BYU AD Tom Holmoe Believes College Football In Spring Is ‘Last Resort’

PROVO, Utah – If college football isn’t played in the fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic, could we see the season played during the spring?  For BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, it’s not at the front of his mind at the moment.

Holmoe hopped on BYUtv’s BYU Sports Nation for a “State of the Program” address that would typically take place during BYU Football Media Day. But with the uncertainty of the season and Media Day being postponed, Holmoe hopped on Sports Nation instead.

One of the many topics discussed in the two-segment interview was the possibility of college football being played in the spring.

“What I’m hearing and what I’m reading, it’s the last resort,” said Holmoe. “I think you’re seeing with the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12, they want to play football and are going to do everything they can to play a football season this year.

“If they get to the point and the next couple of weeks because it’s only going to be a couple of weeks. Then that window is going to close. But if that window closes, then they’re going to have to step to the next process. Which will be, can we move this to the spring and how will we do that? They’re not working on that.”

BYU has explored the possibility of spring football

Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut all athletics down in March, BYU has been preparing for a variety of outcomes for all sports including football. Spring football was something BYU has explored.

Holmoe continued on possibility of football in the spring: "We have taken a few opportunities to look and see how that would be, But it is very very complicated … It would be difficult, but we would do it, if that was the way we're told to go."#BYU @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 20, 2020

“We have taken a few opportunities to look and see how that would be,” Holmoe said. “But it is very, very complicated. You can imagine all of our sports at the same time during the same season. It would be difficult, but we would do it if that was the way we were told to go.”

BYU’s first game of the 2020 football season is scheduled to be played on October 2nd against the Utah State Aggies. But that is subject to change as Holmoe acknowledged he is actively working to get games on the upcoming schedule.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.