RMAC grants teams schedule power

Changes continue for football as The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference President’s Council updated last Friday that while no championship will take place, schools can independently schedule both conference and non-conference opponents during the 2021 spring semester.

The NCAA Sports Science Institute also updated its Resocialization of Collegiate Sports standards for practice and competition last Friday, stating the materials serve as “a resource for member schools to use in coordination with applicable government and related institutional policies and guidelines, and they remain subject to further revision as available data and information in this space continue to emerge and evolve.”

“It’s just a real unique time,” Head Football Coach Jay Long said. “One of the things I’ve learned since March is that things are changing constantly and that as a coach, we try to prepare for multiple situations.”

With policy changes, revisions or updates occurring weekly, coaches and athletic staff around the RMAC are met with challenges in adjusting their plans.

“When you’re a league like this where we’re all trying to play each other on some even plane and we don’t have an even playing field, it makes it difficult for folks and things change,” Athletic Director Joel Smith said. “Two weeks ago,we were going to play football in the fall. Then, some stuff changed and the way the NCAA looked at stuff, it changed how some presidents looked at that stuff, especially with some of the schools down south and then we got to where we are today because of that. It changes every day, today I was on two phone calls where two things changed on some of the stuff we are doing. It’s just going to be a moving target for a while.”

As NCAA football teams seek competition, schedules and plans are still to be determined, but coaches are keeping all options open.

“Everything is fluid and can change,” Long said. “What we’re doing right now is keeping all options open in regard to looking for games. That may mean we play in the fall, it may mean we play in the spring, we don’t know right now, but we are reaching out to schools and trying to find games. Once we find a game, our plan is having three weeks of practice and go play that game. Before we play that game, the NCAA mandated that within 72 hours before we play, we have to test for COVID and everyone that’s COVID free, they get to play in the game.”

Football, along with all sports at Chadron State College, must adhere to guidelines from the Panhandle Public Health District, the RMAC and NCAA to ensure safety of student athletes. Before teams can practice on Monday, all players must get tested and those who test negative can practice, according to Smith.

A challenge that teams face is not only meeting the guidelines set by the NCAA, RMAC and PPHD, but finding a team that meets those guidelines as well.

“We want to do what’s safe for our student athletes, for the students at Chadron State College, for the faculty and staff, and for our community,” Smith said. “We’re going to make those decisions based on that and if we feel like its safe enough for us to go ahead and move forward and do some things, then we’ll try to do them. If we don’t, then we will have to find other things for our athletes to do to make something out of this year which is going to be kind of a crazy year.”

All members of the football team received COVID tests yesterday as practices begin Monday.