Is it time to move forward?

The idea of a 2020 IHSA football season being played this late winter/early spring seems to be disappearing by the day. More and more major factors and hurdles continue to work against any and all IHSA sports from resuming this winter.

Need proof?

Just take a look at the calendar.

As of this writing, we are just 52 days away from what is suppose to be the first day of IHSA football first day of practice according to the IHSA.

With just 52 more days left until the start of the COVID delayed 2020 IHSA football season, we still don't have any sort of regular season schedule in place. We still don't have any sort of post-season plan in place. The last time any of us received any type of football specific guidelines from the IHSA?

You need to go back to late July of 2020.

Yet while 52 days seems like a short amount of time to assemble all of the needed plans and guidelines into place, it's actually an even shorter window.

This week starts the beginning of the holiday season. Teachers, school employees, student and basically anyone and everyone associated with high schools will be on break until at minimum January 4th. While I would love to think everyone in and around IHSA football would continue to work through the holiday, but I know better. So subtract say 16 days from that 52 remaining day...that leaves us 36 remaining days left until the proposed spring IHSA Football season begins.

36 days.

In my opinion, moving the 2020 IHSA Football season from the fall to the spring was a mistake on many levels. Yet looking back this was a mistake that seems to be the only decision the IHSA was forced into at the time. The IHSA took a time honored tradition here in the State of Illinois...which is they kicked the can down the road and decided to worry about playing IHSA football later. Guess what? Later is now here and is pounding on the door.

So why can't IHSA spring football work?

Has anyone tried to play anything outside in mid February in the State of Illinois? With average high temperatures ranging from 35-20 degrees and low's in the low teens, players and coaches in several ways will face new challenges. Let's not forget to throw in the never ending February twenty five to forty mile an hour winds that come rolling in from the plains. We already have an IHSA summer weather acclimation policy in place for summer, so when can we expect the winter plan? Again a lot of work is still needed on many, many levels before beginning a season in my opinion.

Facilities? A large majority of high school still work and play on grass, or in this case frozen mud if teams begin mid February workouts. Move practice inside? Sure go inside the gym for work along with every other IHSA sport and several different levels getting ready for it's own season. Good luck getting those Midnight Madness mid week indoor practices scheduled.

Access to a weight room? In many cases a majority of high school weight rooms have been either shuttered completely or have operated on a limited basis. Coaches in many cases still have had zero in the building contact with players and getting those kids truly in football shape will take time.

How long does it take to get an average IHSA varsity football team ready to play a season after not playing any real meaningful football for at least 390 days at the minimum?

Hitting? Full pads? Game speed? Again nothing remotely close to actual football coaching and work has taken place in well over a year plus. But what about those twenty fall contact days? The twenty fall contact days served a few purposes. They allowed kids and coaches to come together and get some actual "limited contact" work in. The reality of the twenty contact days this fall was that it helped soften the blow of no fall football season. Yet those twenty days are now a drop in the bucket of the hard work needed to truly start another IHSA football season.

What about multi-sport athletes? Kids who play football along with other IHSA sports? Sadly, the elimination of spring IHSA football would help ease the pressure of the IHSA having to squeeze many other fall and winter sports into one extended spring/early summer IHSA sports bonanza.

I'm pretty certain no one wants to see the 2020 IHSA football season played as much as I do. No one wants to see the Class of 2021 players have one final season of high school football as much as I do.

I know and understand what these seniors have been enduring over these many months. I speak with players directly on a daily basis across the state. They talk about how upset they are about the COVID lockdown, about not getting to play this past fall like everyone other state surrounding us. They discuss at length about missed opportunities that have been taken away from them and how if they just had one more chance to prove it. No Parents Day. No Senior Day.

While I'm trying to be as positive as I can, yet I also can't lie to them anymore. When I'm asked about spring football, I give them my honest thoughts.

Also give these seniors some credit..they know and realize what's going on with the narrowing chances to play spring football as much as anyone.

We certainly see some potential positives on the horizon.

A vaccine has started to be rolled out. The rise in COVID numbers, at least for now seems to be dropping state-wide as we head into the Christmas holidays.

Yet the timing for restarting IHSA football on the planned February 15th date for now could not be worse. Many have suggested moving football back from a February start to say April or even early May. Again you'll be competing for the same kids as many other IHSA sports and a nightmare scenario on many levels for high school AD's a multi-sport athletes and coaches a like.

I sure hope I'm wrong here, but I just don't see IHSA spring football happening.

Next: We Have A lot of Work to Do