Dallas-area coaches are nearly unanimous in their belief that there will be a 2020 high school football season.
The majority of those coaches think the season will start on time, according to a survey from The Dallas Morning News.
But less than three months before workouts are scheduled to begin around the state, there are some who aren’t convinced there will be football in the fall as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. Wilmer-Hutchins coach Elzie Barnett warns that canceling the season “is a real possibility.”
“The area of Dallas that I live in is dealing with new COVID-19 cases every day. For me, student safety is paramount,” Barnett said. “We need to figure out what the classrooms and hallways should look like first.”
Coaches and school districts are looking to the UIL for guidance. The state’s governing body for public schools said there’s still too much unknown and it’s too premature to discuss the 2020 season at this point.
“It’s the first time that nobody is really talking,” Euless Trinity coach Chris Jensen said. “I ask friends of mine who are superintendents, friends of mine who are in other parts of the state, people that are higher up than me. Nobody knows anything.”
North Crowley athletic trainer Valerie Duran, a member of the UIL’s Medical Advisory Committee, told The News “it’s just impossible to give any kind of prediction” on when, or if, the football season will get started.
“The 2020 football season has not even been a conversation in the last two [Medical Advisory Committee] meetings,” Duran said. “We haven’t talked about any individual sport. This is about whether or not we even get to go back to school, much less play sports.
“Right now we don’t have a whole lot of planning for even the summer, much less the fall.”
In an email Monday, the UIL said it’s "not able to speak to possible contingencies for Fall 2020.”
San Antonio ISD superintendent Pedro Martinez caused a brief uproar Tuesday when he told the San Antonio Express-News that he doesn’t believe there will be any contact sports played in the fall.
“UIL will definitely dictate that, but what I think is going to happen is, any contact sports, we’re not going to have any of those for at least the first semester,” Martinez said.
San Antonio ISD athletic director Todd Howey quickly refuted that in a video message on Twitter, saying “As of today, we fully intend to play football, run cross country and play volleyball in the fall.”
Fall football workouts are scheduled to begin Aug. 3, and the first games are scheduled for Aug. 27-29.
“We may need to table athletics until we are 100% sure what the school culture and climate looks like," Barnett said.
“This is something we cannot afford to get wrong,” Barnett added. “We need to be 100% sure about playing football this fall, because we are talking about people’s livelihood.
“I am overly optimistic that the powers that be will do what is best to protect our students and athletics. The other fall sports are waiting to see what happens with football. I would rather not play if we must shut down later in the season. Once we start playing football, we need to continue playing for the mental, social and emotional aspects sports bring to the student’s overall well-being.”
What could football look like?
More than 30 coaches responded to a survey from The Dallas Morning News. While 94% think a season will get played, and 70% think it will begin on time, they all said that they have heard nothing from the UIL about possible contingency plans if the season does have to be delayed or shortened.
Coaches throughout D-FW said their districts have not begun discussing options for the fall if the season can’t start on time, or be played in its entirety. “We’re still waiting on direction from the UIL,” Frisco coach Jeff Harbert said.
In an interview with The News last month, UIL deputy executive director Jamey Harrison said the state’s governing body for public schools is working to create plans that would get a football season in, “even if it looks different than we typically see.” Harrison declined to get into specifics, saying only that the UIL has “discussed a variety of hypotheticals.”
The News sought out coaches to discuss hypotheticals.
Fifty-two percent of those who responded to The News’ survey said they would rather see nondistrict games canceled than delaying the start of the season. When asked what’s the latest the season could start and still be completed, 59% said September and 37% said October.
“I can easily see a six- to eight-game regular season beginning mid- to late-September,” South Grand Prairie coach Brent Whitson said. “That would allow district play and preserve the six-game playoff tournament. I can also see state championship games being moved to separate sites to lessen crowds.”
Last season’s state championship games at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington featured four consecutive days of triple-headers that had an average per-game attendance of 18,125. The Class 6A Division I title game, in which Galena Park North Shore beat Duncanville, drew 47,818 — the sixth-largest high school football crowd in state history.
The UIL allowed a limited number of fans to attend boys basketball state semifinal games March 12 at the spacious Alamodome in San Antonio before the tournament had to be suspended as sports leagues began shutting down throughout the United States. Sixty-five percent of those who took The News’ survey said they think that playing football games with no fans or a limited number of fans would be an option in 2020.
