CLEVELAND — The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday it would postpone its college football season this fall, leaving open the option of playing in the spring.
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Longtime Glenville High School football coach Ted Ginn, Sr. said he was shocked, but not entirely surprised, that the Big Ten postponed its season.
“We’re just living in a different time and a different world, you know, and it’s just a major situation that we’re dealing with,” Ginn said.
He added, “It’s a sad, sad situation, you know? And it's something that we all got to adjust to.”
Steve Trivisonno, or “Coach Triv” as he’s often called, retired from his position as the former head coach for Mentor football and is now helping out as an assistant for a school in the Columbus area.
“You know, you feel bad for them,” Trivisonno said of the college players who won’t have a fall season. “They only have so many years and they're not going to get a chance to play.”
Trivisonno said players are disappointed and that they’ve worked hard.
“We have two kids at Ohio State and they were working hard and training hard to get ready for the year,” Trivisonno said. “And then another one up at Michigan State playing in the Big Ten, along with other kids other places.”
In addition to this being difficult for current college players, those coaches said it’s difficult for high school players trying to get recruited by college programs, too.
“That's a problem,” Trivisonno said. “They weren't able to do any of the camps in the summer that they're usually able to go, and the college coaches are usually able to come in all spring and look at them, and that was canceled, and then obviously any of the camps in the summer.”
“I’m concerned with my seniors, I’m concerned with my juniors,” Ginn said. “They need film for their senior year. I'm concerned with the seniors that had to have senior film to get their looks. And now we're not going to have that.”
While the conference is holding open the possibility of moving the season to the spring, Trivisonno said he thinks that’s a bad idea.
“I just think there's nothing really good that can come from it,” Trivisonno said. “Especially because you'd have to turn around and play again. I don't think the body can handle that.”
Trivisonno said he had hoped those making the decisions would “give it a little while longer and see what happens,” but that, “unfortunately, right now there’s no right or wrong answer. You’re just trying to do the best you can.”
Ginn said it would be difficult for some kids and could change their paths in life.
“I think that this thing can really devastate some children's lives because they depend on sports,” Ginn said. “And it really can have an impact in the decisions that they make in life at this point and the direction they can go in life.”
