NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday there wont be fall NCAA championships since there are inadequate schools getting involved due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic– a choice that affects 22 champions, including FCS football.
” The board of governors also established if you do not have half of the schools playing a sport, you cant have a genuine championship,” Emmert stated in a video published on the NCAAs Twitter feed. “We cant in any Division I NCAA champion sport now– which is everything aside from FBS football that goes on in the fall. Sadly, unfortunately, thats going to be the case this fall, full stop.”
When the Big East announced its fall sports wouldnt be played, the number of schools fell listed below 50% on Wednesday.
” Im not exactly sure now that it affects what were carrying out in football that weve continued to move forward,” said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, chair of the NCAAs Football Oversight Committee. “Just due to the fact that theres no champion at the end doesnt suggest the entire fall is ruined for those student-athletes.”
Lyons said some FCS schools still intend on playing nonconference football games, however unlike in the FBS, where the nationwide champ is identified through the College Football Playoff, FCS football wont have its NCAA-sponsored championship. When inquired about the optics of that discrepancy, Lyons kept in mind the Big 12s plan to test its professional athletes 3 times weekly– on Fridays, wednesdays and sundays.
” Theres always going to be the optics of that, however from our conference, when we went through this, we added a couple additional layers of screening as part of our requirement,” he said. “And that wasnt only going to use to football, that is going to use to all of our fall sports. … Are we still going to be competing in those other sports in the fall? I do not have that response yet. As a conference we have not discussed it.”
Emmert said the fall sports should still turn to the winter and spring and try to produce a legitimate champion for all of those trainees.
” My staff has actually been working hard on it, and talking to a lot of commissioners– all of them, all 32 of them in D-I, and there are ways to do this,” he stated. If schools and conferences want to move forward, and try and have it and more than half of them desire to do it– and thats definitely the sign now– then lets do it. We can utilize the fall and keep kids healthy, keep them engaged with their coaches and their athletic departments.
“We cant in any Division I NCAA championship sport now– which is whatever other than FBS football that goes on in the fall. Sadly, tragically, thats going to be the case this fall, full stop.”
“And that wasnt just going to apply to football, that is going to apply to all of our fall sports. … Are we still going to be competing in those other sports in the fall?
