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Miami Hurricanes Athletic Director Blake James went on 560WQAM this morning to address where things stand after the ACC decided to postpone UM’s next two games due to COVID issues.
“It’s been a challenge for the last few weeks,” James said. “Last week, we were real close to not being able to go. As it continued on, it put us in a position yesterday that I notified the league office that we were in a situation where it wasn’t going to allow us to play… It’s no surprise we’re dealing with COVID issues, as is the rest of the world. I think you saw this past weekend that we were short a sizable amount of our team. As it continued to progress, it climbed to a number where it just wouldn’t allow us to play the game really looking out for the safety and well-being of our students.”
In terms of day-to-day activities, James said that practice may be stopped for the next two weeks, with the team doing conditioning work to stay in shape. The Canes resume play on December 5th at Wake Forest, and James hopes to get in a full week of practice before facing the Demon Deacons.
“There are extensive protocols (the ACC) has put in place - what we first do is make sure we’re in coordination with everything,” James said. “We’ll continue to do the things we need to do to make sure our people are 100% cleared before they’re back out in competition. For those that aren’t impacted by the virus right now, as we move forward, we’ll be doing things to make sure they’re staying in condition. What we don’t want is to come out of this two-week period and have guys having injuries because of the layoff. It’s a fine balance and one we’ll look at each individual and where we’re at and what we need to do to make sure we’re really looking out for their well-being.
“And as a team, we’ll come out of it and we’ll hopefully be able to start practicing right away there the week of December 5th for that game at Wake Forest. And if not, for those that can’t do it, they won’t do it. We’ll make the best of it we can, the NC State, Virginia Tech game we didn’t have everyone with us. If that’s the case, that’s what we’ll do. You’re not going to always have your entire team. Coach (Manny) Diaz will assess what we have, go forward with the group we have that has been cleared by our medical people that are ready to go.”
Miami’s game with Georgia Tech this weekend was moved to December 19th, but that's the same date as the ACC Championship game. According to the ACC, the Miami-GT game will be played “if Miami is not in the ACC Football Championship Game and if the result of the Georgia Tech at Miami game would not directly impact the determination of which two teams do play in the league championship game."
Essentially, the game won’t be played if Miami has already locked up a spot in the ACC Championship.
“They’re set as we sit here today,” James said of the future games. “As we deal with COVID, things are constantly changing… Those are all things that are dependent on where things go with us and with other teams in the league… I do think the next few weeks, and we’re seeing it play out not only in our league but throughout the country, seeing an increase in the number of cases right now. That makes it all the more challenging for our young people to even do the right things to not have the virus impact them individually.
“The conversation we had as a league way back in the summer - as a league, we wanted to create some flexibility in the schedule knowing that things were going to happen. We’ve had different thing happen to different programs along the way and I’m sure there’ll be some challenges still to come. To be where we’re at today, I think everyone would look at it as a success if we were to turn the clock back to July or August.”
Does James believe the season will resume as scheduled with the COVID cases increasing on the team each week?
“I’m an optimist, I think it’s going to happen,” James said. “I recognize it may not be all 11 games for everyone in the conference, but we’ll move forward and be able to finish a somewhat abbreviated season… I’m confident we’ll get more games in, hopefully all 11. If we go and win the remaining games, we’ll be in a good spot and the rankings will play out in the end."
“It’s been a challenge for the last few weeks,” James said. “Last week, we were real close to not being able to go. As it continued on, it put us in a position yesterday that I notified the league office that we were in a situation where it wasn’t going to allow us to play… It’s no surprise we’re dealing with COVID issues, as is the rest of the world. I think you saw this past weekend that we were short a sizable amount of our team. As it continued to progress, it climbed to a number where it just wouldn’t allow us to play the game really looking out for the safety and well-being of our students.”
In terms of day-to-day activities, James said that practice may be stopped for the next two weeks, with the team doing conditioning work to stay in shape. The Canes resume play on December 5th at Wake Forest, and James hopes to get in a full week of practice before facing the Demon Deacons.
“There are extensive protocols (the ACC) has put in place - what we first do is make sure we’re in coordination with everything,” James said. “We’ll continue to do the things we need to do to make sure our people are 100% cleared before they’re back out in competition. For those that aren’t impacted by the virus right now, as we move forward, we’ll be doing things to make sure they’re staying in condition. What we don’t want is to come out of this two-week period and have guys having injuries because of the layoff. It’s a fine balance and one we’ll look at each individual and where we’re at and what we need to do to make sure we’re really looking out for their well-being.
“And as a team, we’ll come out of it and we’ll hopefully be able to start practicing right away there the week of December 5th for that game at Wake Forest. And if not, for those that can’t do it, they won’t do it. We’ll make the best of it we can, the NC State, Virginia Tech game we didn’t have everyone with us. If that’s the case, that’s what we’ll do. You’re not going to always have your entire team. Coach (Manny) Diaz will assess what we have, go forward with the group we have that has been cleared by our medical people that are ready to go.”
Miami’s game with Georgia Tech this weekend was moved to December 19th, but that's the same date as the ACC Championship game. According to the ACC, the Miami-GT game will be played “if Miami is not in the ACC Football Championship Game and if the result of the Georgia Tech at Miami game would not directly impact the determination of which two teams do play in the league championship game."
Essentially, the game won’t be played if Miami has already locked up a spot in the ACC Championship.
“They’re set as we sit here today,” James said of the future games. “As we deal with COVID, things are constantly changing… Those are all things that are dependent on where things go with us and with other teams in the league… I do think the next few weeks, and we’re seeing it play out not only in our league but throughout the country, seeing an increase in the number of cases right now. That makes it all the more challenging for our young people to even do the right things to not have the virus impact them individually.
“The conversation we had as a league way back in the summer - as a league, we wanted to create some flexibility in the schedule knowing that things were going to happen. We’ve had different thing happen to different programs along the way and I’m sure there’ll be some challenges still to come. To be where we’re at today, I think everyone would look at it as a success if we were to turn the clock back to July or August.”
Does James believe the season will resume as scheduled with the COVID cases increasing on the team each week?
“I’m an optimist, I think it’s going to happen,” James said. “I recognize it may not be all 11 games for everyone in the conference, but we’ll move forward and be able to finish a somewhat abbreviated season… I’m confident we’ll get more games in, hopefully all 11. If we go and win the remaining games, we’ll be in a good spot and the rankings will play out in the end."
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