“My understanding is NFL and NCAA programs are discussing models that have limited, to no fans, in the stands,” Argyle Liberty Christian coach Steven Greek said. “This might be an option for high school, but here in Texas, probably would not be well received by the community overall. We love our family, alumni, our band, choir, cheer, dance teams and fan support. It is what makes high school football so electric. We would definitely need to explore broadcast/live streaming all games on a greater level.”
The UIL would have to change its rules for that to happen. Current regulations state that football games on Fridays during the regular season may not be telecast or webcast live.
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Looking at the necessities
If things aren’t back to normal by August, Arlington coach Scott Peach said, “nondistrict games would probably be the first thing that would drop off the list.”
That would mean canceling some of the best games of the year, starting with defending 6A Division II state champion Austin Westlake vs. eight-time state champion Southlake Carroll and DeSoto vs. six-time state champion Converse Judson in Week 1. But it’s district games that determine which teams make the playoffs, and coaches think it would be a must to play all of those.
“To make it an even playing field, everybody has to play each other,” Jesuit coach Brandon Hickman said.
Ninety-four percent of the coaches who answered The News’ survey agree with Hickman. That’s easier said than done, because not all districts are alike.
The newly aligned UIL 11-man football districts for 2020 range from four-team districts (1-5A Division I, 2-4A Division I and 3-4A Division I) to a 10-team district (16-5A Division I). There are 22 five-team districts, 43 six-team districts, 46 seven-team districts, 32 eight-team districts and 13 nine-team districts across the state.
“Considering a large percentage of schools begin district between weeks 3, 4 and 5, setting a consensus start date will create a larger conflict,” Barnett said.
If only a handful of games could be played, districts might have to hold a random drawing to determine district schedules. If that were the case, teams in the seven-team District 5-6A would gain an advantage if they avoided playing Allen, and teams in the eight-team District 11-6A would gain an edge if they didn’t have to play all three perennial powers — Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville.
“If everyone in the district doesn’t play everyone, then what are we doing?” Cedar Hill coach Carlos Lynn said. “You have to find a way to get that done.”
A season with only district games could be detrimental to a powerhouse program that isn’t challenged in district play. Duncanville outscored its district opponents 326-13 when it was in 8-6A last season, but nondistrict games against nationally ranked Washington D.C. St. John’s and an 11-win Lancaster team had Duncanville more than ready for the postseason, and the Panthers reached their second straight 6A Division I state championship game.
Concerns and “spring” football
Perhaps the biggest question is this. How much of an acclimatization period is needed for practices before competitions can resume?
Conditioning could certainly be an issue since spring football was canceled this year and athletes have been quarantined and forced to work out at home while schools and gyms are closed. A bigger concern is the heat.
“If they’re not even going outside [right now], we’re having a big issue [in the fall],” said Duran, the North Crowley athletic trainer.
Arlington’s Peach agrees.
“If you look at the NBA, if you look at Major League Baseball, they’re talking about anywhere from three weeks to a month of time to get them acclimated to where they are ready to go full speed and compete,” Peach said. “I would think that would trickle down all the way to the high schools.”
The same could be true for the entire season.
“I believe it’s based on what the NCAA and NFL does,” Madison coach Marcus Gates said.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby recently told The Athletic that a “split season,” with some games happening in the fall and some happening in the spring, is a model that conference commissioners are evaluating as a fallback option. Bowlsby said that while the college football season could start on time, or close to it, the coronavirus could flare back up in November or December and delay the conclusion of the season.
A split season would also create a difficult choice for top recruits who would normally consider enrolling early in college so they can take part in spring ball. Would they forsake that to finish their senior season of high school? Would recruits who signed with a college in December or February risk an injury to pursue a state championship?
“I do believe that most of our kids, if put in that situation, they would choose to finish out their high school season and play with their teammates,” Peach said. “But on my end, I would support the kid if he felt like it was best to move on with his future and go on to college.”
Eighty-four percent of the participants in The News’ survey said they don’t think a split season is doable in high school football because so many football players also compete in a winter and/or spring sport, and many football assistants also coach another sport. Sunset coach OJ Abanishe wants his peers and the UIL to consider one thing.
“Any football would be good football. Whether we start in August, October or in the spring,” Abanishe said. “We must play games. For many of our kids in DISD, this is one of their ways to a path for higher education. We need to stop thinking about canceling games and frame it as canceling an opportunity for higher education.”
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