Harreld Targets June 1 As Return Date For Team Activities

But Iowa president says safety in concern when it comes to athletes coming back to campus.

University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld said during Thursday's Iowa Board of Regents meeting that June 1 is a target date for the return of team activities for the football program.

There have been no team activities on campus since mid-March because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic — the Big Ten placed a moratorium on all team activities through May 4. All classes on campus for the rest of the spring semester are being completed through online instruction. 

"Our expectation ... we have a moratorium on all team-related activities until June 1," Harreld said in response to a question from Board of Regents member David Barker about the upcoming football season. "And so we're ever so hopeful that this virus will be behind us at that point, (and) we'll be able to get back to what we normally do."

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg reported late Thursday night that Harreld had made a statement clarifying his comments.

"As I said, in conjunction with our fellow members of the Big Ten, we are exploring all options," Harreld said in the statement. "But our first priority is the health and safety of our student athletes and fans”

Harreld said during the meeting the "plan of record" in the Big Ten is a practice schedule of 6-8 weeks to prepare for the season, something Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz and strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle have said in recent weeks. Iowa was able to complete its winter workout schedule, but did not get to have any spring practices.

"Once again, I'm sure our coaches would love a lot more time then so that they can make them winners," Harreld said, "but the key issue here is safety."

Still, Harreld said he understands the unpredictability of the virus, and he is planning for any option.

"There, again, you tell me what you think this virus is going to do," he said. "Then we can ... we're prepared for a slight delay at the beginning of the season. We're prepared for anything else, you can move on from there.

Harreld said there are other options, including playing games without fans.

"I guess, to answer your question, if we got to the worst of the worst, would we let the players play with no fans? I don't know," Harreld said. "Because if we're at that stage with this virus, we'd have to do a lot of testing of the individual players. And I'm not going to go yes or no on that. I'm going to refer to the experts.

"But, right now, June 1 is the date, we're going to get back to practice. And here we go."