How Alabama Athletics Responded to COVID-19 and What's Next for Greg Byrne

A complete transcript of what Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told reporters in a teleconference

Christopher Walsh/BamaCentral

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a week of public silence and dealing with all of the craziness that resulted in not the University of Alabama being relegated to online courses for the rest of the semester, but sports being shut down globally, athletic director Gregg Byrne talked to Crimson Tide reporters on Thursday 

He did so via a teleconference while working from his home. He also apologized beforehand if his dogs started to bark while he was talking (they didn't). 

Byrne spoke for approximately 30 minutes on everything from the initial discussions about the threat of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, to 

Here's a complete transcript of what he said: 

"Obviously, it’s been a very challenging week for everybody involved. It’s rapidly evolving. But we certainly understand all the decisions that have been made to this point and have tried to be very supportive as an athletic department and as an institution. Obviously, the focus for us is the health and well-being of everyone and that has to be our top priority.\

“I want to say that Greg Sankey and the SEC have been outstanding through this process. We’ve got daily calls with all our peer ADs, and multiple people from our departments have been involved on those calls. Our president Dr. Bell, our chancellor Finis St. John, our trustees, they’ve been great and showing leadership during these very challenging times. Our head coaches have been very supportive of our student-athletes in trying to support them in a very unique and challenging way. But I really appreciate their engagement and involvement as we’ve navigated these waters.

“And then also our staff. I sent a tweet out, I think Monday, with the intent of actually trying to say, ‘Hey, we’re doing social distancing,’ and I wanted to encourage others to do the same, because if you look at the data, that gives us one of our best hopes to contain this in as positive a manner as possible. And as you all know as reporters, we’re gone a ton. We’re at our events, we’re supporting our student-athletes and we have all the other things to go around with our department, and it was amazing the response I got asking about television shows. We have started watching Ozark — we’ve watched two whole episodes so far. But it’s actually been a very, very busy time for our staff. We’re on conference calls with the university, the SEC, with our coaches, with our staff, walking through all the different things we’re trying to deal with right now. 

"I just want to thank our athletic department staff and our university for all the time and effort they’re putting into trying to manage what is certainly unprecedented in our lifetimes.

“Right now, there’s a lot of unknowns, and we’re going to continue to work with our conference colleagues and our campus leadership and our health officials as we move forward in the coming weeks. So, I’d be happy to do my best to answer questions, but as you can imagine there still are a lot of unknowns but we’ll do our best to try to navigate through this.”

I'm curious, how much has the NCAA or whomever is in charge with this has clued you in on progress regarding an additional year of eligibility, particularly for spring athletes? And how do you think they can navigate that, especially in equivalency sports where you have to deal with a very small amount of scholarships and roster restrictions?

“Good question. We’ve had a number of conversations about it. Actually, I just had one a few minutes ago. Most of that conversation is taking place through the conference office, and then the conference office can share with the NCAA. We’re supportive of spring sports being able to adjust the rosters and if a student-athlete would like to come back that they have the ability to do so. And at this point, I don’t know if that would just be seniors, if it would be all of our student-athletes, whoever had their year taken away from them. I think there’s arguments on both sides. 

"I’ve been told that there’s not a ton of support nationally for the winter sports, but I do think there is some openness within the SEC to look at that. But again, at this point, we don’t know. We’re not far enough along to say, ‘Hey, that’s going to happen for sure.’ But I know there’s definite support for the idea of doing something to give the kids the opportunity to do so if they’d like. One of the things to think about, though, is the young men and young women who were on equivalency scholarships, so they’re not a headcount sport — their ability financially to pay for that for another year, whatever. If they’re on a 25-percent scholarship, let’s say, still having to pay another 75 percent of their scholarship could create financial challenges for some of them, understandably.”

Christopher Walsh/BamaCentral

Based on your understanding at this point, is there still any chance whatsoever of having some semblance or some form of spring football practice at some point?

