UCF Athletic Director Danny White is hopeful they can play a full 12-game schedule.
That's easier said than done as many leagues are reducing schedules or going to a conference-only format due to COVID-19 concerns.
The American Athletic Conference though is sticking with the status quo, confirming Wednesday they intend to stick with their eight regularly scheduled league games and allowing teams to play up to four non-conference games.
White, speaking to reporters via Zoom, said his primary focus these days in trying to finalize the 2020 slate. He declined to acknowledge whether the Sept. 4 home game with North Carolina is officially canceled, though he did remain hopeful they can retain their Sept. 18 road game at Georgia Tech.
The ACC recently announced a "10 plus one" scheduling format (10 conference games and one non-conference). The one non-conference game must be played in the home state of the ACC team, so that would eliminate UNC from traveling to Orlando.
It would have made sense for GT to keep their rivalry game with Georgia, but that's no longer possible due to the SEC playing a conference-only schedule. So for now, UCF-GT is still on.
"I'm very optimistic about the Georgia Tech game in particular," White said. "The way our fans travel even in a lower capacity situation which is what we're probably looking at, we're an attractive home game for them. I know our coaches, student-athletes and fans are really excited about that one. I'm optimistic about that one."
UCF is still planning for a home game with FIU (Sept. 12) and says don't rule out Florida A&M, even though their conference (MEAC) recently canceled fall sports. The Rattlers are aiming to put together an independent schedule.
"We're still talking to FAMU," White said. "I think they've done a great job of reaching out to a lot of different schools in trying to put a schedule together for their student athletes. We're hoping to play that game Nov. 7. That could change depending how we fill in holes early in the season. They have some flexibility."
Assuming UNC is out, White said they would attempt to schedule a game for the first weekend of September, though it would be too late to schedule a game Aug. 29 during the so-called "Week Zero."
Assuming FIU and FAMU remain as well as the road game at GT, any potential UNC replacement must be a home game.
"We made a commitment to our fanbase several years ago to try and have seven home games," White said. "It's also a big part of our student-athlete experience to have seven home games. Obviously there's risks we could lose games. To schedule seven (home games), hopefully that gives us a better chance to get in six and hopefully seven. We didn't want to reduce the amount of home games."
White said they'd be mindful entering any new scheduling agreements at the last minute, knowing any potential games would likely have reduced capacity.
"It's a tricky proposition because of what you schedule for this year could have an impact on another year," White said. "It's hard to setup a home-and-home where the home game is this year in front of potentially a reduced capacity crowd. A game we really can't monetize. We've already renewed our season ticket base. Then you have a road game in the future that's an outlier. It's complicated. We're working on a bunch of different scenarios. Obviously waiting to hear from the ACC officially on North Carolina and Georgia Tech, but planning different models on what we can do to replace those games in Week One and Three. We also have an off week Oct. 10. Our FAMU game on Nov. 7, we're still optimistic we can play that game as schedule. We're working through it."
Here's everything White had to say:
Do you anticipate playing all four non-conference games and can the Georgia Tech and UNC games be salvaged?
"I know the ACC is still trying to figure things out. I think we'll hear something pretty quick once they finalize their schedule. I'm very optimistic about the Georgia Tech game in particular. The way our fans travel even in a lower capacity situation which is what we're probably looking at, we're an attractive home game for them. I know our coaches, student-athletes and fans are really excited about that one. I'm optimistic about that one and waiting to learn more about North Carolina.
"In terms of the rest of the non-conference, my goal is to fill 12 games before the start of the season. Obviously there's a lot of unknowns with COVID-19. There's a chance we could lose games, so I'd like to have a full slate and certainly a full seven home games that we expected to have for our fans and student-athletes."
Is there a chance UCF plays Week Zero or finds a replacement for Labor Day Weekend?
"We contemplated Week Zero earlier in the summer. It's too late at this point. We would have had to start fall camp last week. We're looking at Week One and beyond and all the possibilities."
Can you speak to the frustration of the non-conference schedule being out of your hands?
"It's been tough. We're obviously in an unprecedented situation. We try to be understanding of that. It's tough for student-athletes to come in every day and work out with face masks on. It's challenging for everybody. I get why there's been a void of information. I wish we were more coordinated in college football. We saw great communication last spring at the conference basketball tournaments, when they were being shut down. Basketball falls under the umbrella of a national organization, which is probably part of it. I think the last month has probably shown we probably need to get more organized nationally about football with the lack of communication. Not just our conference and UCF, but across the board. It's been challenging for people to make decisions. If anything, I'm grateful that finally we can start figuring this thing out and we can do it pretty quickly."
