus — but in a very limited fashion.
“The coaches are going to continue to recruit (by telephone) and electronically,” he said. “They’re not allowed to do on-campus or face-to-face off campus recruiting at this moment.”
Those new recruits for spring sports will likely see more upper classmen as the NCAA works toward granting an extra year of eligibility for those whose seasons or championships were wiped out.
“My advocacy is going to be for all of our student-athletes, freshmen through senior, that they get their year back,” he said. “But how we count them and what we do, that’s to be determined.”
Woodward said the financial impact on the athletic department is currently the least of its concern, but that fans will be taken care of.
“We’re focused entirely on the health of our community and student athletics,” he said.
“We’re going to be fair in how we treat our fans as far as ticket refunds go. That’s being formulated. Just bear with us is what I’m telling the public.
“But for the seasons that have been canceled, we will refund tickets.”
Summing up, Woodward said, “We will be back together as an LSU family in due time, but the priority now is to stop the spread of this virus.”
Scott Woodward
LSU Athletic Director