“It still has not officially been canceled. But the reality is, if you look at our campuses in our conference and then if you look at most of the campuses around the country, most of them are moving towards online education only the rest of the semester. So I think the chances aren’t great. But we haven’t made that final determination at this point. Obviously, for the health and well-being of your student-athletes, making sure they — when the time comes — to have some opportunities to be coached, to be able to learn systems, to be in physical shape to perform as an SEC athlete, all of those things are going to have to be considered as we move through this. But there has not been a final determination on that.”

Are you still hopeful at this point that football season’s still going to be able to go on as scheduled? Obviously things are set to start when they are right now. Is that still the hope for you at this point that that’s still going to be able to start as planned?

“I figured a couple of days ago when a lot of these postponements, cancellations, whatever they may be starting happening, that was going to be the next question asked. I think we’re still too early to really have strong opinions about that. All of our focus has to be on the health and wellness of everyone involved. And if we as a country do our very best to minimize the spread of this virus, that gives us the best opportunity to return to normal as a country as soon as possible. And that’s what needs to be the focus right now.”

What have the conversations with all the individual coaches, like Coach Bohannon, Coach Saban, how did all those go over the last several days?

“The coaches have been extremely supportive and understanding the seriousness of what we’re dealing with here. We met with our coaches that day and the disappointment — as you can imagine — was significant. But they were also focused on the health and well-being of their teams, their student-athletes and our fans and then realizing that this is a national and global issue. So obviously the importance of sports is minimized during these times. But they also were hurt for their kids and coaches want to compete, kids want to compete. And to have that taken away was significant in their lives. So our focus then started changing to making sure from a mental health, from an academic, from just a well-being standpoint, that that had to be the focus and the coaches have been great through that process. And Coach Saban and I have talked several times and he's been very, very supportive and good through this process.

”SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he doesn’t know of any student-athletes who have tested positive for coronavirus. At Alabama, have there been any tests that have been positive?

“There are no student-athletes at the University of Alabama that I’m aware of.”

RELATED: Alabama Still Looking at Possible Scenarios to Hold Spring Practice That Likely Won't Happen

Have you as an athletic department done any studies to evaluate the financial impact of not having any spring sports, not having the annual revenue from the NCAA Tournament?

“We think the NCAA Tournament part will be a couple of million dollars. That’s our best estimate at this point. And we’re studying, which we do constantly, we study different economic scenarios, so we’re currently doing that, and we’re talking about some new realities. But I don’t have any data beyond from what we think from an NCAA standpoint will be the impact. Everything else is too early to understand.”

Have you as an athletic department done any studies to evaluate the financial impact of not having any spring sports, not having the annual revenue from the NCAA Tournament?

“We think the NCAA Tournament part will be a couple of million dollars. That’s our best estimate at this point. And we’re studying, which we do constantly, we study different economic scenarios, so we’re currently doing that, and we’re talking about some new realities. But I don’t have any data beyond from what we think from an NCAA standpoint will be the impact. Everything else is too early to understand.

”Have some of the national recommendations — the limitations on crowds and things like that have they had any impact on the construction taking place on campus, especially with regard to Bryant-Denny Stadium?

“The construction continues. We’re on schedule. It’s been a wet spring, but I can tell you we’ve had regular conversations with our contractor on this to make sure that they’re taking necessary steps during this new reality that we’re in.

”Spring football practice a couple hours before Friday’s practice was set to start. Obviously things have changed since then, but how much did you guys look at every avenue possible to practice? And much did Coach Saban play a role in that?

“We had a lot of discussions about it. We knew there were multiple scenarios that were being discussed. I think we knew, as we got closer, that the chances were going to be that we were not going to practice, and what we tried to do was prepare for different scenarios with that. But when the time came that practice was not going to happen, Coach was supportive and I really appreciated his leadership during that time, with that particular subject and overall through this, he’s been very good.”

Don’t know how to describe the emotions I have gone through the past 5 days. This year’s team had something special and it’s devastating to know that we can’t find out how good we really were. Of the past 5 years, this year is the best group of guys I have ever been a part of. https://t.co/IFPyvseNjF

— Kyle Cameron (@KyleCameron05) March 17, 2020

Do you anticipate being able to recoup any expenses already paid out for spring sports due to the cancellations?

