The odds that Colorado State football coach Steve Addazio finishes out his first spring camp are dwindling as the coronavirus pandemic shuts down the sports world.
CSU athletic director Joe Parker spent a portion of his spring break Wednesday on the phone, holed up in his Fort Collins office, to discuss how the ever-changing national health landscape has affected Rams football and his entire athletic department.
“Our strength-and-conditioning centers within the athletic facilities are closed,” Parker told The Denver Post. “Sports medicine is operating, but we’ve informed students we want them to communicate on an appointment basis. We’re trying to limit the number of students who might be in those areas at any one time to probably five or less.”
That doesn’t bode well for CSU’s spring football plans.
The Rams had completed 7-of-15 practices with an April 9 spring game set. It’s unclear if any more practices will be held. However, the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation of limiting crowds to 50 people or less (extending into May) casts serious doubt on CSU’s ability to complete its spring football slate. In Boulder, CU athletic director Rick George told reporters that the Buffs’ football program may not start its spring practice schedule until “May or June.”
The Rams, at least, got a head start.
“We’ll wait and see,” Parker said of future CSU spring football plans. “We still have eight (practices) on the books that could be available if we’re at a point in time where we could move in that direction.”
Parker’s top priority, for the moment, is ensuring CSU student-athletes have the resources they need in the classroom. Classes will resume online-only upon return from spring break, although athletic academic advisors are still available in-person for student-athletes with proper social distancing in place.
“It seems like every 12-to-24 hours we’re assessing a new set of information that is driving decisions, and in some cases, having us rethink what we thought was the right approach from the day before,” Parker said. “Everyone is just trying to manage the new reality.”