Football camp starts tomorrow. What is your comfort level when you see other schools having to shut down due to COVID outbreaks and also playing this season while keeping COVID cases to a minimum?
"It's kind of been a roller coaster. If you would have asked me that a month ago, it probably would be a different answer. And a month before that, a different answer. The community spread we're seeing in Central Florida is concerning. We have scientists at UCF that are projecting we could be in a better place by the end of August. I hope that's the case. That will have an impact on the amount of fans we can have in the stands. Our No. 1 priority going back to the spring is we're a mission-based organization. It's about providing student-athletes awesome opportunities. It's about our fall sport teams, to do whatever we can to support them to have a competitive season. They've worked so hard to get here. We're going to do everything in our power to make sure it's safe and healthy for them to compete this fall.
"I think our football team in particular which has been on campus the longest, we have both soccers and volleyball on campus as well, but our football team has been unbelievable in how they've handled the responsibility to each other and how they've been disciplined about following all the guidelines, face masks, social distancing. We have a very successful bubble right now within UCF and our student-athletes. It's going to be more challenging when the rest of the students come back. I have confidence in our kids and how mature they've been and how serious they're taking this and how important their competitive season is to them."
Do you have enough testing capacity for the athletes and what has your message been to the athletes about maintaining the bubble?
"No. 1, it's for them to continue doing what they've been doing. I spoke to our football team last night. They've been great. It's going to be hard. For college kids to go through a fall semester and be as disciplined as they have to be. For us to play a competitive season for all fall sports, that's what's going to need to happen. We have an awesome partnership with Orlando Health. They've been great. It's as good as anybody in the country. They have the best testing machine... The most accurate test... We've had a very quick turnaround compared to others that I've talked to in college across the country. We're in a big city with a great health system. The protocols we've put in the place with the American Athletic Conference are most strict than the Power Five and NCAA protocols. We have medical professionals, team doctors across the conference, coming together and putting forth a very safe plan. There's no way to eliminate the risk of the virus, but I think we're doing everything we can to reduce it as much as possible."
We've heard players from the PAC-12 and Big Ten voice a concern about playing this year. Have any players come to you about playing? How much listening have you done?
"We've done a ton of open forums in the athletic department. I've been on several of them. Not just on COVID-19, but the racial injustice conversation that's happening nationally. I think we've made great progress. I've done a lot of listening. In my comments to the football team yesterday, and our coaches in all of our sports, have reiterated it many times: If we have a student-athlete that's uncomfortable, nothing is mandatory. You don't have to compete this fall. We're going to honor their scholarship this academic year. We're not forcing any student-athlete into doing something they're uncomfortable with. We're trying to support them. The vast majority if not all of them want to play. They're passionate about their sport. They want to play the season. We're getting to a place where if an individual is uncomfortable, that's their choice. We'll honor their scholarship. I will continue to remind them of that and our coaches will as well."
What if there is a positive test on the day before the team is set to travel? What is the process? Can you play?
"We have very extensive protocols. A pretty thick booklet of medical protocols that teams across the conference, our team physicians had a lot of help, infectious disease experts from Orlando Health... I don't want to butcher the answer to that question. There is a plan. We're very strict about contact tracing. We've gone through that several times this summer. We are not going to put our team on the field obviously if we're not comfortable with where we are in respect to the virus and we are definitely not going to compete against another team unless they meet our standards of testing and we're comfortable with their results. Our team physicians will speak before each game. They will travel with the visiting team. Before they get on a team or bus, there will be dialogue and there will have to be a comfort level that we're in a good place in respect to the virus, not just the student-athletes but the coaches and anybody on the sideline. We're also going to take steps to eliminate as many people that aren't critical to the game from the sidelines to make sure we keep that bubble as safe as we possibly can."
You've been candid about the financial implications. Even if this plan goes off without a hitch, what kind of a hit will UCF Athletics take?
"It's going to be significant. Again, my No. 1 priority is I want to support these kids to have a fall season. How that plays out, we're working with county officials and health officials at UCF on what capacity numbers we can have with fans and get to a place where we can communicate that to our season ticket holders. We were on schedule to be sold out this year. We're going to have to work through that. There's financial implications to that and that's something I'll have to deal with on the back end. All ADs in the country are going to have to figure out how we handle the financial impact. It's going to be significant. It can't be a part of what's guiding our decisions. It's got to be about the student-athletes. That's our focus right now. We have to work on schedules and give them another opportunity for a conference championship and New Year's Day bowl game."