“Yeah, that’s one of the things we’ve tried to evaluate, expenses that we’d normally have in the spring with our spring sports and recruiting and everything else that goes on, what type of savings will be there, will we be able to have from that. And we don’t know what that would be yet but we’re working on that.

”What sort of impact will the loss of the A-Day Game have on lost revenue?

“That would be minimal. That’s obviously something we’ve had for our fans throughout the state and throughout the country to be a part of without any costs associated for them. So the loss of revenue on that would be very minimal.

”Have any student-athletes been tested for coronavirus, especially players in contact sports like basketball?

“You know, guys, to be honest, I’m not an attorney. So I’m not real comfortable, as you could imagine, talking about steps we’re taking as a department and how it impacts the individual from a health standpoint. Please, I’m not trying to be avoided, but I’m not sure what I can and can’t share on that. What I can tell you is we’ve communicated extensively with our student-athletes, our coaches, about steps they need to take to prevent, and if there are signs they have it on what they need to do and communicate with us. So our medical team, our coaches have been very proactive with the communication with our student-athletes on that. And that’s the approach we’ve taken. Obviously, if we feel that somebody needs to be tested, we’ll do everything in our powers and resources available to make that happen.”

When were the first meetings or discussions that guys had about the possibility of this virus having such an impact?

“I think the reality, as soon as you started hearing about it spread in different parts of the world, I think we started having those conversations. When that was, I don’t remember the exact timing. But that’s when we started talking about the realities that could happen and so that was early on when it spread within Asia and then started to spread into Europe and when there were the first reported cases in the United States.

”I know other pro sports have taken care of workers who depend on events that are going to be cancelled. Have you guys had any discussions on that side of it?

“We’ve had a little bit. That’s been one of the things we have discussed. We haven’t come up with a final plan on that at this point. Obviously, we have our softball and baseball games that were still ongoing. The majority of the largest events for us were already done for the year but we are trying to be cognoscente and helpful where we can with our game day workers.”

With everything shut down, including the facilities, are your strength and conditioning coaches able to contact the athletes individually and try and work out individual plans as far as what’s available to them and what they need to do, even if it’s exercising at home?

“Yeah, right now we can’t do organized team activities but as you can imagine, our young people are very driven to be able to do what they do and to be able to be a student-athlete at the University of Alabama and the SEC, you put a lot of time and effort into developing yourself. So we have tried to provide support where appropriate with our student-athletes and any questions they have that they can call in and talk to our strength and conditioning coaches and talk about programs they are doing but right now, there aren’t a lot of gyms that are open and I think our kids are doing things on their own at their homes and that’s what our coaches have tried to offer where they want questions and planning where it’s appropriate.”

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Clearly, there’s nothing fortuitous about this, but are you in a better situation because you have new strength and conditioning coaches in place, able to do that, rather than being in limbo?

“Yeah, obviously no matter whether it’s strength and conditioning, nutrition, mental health, academics, all of those areas, when you have people in place to offer support to your student-athletes to have a better opportunity for success and maintain and develop during these challenging times. So, to have the new strength staff in place and already up and running, was a good thing just like it is for all the other areas of our department.”

I might be getting way ahead of myself, but are you guys already thinking about what it’s going to take to start bringing people back? Is there like a list being formed? 

“At this point, we’ve been very focused on where they are right now and managing that. We really haven’t had any discussions about what it looks like to bring them back at this point. Because they’ve been dispersed on spring break, it’s been much more on where they are going once spring break is over and we’ve encouraged them to return home, if at all possible and be there. So, we’re in constant communication with our student-athletes as we speak." 

A message from @SEC Commissioner @GregSankey pic.twitter.com/vpLAY3jsh4

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 15, 2020

Just to confirm, construction is on schedule at the stadium? And if things continue to get worse, do you foresee that coming to a stop out of the health and safety concerns for those employees?

“Obviously, the health and wellness has been our driver. And as you can imagine we work within the university system and then with the contractors, and we’re in constant communication about that and will continue to. That’s what our focus will be.”

