Keith Carter Q&A: What Football Contingencies Are Being Discussed?

Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter caught up with The Grove Report on Tuesday night to discuss the SEC meetings from Monday.

Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter caught up with The Grove Report on Tuesday night to discuss the SEC meetings from Monday. 

The major takeaway from Monday's meetings truly were that there were no major takeaways. Below is a question and answer with Carter, who was in attendance alongside members from the other 13 schools in the SEC. We'll discuss football contingency plans, testing and much more:

Q: I know you all met for nearly eight hours on Monday. What all was discussed during that time?

A: We talked about a lot of different scenarios, not just football but all other sports. We got in the weeds on some things, the games itself and how they would operate. But really, it was a larger conversation about scenarios surrounding returning to play. Ultimately, what we decided is that while we're certainly going to continue to discuss all the options and all the scenarios, but there really wasn't a need to make a decision on Monday.

If there's one thing we've learned about this virus and this journey we've been on the past four months or so is that this thing changes daily. Two more weeks could be a lot more valuable information. For us, to wait until the end of July seemed like the right thing to do.

Q: What sort of data are you all looking at in making the decision and what are the key aspects on the public health front you need to happen?

A: Certainly, the cases themselves are alarming. I'll be honest, you really don't know exactly what to believe at all times. You're hearing information from all sides. But if you just look at the data itself, the sheer number of cases is alarming. There's been a lot more and where we continue to be concerned is if these cases continue to rise, it goes to the same conversation we were having at the beginning – will we get to the point where our medical system just can't handle it.

For us in athletics, one of the keys moving forward is access to testing. We have to have access to testing and we have to have a reasonable turnaround on those results. The two things that probably concern us the most is 1) can we get proper testing and proper turnaround? And 2) If there's a disruption in the season – a spike in cases and all of a sudden we have to shut down. That's a question we don't have the answers for yet.

Q: What contingency plans have been thrown around with football?

A: Everything is on the table. A conference only slate, spring ball, a normal season, all of that and more. Our goal is to still play 12 games and to start on Sept. 6 for us. I'll be honest, that's a little bit harder of a scenario than maybe we thought a month ago, but we're still working off of that. 

Then, any other scenario from normal 12 games to playing fall sports and football in the spring and everything in between. That's why meeting in person was good, to work through these discussions and talk about the scenarios. Ultimately, we'll have to make a decision here in coming weeks on where to go, but we thought we had some time to make the decision a little later.

Q: Do you look at spring football as a last resort?

A: I think so, yes. That's a last resort. Logistically, there's so many question marks there. Can you even put on that many events in the spring? Imagine playing all those major sports in the spring. Then there's the student-athlete welfare. Are you really going to ask your football players to potentially play 25 to 30 football games in one calendar year? That's just a lot, physically, for them. 

There's a hundred other scenarios you'd have to work through. It's a last case scenario. That said, it is certainly an option. And there's some positives to it as well - I think it would be really cool coming to Oxford and having a full Saturday of 'you-name-the-sport.' We don't want to take anything off the table at this point. 

Q: Were you surprised by the MHSAA decision to play high school football in the fall?

A: I was a little surprised, but I think it's good. Personally, we're sending our kids back to school. I think that's something you have to think about. It feels a little safer there with young children. There's a lot of other factors to weigh other than just the virus – education, mental health, there's so many things you have to think about with these kids. If you're not giving them some activities to do, they're going to fill that void with other things. So there's points and counter points to both sides.

Q: What's the current status on fans at games and tailgating in The Grove?

A: Again, we have time to make that decision. Admittedly, that one is going to be a hard lift from the standpoint of 'how do you monitor it?' But at the same time, with it being mid-July, we don't have to make that decision today. That's two months or a month and a half away. We could have totally different data by then. We're certainly monitoring it and doing a lot internally to check boxes in either direction as to how we would go with that, but it's something we just don't have to decide today. 

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