Why did the American want to stick with eight conference games and not go to a conference only setup?
"I was in favor of that model. I think the current conference schedule gives us some flexibility with some off weeks in the early part of the season which makes it easier to get non-conference games. We made a commitment to our fanbase several years ago to try and have seven home games. It's also a big part of our student-athlete experience to have seven home games. Obviously there's risks we could lose games. To schedule seven (home games), hopefully that gives us a better chance to get in six and hopefully seven. We didn't want to reduce the amount of home games."
Have you been on the phone with other schools about non-conference games?
"We have. It's a trick proposition because of what you schedule for this year could have an impact on another year. It's hard to setup a home-and-home where the home game is this year in front of potentially a reduced capacity crowd. A game we really can't monetize. We've already renewed our season ticket base. Then you have a road game in the future that's an outlier. It's complicated. We're working on a bunch of different scenarios. Obviously waiting to hear from the ACC officially on North Carolina and Georgia Tech, but planning different models on what we can do to replace those games in Week One and Three. We also have an off week Oct. 10. Our FAMU game on Nov. 7, we're still optimistic we can play that game as schedule. We're working through it."
McKenzie Milton's mother put out some videos.. how excited are you to see him get back on the football field?
"I got so much joy seeing McKenzie skipping around on our practice field this summer. Really excited for the news he just got. Don't know what that means in terms of playing football in the short term. That's up to him, our doctors and athletic trainers. I'm excited for him, not only for his future football career... so pleased about how everything looks for him, how he's recovered. It's an awful lot good luck, blessings, but also a testament to a young man that has worked his tail off, grinding and deserves all the good news he's getting from a health standpoint. He's really worked for it.
"Our student athletes in any sport know what he's accomplished. He's a leader. He's a leader for our athletics department and our whole university. He's done a lot for UCF. Loves UCF. I know the feeling is mutual. We're all just really excited to see him getting good news after going through so many challenges."
You could play Georgia Tech and North Carolina on the road?
"We have a contract for North Carolina to play at home. We're not in a position to reduce our home games. We have to work through that. Certainly with Georgia Tech, that was scheduled to be played on the road. That's what we intended to do so it doesn't mess up our home schedule."
What kind of non-conference games are you looking for? Does nearby travel make a difference?
"Travel is a factor. The No. 1 priority is what their testing protocol is. I want to make sure we're not going to play anybody that doesn't meet our testing protocols. That's really important. Travel is important. Obviously having open dates at the right time... We've made a commitment to our fans and have built a program here, how we've filled up our stadium, having a premier home game every year. We have to be careful how we manage this to protect this season as well as other seasons."
How does contact tracing work with the football team? If an offensive lineman tests positive right before a game, how do you determine who can play considering they interact with a lot of different guys?
"I'll leave that determination to the doctors. We have infectious disease doctors involved. I won't have any say in that. Neither will Josh (Heupel). It's important to wear masks. From what I understand from the doctors, that can mitigate some of the contact tracing. I've already said too much. I'm not a doctor. That's their call. Whatever they tell us is safe, that's what we'll follow."
You mentioned FAMU as a possibility. The MEAC cancelled fall sports a couple weeks back. I know FAMU has talked about playing as an independent, so is that game still on? Also, can you talk about the 'Keep Charging on Fund? I saw the announcement where you've raised $700,000.
"Still talking to FAMU. I think they've done a great job of reaching out to a lot of different schools in trying to put a schedule together for their student athletes. We're hoping to play that game Nov. 7. That could change depending how we fill in holes early in the season. They have some flexibility.
"The Keep Charging On Fund, I'm proud with how our staff and donors have stepped up. Our goal is to make this a one-year problem. I have optimism we'll get through this virus by the time 21-22 academic and competitive year kicks off. I want us to get back to being the brand that we've been. We want to be a disrupter in college athletics, building a top 25 athletics department. I don't want this to be a five to 10 year problem. The more that people can help us through philanthropy, depending how it pans out with how many of our season tickets can get in the stadium, fans could donate their tickets into a donation. The Keep Charging On Fund is a great destination for that. We've done a whole lot of cost cutting. We're trying to solve a financial problem in this year so that next year we can get back up and running."
Is the Bounce House the official stadium name?
"We're between stadium naming partners right now. It's affectionately called the Bounce House... We're working on that too. We have such a unique stadium experience. I love the moniker of the Bounce House... Heading into the 2020 season, it's just the Bounce House."
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