CCCAA moves all sports to spring for 2020-21 season

The upcoming season is going to look much different in California's junior college sports landscape. Last Thursday, the California Community College Athletic Association Board of Directors approved its "Contingency Plan" to push the start of all fall and winter sports for the 2020-21 season, including football, until at least January in an effort to avoid the spread of COVID-19 as coronavirus cases rapidly surge throughout California. "I know I speak for the entire CCCAA Board that moving fall athletics to spring 2021 is a huge disappointment," said Dr. Erika Endrijonas, board chair and president of Pasadena City College, in the CCCAA news release. "However, the need to keep our student-athletes and the amazing coaches and athletic trainers who work with them safe was simply the only option available with the virus spiraling out of control across the state." The unprecedented decision was met with frustration from some area coaches. The CCCAA announced in early June it would make a final decision on which of its three athletic framework plans to implement for the 2020-21 academic year on July 17. All three plans were wholly dependent on if state health guidelines deemed it safe to return. "The primary factor was the fact that the pandemic has been trending in the wrong direction," CCCAA Director of Sports Information and Communication Mike Robles said in an email. "The Conventional Plan, which we were hopeful to be able to implement, was only going to be possible if California was in Phase 4 of its reopening plan, and that wasn't going to be possible by our decision date." While the CCCAA's decision was presented with the best interests of nearly 24,000 student-athletes across its 110 member schools, the announcement of the plan eight days ahead of schedule was handled poorly in the eyes of some fall coaches. "Our student-athletes found out before we even knew of the decision," said Sierra College football coach Ben Noonan. "In such a crucial decision, you would think that CCCAA would have the foresight to understand the importance of its coaches and support staff being informed ahead of time." Noonan was prepared to inform his players of the possibility of a lost fall football season but wishes his team could have heard it directly from him first. "We fall coaches anticipated the state not being in Phase 4 by the 17th and had a plan to roll out for our student-athletes on the 17th if that decision indeed was to move the season to the spring," Noonan said. "Instead, we get blindsided on social media and end up fielding tons of messages, emails, phone calls and texts." Robles said a notification was sent to the CEOs of all member schools and each conference shortly before the public news release but also acknowledged the announcement could have been handled differently. "We erred in not alerting our schools with enough notice so they could prepare their teams," he said. "While we felt like the decision wasn't going to be a surprise, we didn't do as good a job communicating that decision to our members as we needed to. We will learn from that and be better." Not all coaches, however, expressed frustration with the CCCAA's move. Folsom Lake College men's soccer coach Justin Johnson told Folsom Telegraph Sports Editor Matt Long he felt it was the right choice. "Safety is the first priority, so it was probably a good move based on what we're hearing every night on the news," Johnson said. "I'm really happy someone made a decision. We've been waiting and waiting and I'm glad a decision was finally made." In the newly modified Contingency Plan, all of the CCCAA's 24 sanctioned sports will be split into early spring and late spring seasons, and competition will reduce by 30 percent. No state championships will be held, but regional postseasons will be included and determined at a later date. Running from mid-January to mid-April, early spring sports will include basketball, cross country, football, women's golf, soccer, women's volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Late spring sports will be played from late March to the final week of June and include badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, men's golf, softball, swim and dive, tennis, track and field and men's volleyball. In the CCCAA's initial Contingency Plan, cross country and women's golf were considered for the fall season due to their non-contact nature. However, the CCCAA's advisory COVID-19 working group determined travel and transportation, where student-athletes and coaches would be in close proximity, could not be mitigated to a comfortable extent, Robles said. The Board of Directors still plans to meet July 17 to discuss arising issues, including regional postseason formats and what the next steps are for planning a functional season. "We've learned a lot through this pandemic and perhaps the biggest has been to expect the unexpected," Robles said. "No one knows what the future will bring, but we're confident that the decision that was made will allow us to be better prepared to handle anything that might come up." Last week in the NCAA, the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences announced they would reduce the number of games in their season by implementing a conference-only schedule for fall sports. The California Interscholastic Federation plans to announce July 20 its plans for the high school athletic seasons. While rumors and speculation run rampant on social media, the NCAA and CCCAA's delayed-start precedents could create a domino effect for the CIF to follow suit.