Hawkeye football pauses in-person activities
Per a release, the University of Iowa’s football team will pause all in-person activities for the next five days.
Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz looks down on the stadium before addressing members of the press during football media day in Kinnick Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. “It’s not a normal media day by any stretch, but what it does signify is that we’re one step closer to getting on with football,” Ferentz said. “It’s been great to get started with practice.”
December 21, 2020
The University of Iowa football team has paused all in-person activities for the next five days, per a Monday night release. According to UI Athletics Director Gary Barta, the decision comes following positive results yielded from COVID-19 tests conducted on Monday. Per Big Ten Conference protocol, all football players, coaches, and staff members must be tested for COVID-19 daily while they are competing.
“As I shared this morning, last week we experienced an increase in positives cases within our football program,” Barta stated in the release. “Our student-athletes returned to testing today and based on additional positive tests and contact tracing, our medical team has made the decision to pause in-person activities for a minimum of five days. We will continue to follow Big Ten Conference medical protocol and participate in daily rapid antigen testing. Based on the information we have available today, we feel confident in our ability to participate in the TransPerfect Music City bowl.”
Hawkeye football players received a break from practice last week after their matchup with Michigan – scheduled for Dec. 19 – was canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Wolverines’ football program.
Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 17. The 65-year-old Ferentz noted during a Sunday video conference with reporters that he was experiencing no major symptoms other than an “annoying cough.”
“Late this afternoon I met with our Player Leadership Group and they overwhelmingly want to play in the bowl game,” Ferentz stated in the Monday evening release. “We will continue to prepare and put our game plan together for the TransPerfect Music City Bowl using the technology we have available. While our first priority is the health and safety of our players and staff, our goal is to play and compete on Dec. 30.”
Ferentz had been coaching the team from his home via Zoom prior to Monday’s activities pause.
According to The Des Moines Register, six of Ferentz’s assistant coaches and several of his players have tested positive.
Current Big Ten protocols allow coaches to return to their duties in-person following a 10-day mandatory isolation period, so long as they have been symptom-free for 24 hours. The conference’s new return-to-play policies for players were also implemented early this week. Student-athletes are no longer required to miss 21 days of action following a positive COVID-19 test result. Rather, student-athletes that test positive must sit out for 17 days – 10 days of self-isolation and seven days of cardiac evaluation.
Should the pause in activities end in five days as planned, the Hawkeyes would have less than five days to prepare for their Dec. 30 matchup with Missouri in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee. Ferentz and the Iowa football team planned to travel to Nashville Dec. 29 prior to the uptick in COVID-19 cases within the program.