With the cancellations of spring sports, have you been able to have some sort of conversations with those players and those athletes as far as what’s going on and explaining the situation to them? And if so, what were those conversations like?

“Unfortunately it has been very limited because of the timing when this all happened. It happened right as they were all departing or had already departed for spring break. And I was actually, just even at the SEC men’s basketball tournaments, trying to get over to the team before they departed to talk to them, but we didn’t get our of meetings soon enough. So I have talked to some of them over the phone. And right now on campus, I was down on campus yesterday and nobody’s there. That’s been limited. What our focus is as administrators has been is talking to our coaches about making sure they’re properly engaged with their student-athletes, and our coaches have done a really good job of that. And obviously we want to be there to support however we can, and we’ll continue to do so.”

 Just curious about the conversations you’ve had with Greg Sankey regarding the SEC Tournament for softball being in Tuscaloosa. What are you expectations for that to come back around again?

“We’ve had brief conversations. My hope is that we can host it sooner than later, not have to go back in the rotation. I think there are 13 teams that play softball in the SEC, we shouldn’t have to wait 13 years just like schools who were going to host SEC championships shouldn’t have to wait either. Because of all the other things that have been spoken (about), we haven’t had a lot of in-depth discussion about it, but I think that would be a reasonable approach. ... Yeah, there may be circumstances where schools can’t host next year that were supposed to this year. And we were supposed to host women’s tennis, too. But I would think that we’re going to try to have some recognition of these very unique circumstances, and I think that will be part of the decision making. We just haven’t gotten there yet.”

COLUMN: For Alabama and AD Greg Byrne, There’s No Longer Any Such Thing as Business as Usual

Have you seen some of the reactions from athletes on social media? And just how heartbreaking is that for you seeing that from your seniors?

“Yeah, I have. I saw Sarah from softball took that picture from the mound out at Rhodes Stadium just with the empty stands behind her. You just, you know, you feel for them. One of the things we sometimes forget, and I have to remember myself is physically you look at these kids and they’re so developed and are able to do things that must of us, including myself, we’re limited in our abilities. They’re doing their athletic activities at the highest levels. And the work and energy and effort that goes into that, to see that taken away from them, it’s heartbreaking. But you balance that with the reality that our of where we are as a country and the world with this crisis. We understand it’s certainly not as important, but if you don’t have empathy or sympathy for what so quickly came to an end for so many of them, I don’t know how you don’t. I think people, especially your Alabama fans or Alabama student-athletes have been very compassionate about it, and you try to support one another. I know that’s the case around the country.

”There’s a lot of Alabama athletes pursuing professional careers, especially in football. Can there be any measures made to kind of help them with that since there’s no pro day?

“Yeah, the pro days have been cancelled, and those young men have mostly returned home from the updates I’ve had and I’m sure they’re going to do their best to train there. But I know the NFL has pretty stopped all travel of their scouts, so I think we’re in a holding pattern for the time being.”

I know they’re on spring break right now, but given some of the work ethic of coaches and staff members, will there have to be restrictions on who can enter facilities when they get back?

“Yeah, there will be, and we’re working through the details on that right now. But it will be very limited on who has access to our buildings, and that’s for the health and well-being of our student-athletes and of our coaches. We’re working on details right now.

”Have you had or do you plan to have fairly in-depth conversations with Coach Saban about what the minimum necessities for spring or a spring-like practice would be? Whether it’s abbreviated from 15 practices to 10 or whatever the option may be. Have you talked to him and will you talk to him before you get into sort of the expensive conversations that you’ll have with the league office about that?

“He and I have already talked about it several times, and we’ve talked about some different scenarios. Obviously, you just can’t go out and play games without any practice and development time beforehand, so we’ve talked about what different scenarios look like so I can have his thoughts, which you all know he is always very well thought out on different possibilities, different scenarios. It’s been very helpful. But we’re still — because of where we are in the process right now — we haven’t gotten any more specific in just looking at potential scenarios.”