Utah AD Mark Harlan Lays Out Potential Timeline For Fall Sports To Return

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The big question on everyone’s mind is when will college football start? Will it be in the fall, winter, or even pushed back to spring?

Utah athletics director Mark Harlan joined KSL Unrivaled and gave some answers to those burning questions. While more states are starting to open up and attempting to get back to normal, nothing is set in stone for colleges.

A lot of universities are in a wait-and-see mode for the fall regarding on-campus learning, but then there is the California State University system that is leaning heavily toward online learning.

Also, the Pac-12 just held its spring meetings and is making recommendations but the entire statement doesn’t provide specifics about what will happen after May 31 which is the date the league has suspended sporting activities.

The @pac12 has released return-to-play guidelines after their spring meeting.#GoUtes #Pac12 https://t.co/FFFIaHGWXL

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 19, 2020

A committee of health experts formed the “return-to-play” protocols which include testing, hygiene and other ways to keep safe, but they stay away from locking the league into any specific return date.

The Committee has developed a comprehensive set of return-to-play protocols and guidelines carefully designed to enable our member universities, when they determine it is appropriate, to as safely as possible bring student-athletes back to campus and ultimately resume athletic competition.

These guidelines, which will be continuously updated, address all aspects of intercollegiate athletic activity, and include requirements related to testing, contact tracing, hygiene protocols, education, and disease prevention. In determining whether to adopt the Committee’s recommendations, as well as any future adjustments to them, our priority will be health and safety.

Utah Wants To Safely, Slowly Reopen Facilities

Harlan is part of that committee and he, like others, are not wanting to give a firm date on resuming athletic activities and returning to some sort of normal.

“One thing I have learned in this whole experience is making too many predictions on what might be,” Harlan said. “Every couple of weeks there is more data and lately it has been positive. For me, normal is returning to another year of sold-out football and packed crowds in all of our facilities. That will be our normal. The question is how long it will take us to get there? In the interim period, we are planning a lot of different scenarios.”

Getting back to normal, or as close as possible, will take time and require adjustments from everyone involved. For football, a six-week period to get back into shape is a must, according to coaches.

“On the subject of football, the Pac-12 created a sub-committee group which I am part of,” Harlan added. “That group work hours and hours and came back with a plan that centers between six to eight weeks kind of a mixture of organized team activities and then working its way up to a full camp environment. We sent those plans as a conference to the football oversight committee and that committee then blessed the six-week type model and is being reviewed by medical folks.”

While dates are fluid, one target goal is to have some access to Ute facilities open on June 1. That is the current date Harlan and the University of Utah is hoping for.

“The first step that needs to be taken is the actual opening of athletic facilities across the country,” Harland said. “June 1 is the date – unless the current prohibition is extended – would then allow for schools that are in regions, states, and counties that are able to have that kind of activity and be able to do that. This is strictly volunteer and non-coach workout, and that is a logical first step.

“That is important because if you are able to do that and other schools come online and different times. That six-week – maybe even four-week – could work if there was work done going into it. We will probably find out by the end of the week if June 1 will allow us to open up… but we will be ready to have our facilities open on a limited basis surrounded by trainers and strength coaches to go into this very slowly.”

The planning is in place from the Pac-12 and Utah to make sure they do open the right way and allow for athletes to resume training for the fall.

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